At 5:44 AM -0700 5/15/06, Jamin Hoffman wrote:
To answer John's query "why bother?" - I primarily write and edit educational string arrangements for Hal Leonard, which has instructed me to "over-bow," rather than "under-bow" and assume the kids (or even their instructors) will know what to do (definitely not scholarly editions).
OK, that's perfectly understandable, and I thank you for the explanation. If you are simply using more bowing marks than experienced players would need, it may be redundant but it isn't what I would call "over-bowing," which i would reserve for overly "fussy" bowings that aren't primarily used to make good phrasing. (Of course that brings up the question of how those students get weaned away from all the crutches, but it sounds as if Hal Leonard isn't interested in that.)
I would use bowing in parentheses on a long note, to indicate to the student "you should change your bow somewhere in ths note." With my own high school orchestra, I have found that just using an up- or down-bow may cause them to take it literally, and all change bows at exactly that point.
But you know what? It doesn't HURT to all change bows together, as long as they understand that they're trying to keep the sound continuous and not articulated. (Takes 15 seconds to explain once. That's a technique they simply have to learn.) I would take the opposite approach, placing the bowing marks very carefully where I wanted the bows to change (proportionally within the measures), not using parentheses (since the ties/slurs combined with the bowing marks already convey the necessary information), and pay very close attention to making the next bowing out of the tied notes correctly up or down. When we play our summer community musicals, we break ties and slurs all over the place just to be heard adequately, but we do try to follow our concertmaster's bowings by eye.
The parentheses at least suggests that it's different from a regular bowing mark, which may cause them to ask what it means.
Maybe. But again, it's a one-time explanation in rehearsal and then they know how it should be handled. One of my pet peeves is editors who take signs that have a long-established, perfectly clear meaning, and try to redefine them with a new and different meaning without explaining it. Merle Isaac is a major sinner in this regard, using a break sign ("railroad tracks"--I forget the formal name for it) to mean something I have NEVER figured out, except that it does not indicate a break! And of course anyone who feels it's necessary to put "low 2" over a note is simply catering to the worst Suzuki teachers in the business!
Since I am not a "native" string player (one of the ironies of my position), perhaps I should ask - is there another, clearer way to indicate this? Sometimes I use text, "stagger bow changes," either in place of or in addition to the bowing mark.
I would suggest using both for complete clarity, if you actually do want staggered bowing, while not losing the ability to determine the bowing of the next note after the held note. I hope you're at least sometimes able to use your own orchestra for beta testing, to spot and fix potential problems or confusions.
Gee, I'm sure we're all relieved to know that Hal Leonard hires trombonists to bow their string parts!! (Not a dig at you, Jamin; obviously you must be giving them just what they want, and I don't know what your primary instrument is in any case.)
John -- John & Susie Howell Virginia Tech Department of Music Blacksburg, Virginia, U.S.A 24061-0240 Vox (540) 231-8411 Fax (540) 231-5034 (mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]) http://www.music.vt.edu/faculty/howell/howell.html _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list [email protected] http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
