dhbailey wrote:
I've never understood the need for a different whole-rest for empty measures in meters larger than 4/4.
According to Ross, you use double-whole rests for meters larger than 6/4. Actually, I believe he mispoke. One uses a whole rest in empty measures for any meter smaller than 8/4 (4/2). Furthermore, in meters like 3/2 and 7/4 one avoids using whole rests for anyting other than whole measure rests, using 2 half-rests for 2 beats rather than a whole rest.
This explains why one uses a double-whole for entire-meas rests in 4/2 because the whole rest is required for 2-beat-rests in quadruple time. In an extracted part the difference is by no means obvious. See, e.g., Brahms Requiem 3rd Movement. The final section is in 4/2, and using whole rests for whole-meas rests would be quite confusing in an extracted part.
I would extrapolate this rule to add that 4/1 meter probably requires a double-double-whole rest for empty measures. The reason being that the double-whole rest is required for a half-meas rest. But I have never written any music in 4/1. Nevertheless, I'll bet such music exists, esp. recent editions of early music.
-- Robert Patterson http://RobertGPatterson.com _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list [email protected] http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
