Dennis Bathory-Kitsz wrote:
Hi all,
I have a workflow question.
The first act of an opera has just arrived, 157 pages, piano-vocal. The
composer has taken back the opera from the publisher, and will be
re-issuing a corrected version. The original version was published from a
hand-inked copy (done in multiple hands) in 1980.
Because of existing copies in the field, the composer (a regular client)
wants the new edition to match the old one exactly in pagination and
measure placement on the pages and systems, numbering, etc. The densest
portion of the score has two pianos and five voices, and there are random
places with text blocks and white space.
I'm not sure how to approach the work process. Were I working from scratch,
I'd just use my ordinary sequence of enter, edit, adjust pages, optimize
and lock. But to match an existing score, the optimization and locking are
already in place, so to speak.
Maybe there's a Finale trick for doing this (I'm using 2K6).
The process I'm thinking about would add all the measures first, place a
dummy note (rather than a 'real' rest, which is indistinguishable from an
empty-measure rest) in all the measures that will eventually have content,
then jockey the measures along to their proper locations, lock the
measures, and optimize the score. Then I'd fill in the musical content.
Will this work? Is there a better way? Two more acts will be coming, so I'd
like to make this as smooth as possible to get done by year's end.
(The composer also wants to make sections not present in the recording with
grey brackets, but that's a problem for another time, I think.)
Thanks,
Dennis
I can't think of a trick, but I think I would be tempted to start
simple, adding all the measures necessary, then going through and moving
the measures to the systems they start and locking the systemss in place
while they're still empty. I wouldn't worry about using dummy notes or
rests as markers.
I'd get the layout all set before entering the music, and that way you
can take care of spacing issues as you go along, rather than potentially
ending up with lots of gobbleydegook onscreen once all the music is entered.
And I'd be prepared to go back to the composer and point out why/how
what he wants may not work out after all, in order to get the most
legible music.
Matching poorly laid out music will do nothing to enhance the
performability of the opera no matter how much it might facilitate
mixing of editions.
--
David H. Bailey
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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