On Feb 12, 2007, at 10:53 PM, Mark D Lew wrote:
Thanks to all for a wonderful discussion.
Yes, I read it with interest, since I do a lot of this kind of thing, too.
In this particular case I happen to have another problem which I didn't even bring up: what happens if the singer wants it in a key that the piano part resists? It turns out that my singer's favored key is Db major, which would be all right except that there's a couple of chromatics that become Bbb and, worse, the bridge modulates to what would be Gb minor which becomes a nightmare of accidentals Having tested both, I'm going to write that section as F# minor. The switch from flats to sharps and back again offends both my sense of aesthetics and of theory, but the reality is that it's much much more readable that way.
I wouldn't worry too much about this. It became common to "wrap" keys (to use Finale's term!) in the late 19th and 20th centuries when things got too hairy. As long as you are consistent within the phrase, it should be perfectly clear.
I happened to learn the original sheet music to Body and Soul, in C (starts on a Dm7, contrary to all the jazzers who insist that the "original" key is Db, starting on Ebm7!) and modulates to Db in the bridge (key of b2, related to the parallel phrygian of C for those who care.)
Yet when most musicians read the usual key starting in Db, it modulates to D in the bridge, even though the theoretically correct key is Ebb. I don't think anyone insists overly much on the "correct" key in that instance!
Christopher _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list [email protected] http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
