Having just recently performed Beethoven's Sixth Symphony I have an additional comment on the 12/8 movement. When you start to subdivide the measure into 12 pulses the tempo will drag. Many years ago I recall my conducting professor standing at my elbow and saying many times, "Don't subdivide; it makes the orchestra slow down".
Experience has shown him to have been correct. When you need to slow things down, sub-divide. When you need the tempo to pick-up, make the pattern smaller and increase the sharpness of the ictus. It works (almost) every time! Guy Hayden -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Michael Cook Sent: Tuesday, May 01, 2007 2:59 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [Finale] Conducting in 12/8 12/8 is usually conducted in 4, or if it's extremely slow each beat is subdivided into three. The slow movement of Beethoven's 6th Symphony (Beethoven's MM being dotted quarter = 50) is conducted in 4. 12/8 is never conducted in 3 sets of 4/8: if the measures are rhythmically so divided, the time signature should be 3/2. If the tempo of your piece is eighth note = 50, it would have to be conducted with subdivided beats. This is OK, but many conductors, including myself, find long passges of subdivided 12/8 rather tiresome: you might try cutting it into shorter measures. Best wishes, Michael On 1 May 2007, at 20:15, timothy.key.price wrote: > If there are some on this list who might offer some advice, I have > a question: A section of amorphous music for stings is now in 12/8 > time at 1/8-50 which is verrrrry slow and no beat is stressed. As > each of the many voice lines moves on a different beat, the 12/8 > allows for this type of writing, however, I have no idea how it > would be conducted. A similar example might be the 2nd movement of > Beethoven's 6th, although his repeated string patterns lend it > structural definition: he consistently divides the measure into 4 > pulses. Is 12/8 a problem? is it usually conducted in 3 sets of > 4/8 per measure? or 4 sets of 3/8, or 2 sets of 6/8? or all of the > above are possible. > Or should I rewrite it and absolutely choose another meter > and increase the note value? Help/ lost. > _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list [email protected] http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list [email protected] http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
