At 2:26 PM -0500 5/1/07, Randolph Peters wrote:
It's been my experience that conductors do not like long measures of slow tempo.
OH? conductors do what is necessary to serve the music. I can't imagine what such a generalization could have grown out of.
Making twice as many measures in 6/8 is better than longer measures of 12/8 at 1/8 = 50 MM.
If the music is in 6, that's true. If it's in 12 it isn't. You can't just manipulate the math without considering the music and its natural phrasing. In fact the phrasing IS the music, not just one dam note after another.
Even though it makes no difference mathematically, it helps with the beating patterns and the score/part reading.
It makes a huge difference. Did you miss the day in elementary school when they explained the placement of strong and weak beats in a measure?
A musician can discern much easier where you are with 6 beats rather than 12. (I'm assuming that the 4 beats of three pulses does not apply here.)
Huh? That's EXACTLY what applies in the question that was asked. And a clear beat pattern that's subdivided cleanly is no problem at all to follow. Random hand waving, sure, that's ALWAYS difficult to follow, but it isn't good conducting, either.
I'd even be tempted to go with mostly 4/4, use tuplets, and let the music fall where it needs to go.
Sorry, not at the tempo specified. Now if all is going well I might indeed lighten or even remove the subdivision pulses. Any sensitive conductor who understands which level of pulse is most important would do the same. And one of the worst habits music education students can fall into is excessive subdivision, which just slows the music down and makes it heavy.
Sorry to react so negatively, Randolph, but that's really the way I feel about it. Nothing personal.
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
