John Howell wrote:
At 8:22 PM -0400 5/24/07, Darcy James Argue wrote:
Personally, I think that's terrible practice. There is a key change
before a quarter-note pickup? Use an accidental, fercrissakes, and
change the key sig at the beginning of the next bar.
I would certainly agree (not necessarily in precisely the same words!).
Do remember that you are supposed to be the notation expert, and are
expected to advise on best practices no matter what your client hands
you. And these picky details are something I find I have to correct in
many student arrangements, simply because nobody has ever told them how
to lay out pages for the easiest reading, and they haven't picked it up
on their own.
It always amazes me that people who have obviously performed a lot of
music and have spent enough hours at it above the average, enough to be
able to pass an audition to get into college music departments, and who
care enough to want to pursue further study of music are completely
unaware of the finer points of the music they have spent so many hours
staring at.
Things like the fact that time signatures aren't at the start of each
staff on the page, but clef signs are, or the sequence in which sharps
and flats are placed in the key signature.
I find it curious, and I am trying to wrack my brains (feeble though
they may be) as to just when I became aware of that sort of stuff. I
definitely was aware of it long before I got to college, and I don't
recall ever having it explained to me. I just was observant of the
printed music, more observant of many who are far better at their
instruments than I am at mine.
I definitely think a "Notation and How To Get It On Paper Properly"
module for any/every music theory, harmony, arranging, composing course
should be mandatory. Or simply have a 1-credit course for all music
majors, a 1-hour, once a week for a semester class on notation,
including all the basic clefs, and all done *by hand* without computers,
so that people end up with at least legible manuscript which follows
what are the accepted conventions of notation, and can use their brains
to ensure that their notation software is doing things properly and if
not, they can change it (one would hope.)
--
David H. Bailey
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
_______________________________________________
Finale mailing list
Finale@shsu.edu
http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
