On 10 Dec 2008 at 11:27, John Howell wrote: > I've actually run into that very thing in Broadway > books, specifically in "The King & I." I was asked to make a cut at > a certain point in a certain number, discovered that some parts had > repeated bars (and LONG endings!) while others did not, and it > probably took us at least 15-20 minutes to solve that stupid problem. > It probably saved the copyist something like 10 minutes work, and has > been plaguing musical directors and wasting time in the pit ever > since!
And yet, in the 18th and early 19th century, this was incredibly common in both MSS music and in printed editions. For both, it may not have been a matter of saving copying/engraving time, but of saving paper, which was relatively more expensive than paying the copyist/engraver. Of course, it's also the case that a lot of old sources that were clearly used have uncorrected errors in them (wrong notes, even missing measures), so it's unclear to me how they managed to use them. I'm certainly not arguing for the practice, just pointing out that there was once a time when the balance of rehearsal time vs. savings came out, apparently, differently. > This does, however, bring up the question (again! it's been discussed > before) of how to handle bar numbers in multiple endings. Number the > first ending bars but not the second? Use duplicate numbers in the > 2nd ending? Just number straight through, giving each ending it's > own numbers? My feeling (and my practice) has always been that every > bar should have its own unique number to avoid confusion in > rehearsal, regardless of repeat marks, and I have NEVER thought of > bar numbers as "outlining the form of the piece." Is there actually > a standard? I don't know if there's a standard. I have always questioned the authority of even our respected books on notation, since however much they try, they can't deal with every situation. But I think the way you describe it is the very simplest way to do it. It's also the easiest to implement in Finale! -- David W. Fenton http://dfenton.com David Fenton Associates http://dfenton.com/DFA/ _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list Finale@shsu.edu http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
