On 11 Mar 2009 at 16:05, Ryan Beard wrote: > > >> Dotted half rests aren't allowed in common time or 4/4 in any > >> circumstance in my opinion. Rests should never hide the 3rd beat or > >> the middle of a bar. (So, no half rests in 3/4.) > > > This seems like an unnecessarily strict rule, and one that is not > > followed in an awful lot of printed music. > > And I think that an awful lot of printed music looks awful precisely > because of the poor use of rests. A lot of it has to do with the "fill > with rests at end of measure" feature in Finale. And, although I don't > know for sure, I would guess that Sibelius has a similar feature.
Well, most of the engraving that I'm thinking of that doesn't follow your strict restriction on rests predates computer engraving, so I really, really don't think that's the reason for it. In any event, Finale fills measures with exactly the kinds of rests you're seeking, it seems to me. In a 4/4 measure with one quarter note, Finale inserts a quarter rest and a half rest. In a 3/4 measure with one quarter not, Finale inserts two quarter note rests. Isn't that precisely what you're expecting? > > But it all depends on context for me more than it does any set of > > "rules" about what's allowed or not in a particular meter. > > I'm all for context, but I would like to gently point you to some > "rules" regarding what's incorrect and correct practice for notating > rests. [list of citations deleted] I don't subscribe to any of those. They are arbitrary sets of rules that define only a particular set of practices that have never been universally followed, and for good reason -- slavish devotion to those rules does not enhance readability. And they often contradict each other on the details. Again, readability is going to depend on context more than it depends on a set of arbitrary rules that try to define every situation that could ever happen. That's simply not possible (nor desirable), and thus I see no reason why anyone should pay much attention at all to any of those. I'd much rather look at examples of engraving that I think are attractive and readable and match *that*, instead of looking up something in a book. -- David W. Fenton http://dfenton.com David Fenton Associates http://dfenton.com/DFA/ _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list [email protected] http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
