On 20 Jul 2010 at 14:18, Paul Hayden wrote: > Kurt Stone in "Music Notation in the Twentieth Century" (page 22) > says: > > 1. "It used to be customary to slur grace notes to the main note, but > since such slurs are superfluous it is recommended that they be > omitted."
This was not really true, ever. There are a number of different kinds of things that are referred to by the 19th-century term "grace notes." In 18th-century notation, appoggiaturas (I never know how to spell that damned word), which are not the same thing as grace notes, demonstrate variable practice in terms of slurs or no slurs. Some copyists/engravers put them on as a matter of course, others only when a bowing or slur is actually intended. Which is in use is highly dependent on the period, the geographic location/training of the copyist/engraver, and the particular repertory involved. > 2. Traditional practice is to start the main legato slur on the first > main note (not the grace note) of the phrase. "This practice should be > revised to include the grace note(s) in the slurs." Again, this is a practice the ignores everything before approximately 1820, likely because people just didn't notice that there were distinct notational practices in different repertories. > I've always notated the traditional way (small slur from grace to > first main note). I'm afraid that careful performers will see no slur > (#1 above) and actually articulate both the grace and the following > main note. Stone says to put a staccato mark on the grace if that's > what you want. That sounds completely crazy to me. What does "articulate" mean? Even with a stringed instrument, there's no reason that two unbowed notes cannot be played legato, so a staccato would imply something distinct from what two unbowed notes would implied (and distinct in turn from two bowed notes). > #2 is logical but looks a little strange to me. > > What do you think about this? I think the rules are completely wrongheaded. There can be no rule to cover such a huge number of possibilities and myriad different notational/performance traditions. The answer will not come from a rule in a book, but from what makes sense in the particular repertory/period you are engraving. This is why, in general, I completely disregard all the notataional rule books. I encounter way to many cases in real historical sources where the modern engraving rules make a hash of what is crucial information for the performer. -- 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
