John is correct, as far as I'm concerned: in ensemble work, and unless you have a particular love for the sight and sound of free bowing(!), bowing is an incontrovertible part of the overall sound of the music and unbowed parts are (at least to me) incomplete.
In my particular circumstance, I defer bowing to my concertmistress, with (of course) input from me in advance - and as well, in coordination with other section leaders. I always try to give her parts a good couple of weeks in advance - so she can mark in sufficient time for her bowings to be transferred to all parts (and my scores.) Fingerings? Again, John is absolutely correct: fingerings are a totally personal designation and are always left to the discretion of the individual players in my orchestra. Les Marsden (209) 966-6988 Cell: (559) 708-6027 (Emergency only) 7145 Snyder Creek Road Mariposa, CA 95338-9641 Founding Music Director and Conductor, The Mariposa Symphony Orchestra Music and Mariposa? Ahhhhh, Paradise!!! Mariposa County Planning Commissioner, District 5 First Vice-President, The Mariposa County Arts Council, Inc. Board Director, The Economic Development Corporation of Mariposa County http://arts-mariposa.org/symphony.html Marsden Marx Pages: http://tinyurl.com/ygpj7og ----- Original Message ----- From: John Howell To: [email protected] Sent: Monday, December 13, 2010 9:34 AM Subject: Re: [Finale] String harmonics At 10:53 PM -0500 12/12/10, Dennis Bathory-Kitsz wrote: >On Sun, December 12, 2010 10:18 pm, Aaron Sherber wrote: >> But isn't that an advantage of just using the circle notation? It >> indicates to the player the desired pitch and the fact that it should be >> a harmonic, and leaves the details to the player. > >I agree with this, and in general. I leave all of the following up to the >player, except when a specific sound or effect (even a visual one) is desired. >There may be others I don't recall at the moment: > >- String harmonics and bowing >- Piano fingering and hands (left/right) >- Wind fingering (around register changes) >- Trombone positions and (esp.) euphonium fingering >- Percussion mallets (other than general description) >- Organ stops (other than general description) >- Harp pedaling > >When an amateur group is playing a piece, I will specify as requested by the >conductor, but overall I'm hands off. I would agree with everything except string bowing. Bowing is phrasing, and no bowings indicates that you don't care. Wind fingerings seldom offer alternatives, and when they do players often have individual preferences. But one thing you did not mention should also be left to the player, unless it is for a very specific special effect, and that is string fingerings. Not only is that very technical, but it is very individual to the player. My stand partner and I hardly ever use the same fingerings, but we are careful to use the bowings our conductor has marked. John -- John R. Howell, Assoc. Prof. of Music Virginia Tech Department of Music College of Liberal Arts & Human Sciences 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 "We never play anything the same way once." Shelly Manne's definition of jazz musicians. _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list [email protected] http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list [email protected] http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
