At 1:38 PM -0500 12/13/10, Christopher Smith wrote:
And what WOULD that be (the notation that is exactly what to do without roadblocks), when trying to notate harmonics clearly?
In my opinion, and for artificial harmonics, it would be indicating the fretting finger and the touching finger with solid/diamond notes. That is a specific instruction for a specific action, instantly recognizable and playable. For natural harmonics, it depends on which end of the string you want them, if you actually care. For the octave harmonic (middle of the string), there's no alternative. For all the others, there are, and either diamond notes (on the lower half of the string) or circles over the note (on the upper half) will get the idea across. And sometimes even the natural harmonics must be played as alternative fingered harmonics if the natural ones do not match the temperament being used, but THAT is a decision I would leave to the performers.
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
