On 26 Feb 2011 at 17:19, John Howell wrote: > I can't think of an example in common music where a composer WOULD ask > for open strings, other than on specific double stops which are > difficult to tune up, like fretted 5ths. But doesn't that come down > to a matter of performance practice rather than composition? The > practice on modern strings is very much to avoid open strings on > longer notes that are assumed to need vibrato, although they are > freely used in passagework that wouldn't use vibrato in the first > place.
Well, I think there are a number of mixups in the above: 1. I wasn't talking about modern instruments, but about viols, so modern practice for modern strings is not really relevant. Certainly the fact that the tuning is in fifths instead of fourths/thirds makes the whole issue completely different (and, interestingly, it was a guitarist who started this sub-topic of the discussion, and they use the same tuning as viols). 2. I also wasn't talking about old music -- I was talking about new compositions, where a present-day composer explicitly asks for open strings. I've written a piece (incomplete) in which open strings are required at the beginning because I want the resonances between all the instruments (it's a sustained chord gradually built from open strings on the various instruments). It never occurred to me to put in fingerings, since it was so bloody obvious to me that the effect requires open strings! But now that I think about it, I should do that. In that case, which is better, putting the 0 fingering, or the roman numeral for the string? 3. vibrato is not something one uses on the viol except as an ornament. Obviously, where you needed the ornament, you'd not use an open string, but for the rest of the time, open strings are completely usable. -- 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
