When we use "check range" when writing for a competent community orchestra, is there any problem with setting the parameter to "advanced" for all instruments ?
thanks, tim On May 13, 2011, at 7:09 PM, John Howell wrote: > At 2:53 PM -0700 5/13/11, Mark D Lew wrote: >> >> Mahler writes the chorus down to Bb2 in his Symphony #2 (the basses are >> divisi, with the others on the next octave up). > > I didn't know that, but he and Strauss also wrote some piccolo parts down to > low C and flute parts down to low Bb. The key, I think, is that he DID know > who he was writing for, and knew that it would be sung, just as he knew that > some flutemaker in Vienna was experimenting with extra-low flutes and > piccolos and that his flute players could get them. > > You write for what's available. It's that simple. Every time Broadwood > shipped a new piano with an extended range to Beethoven, he started using the > extra high and low notes immediately. The difference with Stravinsky is that > I'm not sure he could have known in advance that the extremes he wrote COULD > be played. Josquin (or Pierre de la Rue) also wrote the bass down to a low > Bb at the end of "xxxx," but again we don't know what pitch standard he was > writing for. I assume that Mahler was writing for somewhere around 435 to > 450, if not necessarily 440. > > 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:john.how...@vt.edu) > 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 > Finale@shsu.edu > http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale timothy.price timothy.pr...@valley.net _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list Finale@shsu.edu http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
