BTW, back on topic. I occasionally run into a pops chart using the old bass clef notation convention, so clarifying is probably still a good idea. (Bass clef of any kind is rare in pops music.) But depending on how low the notes are on the clef, horn players have a default setting for one or the other that is right 90% of the time.
On Sat, Jun 9, 2012 at 6:06 PM, Robert Patterson < [email protected]> wrote: > I see as much pops rep as any pro horn player, and almost all of it has > key sigs, so you are certainly going with the flow. Nevertheless I greatly > appreciate when the parts don't. Key sigs are not a problem except when the > (often just momentary) key of the piece is different than the key > signature. That's when they turn into a pain. That's when I wish users of > computers would follow the old practice of adding courtesy accis when notes > are chromatic to the momentary key. For example, if the piece is in F but > has momentarily modulated to C, any B-flats should have courtesy accis, > even though they are in the key sig. Or if the momentary key is Ab, then > D-natural should have a courtesy acci. > > The other thing that drives me crazy in pops charts is gross mis-spellings > of notes. These are the result of working at lightspeed with Fin/Sib, etc., > and not always the result of a flatly illiterate arranger. At least I'd > like to think so. (I can't tell you how many times I've seen F# in the key > of G spelled as G-flat!) Ironically, this is a hazard mainly of providing > parts with no key sig, so pops arrangers just can't win. :-P > > > On Sat, Jun 9, 2012 at 5:37 PM, Christopher Smith < > [email protected]> wrote: > >> They're professionals, they do what they have to to get the right note >> out. I can deal with the pencil marks, but I am bemused that they find them >> necessary. The freelancers have no problems; it's a couple of older tenured >> guys who play 95% pre-20th century repertoire that complain, and they >> mostly sub out for the pops concerts that I arrange for. >> >> I pick my battles, as I am not TRYING to put up barriers, but I'm not >> pandering either. You know what a pain it can be to deal with only 4 >> instruments in a score that don't use key signatures while everyone else >> does. I can't copy music in or out of those staves, I have to set key >> signatures separately (that's one operation for the entire score, then one >> more operation for EACH non-key staff), and I have check each and every >> accidental because of the buggy way Finale deals with non-key-signature >> staves. For a project due last week, I had a week to do three pieces for >> full pops orchestra with 6 singers and rhythm section, of which one was an >> 500 measure, 18-tune medley with modulations. If I had to work with all the >> horns staves as non-key-signature, it would have prevented me from meeting >> the deadline, most likely. >> >> Christopher >> >> >> On Sat Jun 9, at SaturdayJun 9 6:16 PM, Robert Patterson wrote: >> >> > About the key sigs, I guess I am confused. Are you saying you would >> rather >> > them play the wrong notes than pencil in the accis? Because that's your >> > choice given one rehearsal (which is how many most of my gigs with key >> sigs >> > have). >> > >> > On Sat, Jun 9, 2012 at 3:48 PM, Christopher Smith < >> > [email protected]> wrote: >> > >> >> Yes, because horn players still regularly play the repertoire where >> that >> >> terrible convention was used, and might assume that the composer meant >> it >> >> that way. >> >> >> >> Heck, I get complaints from horn players who play mostly Classical >> >> repertoire because I write with key signatures! Sheesh, get with it, >> guys, >> >> I say to them. I get the parts back with EVERY alteration pencilled in. >> >> >> >> Christopher >> >> >> >> >> >> On Sat Jun 9, at SaturdayJun 9 4:34 PM, Paul Hayden wrote: >> >> >> >>> How many years has it been since any composer wrote a horn part in the >> >> bass clef intending it to sound up a fourth? I still write a note >> about how >> >> "the horn part sounds down a fifth regardless of clef". But do you >> think >> >> this is _really_ necessary in 2012? >> >>> >> >>> Paul Hayden >> >>> >> >>> >> >>> Magnolia Music Press >> >>> <www.paulhayden.com> >> >>> Voice & Pre-arranged fax: 225-769-9604 >> >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> >> Finale mailing list >> >> [email protected] >> >> http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale >> >> >> > _______________________________________________ >> > Finale mailing list >> > [email protected] >> > http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Finale mailing list >> [email protected] >> http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale >> > > _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list [email protected] http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
