On Jun 9, 2012, at 9:42 PM, Darcy James Argue wrote: > To be fair, it's also because "proper" vertical spelling of enharmonics in > highly chromatic music (like jazz, and like a lot of interesting > pop/B'way/etc) frequently results in less legible parts than you'd get by > spelling parts in a horizontally logical fashion.
I agree with this, especially in parts where I will sacrifice vertical harmonic integrity to enharmonics that make reading easier, and I use them to avoid cancellations of accidentals where possible and practical. Chuck > > At one point, I experimented with spelling every accidental according to > Hoyle, regardless of the resultant double-sharps and double-flats, etc. The > musicians I presented this to universally *hated* it, even those with > extensive classical backgrounds. > > The expectation in jazz (and pop etc) is that you will spell accidentals with > a minimum of fuss, and players get ornery if you get too cute, even if the > accidentals are technically correct. > > I'm all for spelling basic chord tones consistently on parts that actually > show the entire harmony (piano, guitar). At no point should anyone ever write > a B major seventh chord with an Eb and A#. But at at a certain point, > musicians of all stripes learn to tune by ear, not by eye. So no, I'm not > that sympathetic to the idea that string players tune an F# and a Gb > differently, because in point of fact, *good* string players learn to hear > where they are in the harmony and adjust accordingly, enharmonics be damned > -- just like wind players and brass players. > > Cheers, > > - DJA > ----- > WEB: http://www.secretsocietymusic.org > > > > On 10 Jun 2012, at 12:33 AM, Christopher Smith wrote: > >> Well, G flat in the key of G is not completely out of the question, but I >> get your point. >> >> A lot of pops arrangers come from a jazz background, where proper enharmonic >> spelling seems to be valued much less. Maybe it's because they don't realise >> that string players actually choose a different finger to play an F sharp >> than a G flat, and the two notes are tuned quite differently in most >> contexts. After all, the piano plays them both exactly the same way. >> >> Another factor is most jazz musicians don't know about augmented sixth >> chords and how they should be spelled, and don't realise that their >> treasured Tritone Subs are actually augmented 6th chords. So an Ab7 chord >> resolving to Gmaj7 in the key of G should have an F sharp (aug 6th), not a G >> flat. So that might be considered to be illiteracy. >> >> Possibly some of those flipped enharmonics comes from Finale itself, where >> hitting the 9 key in Speedy does not flip the enharmonic in a bulletproof >> fashion. I have often come back to a part that I was certain I had spelled >> correctly, only to find that some of the enharmonics I had flipped had >> changed themselves back again when I wasn't looking. I sure hope they fix >> that bug soon. >> >> Christopher >> >> >> On Sat Jun 9, at SaturdayJun 9 7:06 PM, Robert Patterson 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 >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Finale mailing list >> [email protected] >> http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale > > > _______________________________________________ > Finale mailing list > [email protected] > http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale Chuck Israels 8831 SE 12th Ave. Portland, OR 97202-7097 land line: (503) 954-2107 cell phone: (360) 201-3434 <www.chuckisraels.com> <www.chuckisraelsjazz.com> _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list [email protected] http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
