>On 19 September 2012 06:23, SN jef chippewa ><shirl...@newmusicnotation.com>wrote: > >> >> i am designing a font (open type) containing characters for durations >> and to be used for tempo indications and time sigs and am trying to >> get ligatures to work. for example, when i type 2 flagged sixteenth >> notes directly after one another, 2 beamed 16ths result.
Jef, please forgive my lack of understanding, but exactly what do you mean by ligatures? Do you actually mean beaming, as it seems above? Ligatures have a very specific meaning historically, originating in the earliest attempts at a non-letter notation in the 9th and 10th centuries, growing into a system of neumes, and incorporated into Guido's 11th century chant notation, and simply refer to more than one note combined into a single graphic form--something for which today we would simply use a slur. And THOSE ligatures lasted well into the 15th and 16th centuries, and in fact are still used in Gregorian chant notation. Franco of Cologne assigned them specific note values in the mid-13th century and they are easily sightread after learning his few simple rules. John -- John R. Howell, Assoc. Prof. of Music Virginia Tech Department of Music School of Performing Arts & Cinema College of Liberal Arts & Human Sciences 290 College Ave., Blacksburg, Virginia 24061-0240 Vox (540) 231-8411 Fax (540) 231-5034 (mailto:john.how...@vt.edu) http://www.music.vt.edu/faculty/howell/howell.html "Machen Sie es, wie Sie wollen, machen Sie es nur schön." (Do it as you like, just make it beautiful!) --Johannes Brahms _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list Finale@shsu.edu http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
