Dear folks, I'm with Lon. What matters most is that performers get it right. Seeing four sharps used for A Lydian may be correct, but I think fewer mistakes will be made if three sharps are used and D#s are indicated in the score. The "accidental" calls attention to the modal nature of the music. In addition, many modal compositions will have mixed modal flavors and the modal inflections are best indicated by the appearance of "accidentals.'" Bartok's use of a scale which has raised 4th degree and lowered 7th degree doesn't use the signature to indicate it. A case in point is the last movement of the Sonata for two pianos and percussion. A signature of no sharps or flats is used, and F# and Bb are used in the music. As the movement progresses there are other degree inflections. Trying to use the signature to control them would be confusing and silly.
---Hal Owen On Dec 9, 2013, at 3:02 PM, Lon Price wrote: > I don't like the use of modal key signatures. I feel that most of us are > conditioned to think in a particular key, in other words, A Major being three > sharps. So if you're hearing the key as A Major, but the key signature is > four sharps, you might miss the D#. I'd rather have it written in, even if > every D in the piece is D#. > > On Dec 9, 2013, at 2:50 PM, Robert Patterson <rob...@robertgpatterson.com> > wrote: > >> So I am curious what this list thinks. You are writing a piece in A lydian >> mode. Do you use four sharps in the key sig or do you use three sharps and >> show the raised fourth as a chromatic alteration throughout the piece? >> >> I recently encountered this situation in some contemporary church music. I >> am a horn player, so key sigs are not my strong suit, but showing 4 sharps >> for a piece in A lydian drove me crazy (and this piece was lydian >> throughout, so the problem manifested over and over in other keys as well.) >> There was one solo where I played g-natural until the after the final >> run-through before I noticed the wrong note and corrected it for the >> performance. (The conductor was gonna let it go!) >> >> Maybe four sharps makes sense in some contexts (jazz? early music?) but it >> felt really wrong in contemporary church music, esp. consider the minimal >> rehearsal time such music gets. >> >> Yikes I just looked at Elaine Gould, and she allows any arbitrary key >> signature. I hope I never have to face that, and in any case would end up >> penciling every one of them in. >> _______________________________________________ >> Finale mailing list >> Finale@shsu.edu >> http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale >> > > ********************************** > Lon Price > lonpr...@att.net > http://www.txstnr.com/ > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > Finale mailing list > Finale@shsu.edu > http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale > _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list Finale@shsu.edu http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
