In most of the big band charts I write, for the drummer I write a measure or two with the suggest beat pattern, then turn the rest of the measures into staff style Z so they will appear as a multi-measure rest up to the next double bar. If there are any important punches, I will typically show those measures with slash notation and write the horn rhythms in notes above the staff, letting the drummer figure out how best to play that. If there is an exact part I need played, I will show those measures. For example, there may be a particular tom-tom riff or there may be a place where drums hit on 1 and then drop out. I show all those measures explicitly.
But my question is about the sections where the drummer is just carrying along. I show those as multi-measure rests and put the indication "(Continue)" above the MM rest. This gives a really clean, compact part and allows the drummer to play more artistically instead of trying to read a very cluttered chart. But there is an ambiguity with the MM rests. I am using the same look whether the drummer is continuing to play a pattern or whether the drums are out for a section. My "(Continue)" marking attempts to clarify that, but I wonder how others deal with this. I think what I'd really like is two different visual styles of MM rest -- one for playing and one for resting. _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list [email protected] https://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale To unsubscribe from finale send a message to: [email protected]
