I think a composer should be able to do whatever they like. But it's not a convention that is outliving its usefulness, it is rather a useful distinction that is being contracted. I can happily conduct 6 beats in 3/2 to keep the pulse the same and I've never met anyone who would suddenly double the tempo of the crotchets just because they've seen 3/2. In terms of stress, subtleties matter. S.w.w. 3/2 S.w.S. 4/4+2/4 S.S.w. 2/4+4/4 Stress is, after all, a major reason for time signatures existing..
Steve P. > On 8 Dec 2016, at 13:15, Christopher Smith <[email protected]> > wrote: > > [I’ve trimmed the previous discussion] > > I just conducted a piece for concert band by Samuel R. Hazo called > “Arabesque” where there is a single measure of 6/4 indicated to be conducted > 2+2+2 in a context of 4/4. I think this was the right decision, as 4/4 + 2/4 > would have implied a stronger accent on the 2/4 bar than was on the 3 of the > 4/4 bar. It was a complex measure, too, and having me give a big downbeat in > the middle of that complex figure would have sent a message that wasn’t > implied in the music. > > I wouldn’t have liked three bars of 2/4 either, in a context of 4/4, as that > would have been really weird. > > I think that old convention of 6 being always compound time is relaxed now. > Other conventions that lived out their usefulness have been retired, too, so > I’m pretty okay with that. > > Christopher > > > >> On Dec 8, 2016, at 4:42 AM, Steve Parker <[email protected]> wrote: >> >> My tuppence: >> >> I see both and if you have time to explain you could use either. >> But.. if I was writing for a sight read or studio session (or any classical >> players) I would write it the way it would be conducted. >> If I wrote 6/4 and then conducted three accents in the bar, it would lead to >> unnecessary questions. >> Can you give an example of where a combination of 4/4 and 2/4 wouldn't solve >> it, if you require the denominator to stay a 4? >> All I can think is something like a 5 over the 6 counts, but then it would >> be fine to treat the 3 accents as hemiola over 6 anyway. >> >> Steve P. > > > _______________________________________________ > Finale mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale > > To unsubscribe from finale send a message to: > [email protected] _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list [email protected] https://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale To unsubscribe from finale send a message to: [email protected]
