Hi John, > But, ... I don't really see why it should. There are many songs for which > the vocal precedes the melody.
I don’t know of a single one. A rest is literally musical silence — how can it have a “vocal” on it? Now, of course, you could have non-sung syllables… but that is not equivalent to a REST. I’d be happy to be proven wrong, though. Please feel free to upload a scan of a score where a voice is instructed to sing on a rest. > Perhaps there is some other way to accomplish this that I'm unaware of. I'm > pretty much a novice at writing. However, I am transcribing a published > score into LP as an exercise but also to do my own arrangement. > > Rests are valid musical expressions (AFAIK) so why shouldn't it be possible > to attach a syllable to a rest? Because a rest is silence — the absence of pitch. There is sprechstimme, dialogue spoken over rests, front-phrasing of a melody, and so forth… but you can’t sing “on” a rest. Cheers, Kieren. ______________________________________________ My work day may look different than your work day. Please do not feel obligated to read or respond to this email outside of your normal working hours.
