On Wednesday 21 December 2005 03:52 pm, Don Simons wrote: > David Raleigh Arnold wrote > > > This is clear in keyboard music only. With a stringed instrument, > > side-by-side noteheads indicate that there are actually two notes > > to be played on two different strings simultaneously. This is > > less usual than playing a single note, in which case you want > > a single note head. > > On a harpsichord, which is definitely a keyboard instrument, it would also > be possible to play two different but equal-pitched notes, one with each > hand on a different keyboard. However, in the rare cases where this is > intended, it is practically always indicated in some way that is more > explicit that a stemming convention. > > > Trust me, there is a very good reason for using two stems on the same > > note head in guitar music. > > I don't disagree with that. There is good reason for it in contrapuntal > keyboard music as well. In fact, I just checked Gardner Read's chapter on > keyboard notations. He basically espouses the method that was proposed here > originally (open head for the note with two stems; black head for the > others). Also, somewhat to my surprise, he does not even mention > side-by-side noteheads, except if the longer note is a whole note.
You can't trust Gardner Read's expertise. He was never a music engraver, and he is quite unfamiliar with guitar music publishing in the early 19th century, which was relatively very important economically because only rich people had pianos until the 1880's. For example, he thought in his first edition that the Z or S rest was an informal manuscript shortcut rather than an improvement over the older backward-eighth quarter rest. The first instance I have seen was 1808. It tended to disappear after the 1880's because piano music publishers preferred the older Blackletter/batarde letter 'R' that we use for a quarter rest today. The Gutenberg rest is still too tall for music in three or four parts on a single staff. Gardner Read apparently never troubled to look at any of that stuff. For keyboard music, the side by side notation is clearly better, as you said. For strings, it is certainly counterintuitive to use a single hote head when two strings are being played. When one string is played, to use two note heads is a bit confusing IMO. > > There is a clear difference in > > interpretation between using a stem and beam instead of an eighth > > rest. > > I don't have any quarrel with that either, and I never suggested otherwise. My only concern is that neither usage be considered exclusively correct. Being 'right' doesn't come into it, honest. OT: You can download an html version of the Rischel catalog at "Resources" on my web site. daveA -- Free download of technical exercises worth a lifetime of practice: "Dynamic Guitar Technique": http://www.openguitar.com/instruction.html email: "David Raleigh Arnold" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>|<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> (Full name in address field is needed to pass filter) _______________________________________________ TeX-music mailing list [email protected] http://icking-music-archive.org/mailman/listinfo/tex-music
