NOTATIO

I tried the slur, but it seemed too thin, so I used shape no. 34 in the Expression Shapes. It is stretchable in all directions when it comes up. It is ironic that the Neumann books are favorites of mine, yet I never read the section on vocal embellishments, which has the extensive discussion of what...

I am glad that you found that interesting, OCTO. Yes, the bracket placement is what I remember from Arnstein. I find it more legible in some cases, and it is therefore what I do today when appropriate. Peter, Arnstein had devised various notational techniques to help quick comprehension of the music...

I understand your point about Boosey's flexibility, Peter, but I am not clear as to what the normal Boosey mode is for 12/8 or 4/4 time in triplets. Would it normally exclude all quarter-rests like Arnstein? There was only an example for 3/8 in a post above concerning the Boosey style. Sorry if I mi...

All of these symbols are beautiful, Knut. Congratulations! You could even give the slightly angled version of the treble clef as an alternative version for those who like that style. But for me, the upright version is the best.

It is getting better and better. It is hard for me to see a difference in the boldness, but didn't you also add width, or is this an optical illusion?

But the notation would not be the same because the bracket notation for these triplets DOESN'T usually apply in 12/8. My point was that the composer might very well have used 4/4 with triplets precisely because it let him use all those brackets to clarify the beats which were not available to him in...

Knut: I see. So, the second one is better, but still to bold? Yes, for me, it seems better upright. As far as the actual shape, we are now discussing minute differences. It would be interesting to see the clef a little less bold and/or a little wider to compare. As I said, for me treble clefs seem ...

For a score, the most active part would have been "eye-balled" in first and then the other parts line up against it with a ruler. Incidentally, in our hand copying, a ruler was used only for beams, bar lines, and for the kind of lining up that I just mentioned. There was also transparent s...

Hand copying was all done "by eye". No calculating or measuring. So it was more like a piece of visual art, than a technical diagram. I think many hand copyists had a strong visual art talent as well as being musicians; this is what drew (no pun intended) them to this field.

OCTO, If Arnstein had copied that passage in the Wagner Tannhäuser Overture, you would not have had to put in all those beat markings! You must be referring to the endless pairs of 16th-notes in 4/4 at the end. Arnstein would have beamed all of those in groups of 4, not 2, and you and your colleague...