How best to show notes as optional.

[David Ward]

The screenshot is of a bar in a 1997 piece of mine, originally typeset by I'm not quite sure whom. I hope to redo this according to the currently generally accepted ‘engraving’ rules (although it's 90 pages, so I need to make sure I don't have something more important to do - I was 80 less than a week ago).

Anyway, my question relates to the trombone triplet. It's written specifically for a bass trombone as the one trombone in the piece (a 32 minute viola concerto) and is playable (I could do so myself when my teeth were OK) at the tempo of = 88 if the valve set up is independent and the tuning B /G /F /E but it is more awkward or perhaps even impossible with some other valve tunings or dependant valves. I want to show in the simplest and clearest way possible that either or both the second and third notes of the triplet may be omitted (given the doubling by B Clar, 2 Bsns, cellos and basses).

If possible, I don't want to add a written footnote, but rather I'd prefer something immediately comprehensible in the notation itself.

Any suggestions?

[John Ruggero]

trombone ossia.jpeg (30.22 KiB) Viewed 4290 times

[Florian]

David, every experienced trombone player will understand the reasoning behind this, but some mediocre conductors won't. Don't you think a footnote in the score would help make it clear?

John's solution looks good to me.

[David Ward]

Thank you both for your responses. What John suggests in the part and on the trombone stave in the score, but with the addition of a footnote in the score only to inform the conductor: something like that?