John Ruggero wrote:Yes, the slurs vary a lot in those examples, OCTO. so that a Finale setting placing emphasis on the left side would also not be accurate because it is also too uniform.
Actually, in my Henle editions and several others I looked at, the slurs are much more uniform than in these examples. To me, the intention of the hand engraver is for a symmetrical slur in terms of thickness, as can be seen by comparing slurs over repeated material. They don't always achieve this and that creates a very human appearance. Whether this is really appropriate for computer engraving is a matter of philosophy; and this is certainly an important thing for us to discuss.
I completely agree!
I guess I've made my own stance on this pretty clear already, but just to elaborate a bit:
At least with current scoring applications, there is no way to add 'the human touch' to every element. This is especially true with the primitives used to produce staff lines, barlines, beams etc., but is also evident in that most applications use fonts (i.e., one single representation of each available symbol) to render it's notational output. In a manually set score, not even the text is without this human element, while digital text fonts basically function in exactly the same way as music fonts.
The numerous variations found in a plate engraved or hand written score are are nor necessarily helpful from a legibility standpoint. Some font designers have chosen to incorporate the imperfect look of printed plate engraving, utilizing round corners, 'inky' intersections and deliberate character faults, to make the computer engraved score seem more humanized. Going overboard with this is a bit like setting your music with 'handwriting' style fonts, which, to me, seems like a gimmick, and serves no purpose with regard to readability or clarity.
Personally I try to work with the constraints set by the computer and the software rather than against them, and I therefore prefer fonts and settings that give a subtle warmth to the page without being too nostalgic or overemphesizing certain 'quirks' of the past.
