Numbering instruments on shared staves
Posted: 23 Apr 2024, 21:50
I'm wondering about this since I don't have many scores that actually help me answer the question (lots of scores, just.. none that have this particular issue.)
So flute 1 and 2 share a staff in the condensed score.
The staff is labeled as Flûte 1/2 (ie: the numbers are one above the other, next to the name.)
There's a passage where only flute 1 plays. flute 2 is absent for, let's say, 3 pages of the score.
So as to not cause any potential confusion with assumptions that "Flûte 1/2" means that both flutes are playing unison during that passage, I'd number the very first note with "1°" (the French abbreviation for première = first.)
Now, this flute solo (which is not per se a "solo" simply a section where only one flute plays, amidst the other woodwinds) continues on the next page, a few bars of silence, and again only flute 1 plays for yet another page.
The question is: should each entry of 1st flute be numbered?
Or should I presume that whoever is reading the score will be intelligent enough to understand that despite the staff being labeled two flutes that only one of them is still playing here?
_____________________________
A corollary question:
Flutes sharing a staff, have all harmony throughout the passage, with only the occasional unison shared note.
Should I actually WRITE "unison" for those notes? Or again make an assumption regarding the intelligence of whoever happens to be reading the score?
(Note: the two flutes share stems and beams, this isn't a situation where it would be advantageous to have independent stems and beams -up and down - for the two instruments.)
So flute 1 and 2 share a staff in the condensed score.
The staff is labeled as Flûte 1/2 (ie: the numbers are one above the other, next to the name.)
There's a passage where only flute 1 plays. flute 2 is absent for, let's say, 3 pages of the score.
So as to not cause any potential confusion with assumptions that "Flûte 1/2" means that both flutes are playing unison during that passage, I'd number the very first note with "1°" (the French abbreviation for première = first.)
Now, this flute solo (which is not per se a "solo" simply a section where only one flute plays, amidst the other woodwinds) continues on the next page, a few bars of silence, and again only flute 1 plays for yet another page.
The question is: should each entry of 1st flute be numbered?
Or should I presume that whoever is reading the score will be intelligent enough to understand that despite the staff being labeled two flutes that only one of them is still playing here?
_____________________________
A corollary question:
Flutes sharing a staff, have all harmony throughout the passage, with only the occasional unison shared note.
Should I actually WRITE "unison" for those notes? Or again make an assumption regarding the intelligence of whoever happens to be reading the score?
(Note: the two flutes share stems and beams, this isn't a situation where it would be advantageous to have independent stems and beams -up and down - for the two instruments.)