Stress & antistress articulations

[David Ward]

If the pencil sketch is a memory of the tarantella (note the the mandolin) but now to be played simultaneously with something quite different (and slower) in 4/4, would my use of the stress ´ and anti-stress ˘ symbols make the rhythm (for the remembered tarantella) clear? I've only used the anti-stress just once, but have added the stress to each quasi-beat.

BTW, these stress and anti-stress articulations don't seem to be in the standard collection of articulations with Finale, but they can be found in the Opus Special font and I'm expecting to use that font for them. Or should I perhaps just use the versions I've typed above (in a suitable font and size)?

[John Ruggero]

That's an interesting case, David. I think that I would use tenuto marks and beaming to show the grouping:

Stress.jpg (25.55 KiB) Viewed 10637 times

[OCTO]

Indeed interesting.
In this case, IMO, I would keep completely regular rhythm and regular beaming. I would use just accents for stressing (as, for instance, Piazzolla does in his tangos, where 4/4 is actually 3+3+2/8.)
In your example, David, I have to many information to deal with. Non-stress that is marked fells that I should DO something, but actually it shows that I should NOT do something (accent).

John, in / I can barely play your rhythm.

[John Ruggero]

I was afraid of that, OCTO. How about:

Stress 2.jpg (28.09 KiB) Viewed 10610 times

[OCTO]

That looks very playable, John. I would add accents to emphasise the 'tuplet' rhythm.

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[David Ward]

Thank you for the responses.

I think I'll most likely go for John's last example, but with OCTO's suggested accents rather than with tenuto marks.

[OCTO]

Bartok uses sometimes dashed barlines to stress an independent phrasing. Many contemporary composers use it along the tempo changes, but for me as a player it is better to keep it as common as possible (in ensemble, to say: not solo music).
That is Messiaen's fourth style.

John's approach no2 could be possible if you have independent TS and barlines. In that case the tempo is different too (this line goes into a compound TS of x/16). For me it is a bit to much. The common denominator and tempo in chamber and orchestral music is priority for me (in this particular situation).

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[OCTO]

Edit: John's FIRST example no 1. (Not no 2)

[John Ruggero]

To clarify, I was using the tenuto marking in its alternate meaning as a mild stress indication, since normal accent marks might be a little strong for the situation, unless, of course, David does want very vigorous accents.