A Million Notation Questions!

Well, in that case QC, most of the music I've read doesn't follow correct convention, because that's what I was drawing off of when I said what I said.

Originally Posted by EnigmusJ4

Well, in that case QC, most of the music I've read doesn't follow correct convention, because that's what I was drawing off of when I said what I said.

and yes, you ARE correct, they aren't following the correct notational convention.

don't base your opinion on what is right and wrong in music engraving off the scores you have. it's surprising just how many "professional" scores we have that are loaded with terrible errors.

On the other hand, if you follow my "guideline" you will never have trouble during rehearsals of your music. And in the end, that IS the only important consideration, is it not.

By the way, just for fun, I grabbed the first score off my shelf (Strawinski, Rite of Spring), and there it is, clear as day: first page, any instrument with more than a measure's worth of rest gets a repeat of its dynamic.

You can probably get away with eliminating a few of those repeated dynamics if the overall texture of your music remains the same, in the same dynamic, etc..
However, why leave it up to the musicians to guess your dynamics?

I strongly suggest you invest in an elementary book of musical theory - that should answer the vast majority of your questions, and inform you of the answers to many more you may not have considered. The Assosciated Board produces a number of good publications, but I'm sure a nose round any good music shop, or even at Amazon will produce some possibilities.

Originally Posted by QcCowboy

...why leave it up to the musicians to guess...?

This quote is PURE GOLD.

This is some of the best advice you will ever hear regarding the composition of music. The less you specify... the less you clarify, the more likely it is that you will not receive the performance you intended. This is why I comment so frequently and hard against poor notational practices.

</soapbox>

*salutes QcCowboy* Well done, sir.

Thanks for the extended answers everyone.

Now for today's question

6. In a piece I am writing there is a triangle hit. When I had this piece on Reason, the triangle hit was actually right on the note of C#, which is the key of the piece, so it was pretty handy.

But how do triangles work in real life. I've scored it on a treble clef labelled "Percussion", and just wrote "Triangle" above the note, which I scored as a C#5 (the first one above the treble clef, sound about right?). Is this the correct way to do it?

And how do triangles even work? Would a real life percussion player have a different triangle for each note? I'm also wondering about percussion in general, which despite being mainly rhythmic, still has a certain pitch to it.

Thanks.

These are called "indefinite pitch" instruments. Yes, some triangles sound at the pitch of C#, but I've noticed that a lot are tuned to sound like an A. But the truth is, they are supposed to be any particular note at all, so don't write for it to be any certain pitch. Most orchestras/bands will only have one triangle, or two if they are fussy, so don't be concerned with pitch. And again, don't treat Reason as your bible. In real life, triangles have so many higher harmonics that they sound different from depending on where you are in relation to the instrument. To write for triangle, put it anywhere on the stave. If it has it's own staff, make a one-lined percussion staff and put it on the center. If on a five-lined stave, it is sometimes put on the first ledger line above. Whatever you do, just make sure you mark it as triangle.

Snare drums are the same, as well as toms, bass drum, gong, ect. You can write for "high triangle" and "low triangle", or "high-pitched snare" and "low-pitched snare" (note that it is unusual to distinguish between low and high for these instruments in the first place), but there is no way you can get them to sound like the note you want. Again, they are all "indefinite pitch" instruments. Glockenspiel, timpani, and others, are called "definite pitch" instruments, and so they use treble or bass clef, whichever is appropriate. Indefinite pitch instruments are written on a percussion stave, which looks like either of these:


For you experts, why are there two different clefs? One I hear is "neutral clef" and the other "percussion clef". What is the difference?

Originally Posted by EnigmusJ4

Snare drums are the same, as well as toms, bass drum, gong, ect.

Gongs are pitched! Say tamtam if you refer to those big whooshy sound making thingies without a pitch! It gets so confusing otherwise

Originally Posted by flint-wwrr

This quote is PURE GOLD.

This is some of the best advice you will ever hear regarding the composition of music. The less you specify... the less you clarify, the more likely it is that you will not receive the performance you intended. This is why I comment so frequently and hard against poor notational practices.

</soapbox>

*salutes QcCowboy* Well done, sir.

... unless your intention is to be vague... then all performances are what you intended?

Just sayin'.

And I'm quite certain baroque composers would have been perfectly able to be more specific in their notation if they had wanted to.

Originally Posted by flint-wwrr

This quote is PURE GOLD.

This is some of the best advice you will ever hear regarding the composition of music. The less you specify... the less you clarify, the more likely it is that you will not receive the performance you intended. This is why I comment so frequently and hard against poor notational practices.

</soapbox>

*salutes QcCowboy* Well done, sir.

Unless you can count on the personality of the performers and feel that they also have to input something into the work, so it makes sense to be 95% clear rather than 100%!

In all honesty, I'm working on a work, which I hope will create myriads of different performances and variations! Should be a blast to compare different pianists and different inputs!