Notation

K, so I'm working on a choral piece at the moment and I have a really cool effect that I would like to incorporate. The lyrics say "while all the world were chiding" and I would like to have half the choir sing the word chiding (cutting off quickly) while the other half whispers is repeatedly on whatever rhythm they want until the end of the measure. I cant think of any way to make this clear. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks.

Well, you managed to make it clear here, so vocalists should be able to understand it too. :) Why not just write out the sung part for half of the choir, and write the instruction for the other half into their otherwise empty measures? Or you could go for a more graphical solution by writing the whispered "chidings" as little grace notes scattered irregularly in the measure, along with a footnote.

I've had both good and bad experiences with "whatever rhythm they like" instructions. Sometimes it works well, but often musicians will unconsciously align to each other and they will all chant in almost the same rhythm, destroying the effect. In such cases you may get better results if you notate different rhythms, but make a note that the rhythms don't need to be played/sung exactly. But if the conductor takes some time to practice it, free individual rhythms by just an instruction should work well enough.

A good idea might be to 'compose' random rhythms for the first measure, or so...and the tell them to: 'ad lib rhythms' for the rest of it. Starting them off will get them aimed the right direction. Also, as Gardener said, there's nothing wrong with plain english to explain what's going on.

Ad lib are dangerous, but written rhythms are difficult to teach!

Your best bet would be to ask the conductor! It always pays off to have good relationships with the conductor! ;) Just get him the parts, in any of the two options (or both, maybe) and let him take the blame, choosing, and potential fall! But these things very usually need verbal instructions, maybe on the bottom of the staff, or as a note in the begining.

Good luck (and of course to check here with the score complete ;))

I like some of the ideas, but my problem is that I need half of each part to sing and the other to do the chanting. I suppose I could just throw in another layer, but I want it to be clear whats going on.

the clearest thing is to notate each vocal section on two staves (ie: 2 soprano, 2 alto, 2 tenor, etc...) notate what you want the 1st half of each group doing, and notate what the 2nd half does on its own staff.

I would put an "X" note in the staff, with the lyric below, and the text indication "whisper" (or sussurando, or whatever you want to use) or simply a pp marking above the staff, with a squiggly line going through the measure and the text "ad libitum" above the center of that measure only in the staves that are DOING the ad lib part.

the clearest thing is to notate each vocal section on two staves (ie: 2 soprano, 2 alto, 2 tenor, etc...) notate what you want the 1st half of each group doing, and notate what the 2nd half does on its own staff.

I would put an "X" note in the staff, with the lyric below, and the text indication "whisper" (or sussurando, or whatever you want to use) or simply a pp marking above the staff, with a squiggly line going through the measure and the text "ad libitum" above the center of that measure only in the staves that are DOING the ad lib part.

Ohhhhh...I hate optimizing...:glare:

nah, you shouldn't be bothered by optimizing in the least.

if you're working in a methodical fashion, it's all really quite simple.

The only time you'll ahve trouble or annoyances with optimization is if you start doing so too early in the notational process.

optimization is one of the VERY last things you do.

nah, you shouldn't be bothered by optimizing in the least.

if you're working in a methodical fashion, it's all really quite simple.

The only time you'll ahve trouble or annoyances with optimization is if you start doing so too early in the notational process.

optimization is one of the VERY last things you do.

So can I temporarily add extra staves? I'm working with SATB divisi right now and I didnt think Finale could do that.