John Ruggero wrote:One issue is that measure 3 is badly notated. The dotted quarter should be a quarter tied to an eighth. Then the quarter could be on line 2 and the eighth on line 3 and you could have a nice half measure split on a long note, if desired.
Dotted quarter seems entirely appropriate to me for version B, but I agree that for A, splitting the measure after the second beat is a better option.
John Ruggero wrote:I am sorry but I don't quite understand the the part about splitting a measure on this page to get a good turn at the bottom of the next page. I might have to see the particular case.
Since the split does not affect the page reflow, I'm not entirely sure either. I must have been tired.
Anyway, suppose you had a page break between systems 2 and 3. Would you still keep the version B?
OCTO wrote:I would prefer C.
The only reason for this is that splitting measures is intended for correction of spacing, however, in your examples there is the same amount of music represented on the same amount of space - therefore both have some oddities.
If you want to include measure splitting, the final output of two examples should not be the same.
Sorry, I don't follow.
My question wasn't, 'which version has the perfect spacing?', but rather, 'Do you prefer the bar to be split or not?'
How would version C look like in terms of measure flow from system to system?
OCTO wrote:Different spacing algorithms must be applied to your both examples in order to get properly spaced - I am not sure which, but you have to test it. Unfortunately, spacing in S and F is on the measure basis, which makes it harder to edit (spacing).
Given my original question, using the same algorithm for both versions was kind of the point, but maybe I'm misunderstanding you.
Peter West wrote:I agree. While splitting the bar looks nicer if viewing the layout aesthetically, what works best for the player reading the notes has to take priority if there is a choice. A is like badly hyphenated text, it is readable, but requires interruptions in the reading to make sense of where you're at.
If only Xenakis had used 2/4 instead of 4/4!
Thanks, Peter!
When working as an engraver, I've always been very careful about this. My problem though, is that I find A easier to read than B (i.e., version B looks, to me, a bit like trying to avoid hyphenation when its appropriate), so I'm trying to develop a better sense of what an actual qualified musician would prefer. Based on the responses, this might seem pretty straight forward, but for me, it's not.
The original layout looks even better to me, though, but that's neither here, nor there.