What a difference a line makes!

[benwiggy]

It is occasionally asked whether lyric extension lines serve any useful purpose -- and sometimes one sees scores that don't use them.

I recently had to sing the following**, where the words "Christ" and "Christ-mas" were both used in melismas; so you had to decide what vowel you were going to sing before you got to the next syllable (which wasn't always nearby, or even on the same system).

Screenshot.png (49.5 KiB) Viewed 141420 times

The extension line shows you that it's a single word; the hyphens tell you it's part of a longer word! Crucial information that would otherwise be lacking from the immediately available context.

** Or something not entirely dissimilar..

[JJP]

@benwiggy I love this perfect example.

[NeeraWM]

I've recently proofread a score whose manuscript made no difference between hyphen and extension underscore... the fact it was not in my native tongue made it unnecessarily complex!

[Schonbergian]

I don't find the extension line on "For" to serve any real purpose - the left-aligned lyric text should be enough for a melisma that only covers that much horizontal space. For "Christ" it definitely aids in readability.

I am very partial to the Baerenreiter custom of placing punctuation after the extender line rather than before; I think it makes much more intuitive sense, but they are the only publisher I have seen using this style.

[benwiggy]

Ideally, I would have put a slur over the "For" as well, but I'd still value the line there.

I did some work for a publisher recently who insisted that there was always a tiny bit of a line on any melisma, unless it was really impossible.

[Anders Hedelin]

Ideally, I would have put a slur over the "For" as well, but I'd still value the line there.

I did some work for a publisher recently who insisted that there was always a tiny bit of a line on any melisma, unless it was really impossible.

I agree, on both points. Personally I don't find the double information of slurs and extension lines especially disturbing.
Combined with ties the extension lines are even more called for, I think, as in A below. To my eyes at least there's definitely something missing in B.

Extension lines.JPG (14.91 KiB) Viewed 141091 times

And, if you use them in this context, it would seem more consistent, and reader-friendly, to have them everywhere.

[JJP]

Singers will sometimes focus their attention primarily on either notes or lyrics, only peripherally processing the other. Having both slurs and extension lines ensures they receive the performance information wherever they focus.

[MichelRE]

wasn't there a question of some score with the word "hum-ble" crossing a page turn, and the choir suddenly switching to "bouche fermé" at the bottom of that page?

[benwiggy]

wasn't there a question of some score with the word "hum-ble" crossing a page turn, and the choir suddenly switching to "bouche fermé" at the bottom of that page?

That's why things like mmm are usually in italics.

(Singers will also, as a joke in rehearsal, sing the words of an instruction, if it hasn't been written in italics.)

[OCTO]

It is occasionally asked whether lyric extension lines serve any useful purpose -- and sometimes one sees scores that don't use them.

I recently had to sing the following**, where the words "Christ" and "Christ-mas" were both used in melismas; so you had to decide what vowel you were going to sing before you got to the next syllable (which wasn't always nearby, or even on the same system).

Screenshot.png

The extension line shows you that it's a single word; the hyphens tell you it's part of a longer word! Crucial information that would otherwise be lacking from the immediately available context.

** Or something not entirely dissimilar..

What is the software and the lyric's font?