NOTATIO

I've decided to add a cautionary accidental to the first note, which should be sufficient help, without muddying the waters too much.

benwiggy wrote: ↑20 Jan 2024, 18:31 I've decided to add a cautionary accidental to the first note, which should be sufficient help, without muddying the waters too much.

I added a cautionary reminder of the E flat in the key signature after an F sharp (Soprano voice bar 191 - crotchet = 54). Most of the preceding eight minutes or so of this piece is without key signature (as is more usual for me), so I don't think this was superfluous or over-fussy (does anybody disagree?). Either way, when it was performed in November, it excited no comment from the three performers (who were outstanding - the T was a Bar because of the rest of the programme, but that worked excellently).

I think that the cautionary accidental was completely appropriate because of the previous E naturals in the piano part.

benwiggy wrote: ↑20 Jan 2024, 18:31 I've decided to add a cautionary accidental to the first note, which should be sufficient help, without muddying the waters too much.

The placement of the cautionary accidental after the "problematic" note (in David's example F#) seems more logical than before it. The second alternative is a little like stating the obvious: Yes, we are in Db! (Five flats, you know.)

I also thought that the "preemptive" parentheses were a little strange, Anders. But whatever works...

There is yet another possibility that I hesitated to mention because of the apparent complexity of the enharmonics in the work in question and the fear that the tie might be misinterpreted as a slur. But I have seen this (to me) elegant solution in the classical canon:

Having browsed through the thread, I find that one solution is missing. The simplest, and least harmful IMO. The equal sign has been suggested already, and really says it all. The parenthesis is important, I think, to show that it's just a reminder, not a new information.

JJP wrote: ↑19 Jan 2024, 05:49

John Ruggero wrote: ↑18 Jan 2024, 13:15 From the music engravers' Hippocratic oath: "First, do no harm."

I thought it was “do no enharm.”

King! I nearly fell off my chair laughing...

Anders Hedelin wrote: ↑23 Jan 2024, 21:23 The equal sign has been suggested already, and really says it all. The parenthesis is important, I think, to show that it's just a reminder, not a new information.

Interestingly, I've just found an equals sign in parentheses (well, several of them!) in an OUP score.