Re: Choral divided writing
Posted: 15 Nov 2016, 15:05
I disagree. Clutter is an important enemy of clarity in scores. I have copied choral pieces of a huge variety of textures over the years, and I agree with Gould on sharing stems, whether SA/TB closed score or separate staves with divisi. In some hymnals they share every possible stem, splitting only when the rhythm differs, regardless of vertical space considerations. This kind of stemming is obviously not confusing to the organist, and the congregation mostly sings the tune if anything. As a choral singer reading parts I find it awkward to go from one stem to two and back to one in a single bar, so as an editor I sometimes avoid excess switching and let a note or two of homophony keep separate stems, because it reads more smoothly. But academic insistence on separate stems is useless when the texture divides differently, such as Sopranos+Altos in 3 equal parts.benwiggy wrote:for short score writing, the parts should have individual stems.