Re: Simple 4/4 grouping poll
Posted: 21 Apr 2022, 11:27
I hope this is not getting too OT; but I think notation always depends to some extent on for whom it is intended.
I would not have notated the rhythm across two beats shown right at the top on the attached screenshot if I'd been writing for a symphony orchestra. I would have used the conventional ties whenever I was crossing a beat. However, this piece was written in the first instance for two very versatile musicians who seemed to appreciate seeing the figure ‘as a unit’.
This page can be heard here https://composers-uk.com/davidward/wp-c ... _1.mp3?_=6 at about 4 mins 30 secs as recorded at a live performance in 2010.
Here is some background (apologies for getting more and more OT, but it is an illustration of how and when things work well which might be time-wasting in different circumstances). One of the two performers is trombonist Emily White on trombone, alto sackbut, violin (! yes she plays that too) and a bit of percussion as well as singing and intoning the fragments of text. The other is violinist Steve Bingham who plays electric violin, electric bass violin with live loops, and briefly ordinary violin in duet with Emily, as well as a bit of percussion. The texts are fragments of e-mails Scottish artist Jane Frere http://janefrere.info/ sent me in 2007/8 when she was working with young Palestinians.
Anyway, my point is that notation can be flexible depending on circumstances. In this instance the circumstances were specific and unusual.
I would not have notated the rhythm across two beats shown right at the top on the attached screenshot if I'd been writing for a symphony orchestra. I would have used the conventional ties whenever I was crossing a beat. However, this piece was written in the first instance for two very versatile musicians who seemed to appreciate seeing the figure ‘as a unit’.
This page can be heard here https://composers-uk.com/davidward/wp-c ... _1.mp3?_=6 at about 4 mins 30 secs as recorded at a live performance in 2010.
Here is some background (apologies for getting more and more OT, but it is an illustration of how and when things work well which might be time-wasting in different circumstances). One of the two performers is trombonist Emily White on trombone, alto sackbut, violin (! yes she plays that too) and a bit of percussion as well as singing and intoning the fragments of text. The other is violinist Steve Bingham who plays electric violin, electric bass violin with live loops, and briefly ordinary violin in duet with Emily, as well as a bit of percussion. The texts are fragments of e-mails Scottish artist Jane Frere http://janefrere.info/ sent me in 2007/8 when she was working with young Palestinians.
Anyway, my point is that notation can be flexible depending on circumstances. In this instance the circumstances were specific and unusual.