Re: How to lengthen dynamics hairpin

[David Rogers]

On Aug 24, 2004, at 2:27 PM, Bertalan Fodor wrote:

> I was thinking about it and I think the problem is general with 
> dynamics. I suppose they shouldn't start and end where they do now. 
> They start too late and end too soon. The latter is more important. 
> Some hand-engraved score could help deciding this. Generally I feel 
> that the < and > mark should include the noteheads they belong to.

Looking at just a few hand-engraved scores (all from before 1970, 
including Universal Edition, Gutheil [from Russia], Peters, and Boosey 
& Hawkes), it seems that the rules for the dynamic marks < and > are 
complex and/or flexible. They seem to be placed so that they start at 
the left side of the first notehead, and end at the right side of the 
last notehead, *IF* the < > are closest to the heads of the notes and 
not the stems. If they are closest to the beam of a beamed group of 
notes, they seem to coincide with the length of the beam. But if the < 
or > are nearest the stems of notes that don't have beams, then they 
extend through the plane of the heads of the notes and don't stop at 
the stems. Usually.

If the < or > are just before a bar line, and are intended to continue 
only to the first note of the next bar, they go well past the end of 
the last note of the previous bar, but not quite as far as the bar 
line. *Sometimes*. Other times they do cross the bar line for only one 
note. And they also seem often to be "harmonized" graphically with 
whatever happens to be next to them - sometimes they will coincide with 
a sharp rather than the notehead, for example, presumably only because 
it was the closest element; or they may be shortened or bent to 
accomodate other markings.

Some of the < and > signs do not follow these formats at all - instead, 
presumably intended as more "general" signs, they cover whole bars or 
several bars, and are obviously placed without regard to note 
positions.

It also appears that they are one of the first things to be modified, 
often in asymmetrical ways, in case of collision or near-collision with 
anything else. Perhaps as if they were placed last, being only straight 
lines and relatively easy to "fit in".


I have no idea whether my un-scientific observations have anything to 
do with what the engravers had in mind when doing these signs - I 
suspect there was a good deal of "eyeballing" the positions of 
dynamics.

David