Re: style sheet: dynamic {espr, dolce, legato}

[Reinhold Kainhofer]

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1

Am Dienstag, 23. September 2008 schrieb Mark Polesky:
> ----- Original Message ----
> From: Graham Percival <address.hidden>
> Sent: Tuesday, September 23, 2008 2:12:56 AM
>
> > I did my horizontal placement can be done with #:translate.  What
> > snippet are you thinking of?  I didn't realize there was enough
> > material to make an "exhaustive" study of the subject.
>
> http://lilypond.org/doc/v2.11/input/lsr/lilypond-snippets/Tweaks-and-overri
>des#horizontally-aligning-custom-dynamics-e.g.-sempre-pp,-piu-f,-subito-p.ly
>
> > The one tricky thing is the horizontal placement: for things like "mf
> > dolce", I wanted the "mf" aligned with the notehead.  For something
> > like "sub p", should the "p" be aligned with the notehead, or should
> > the "sub" be aligned?
>
> The above-mentioned snippet argues that the dynamic should be aligned
> with the notehead, 

Yes, for a "sempre pp" that's what both an old engraving from 189x and one 
from 1996 do. Actually, one instrument has a p and all others have "sempre 
pp". The p and pp are aligned with each other.

> not the italic-text, but intuitively that seems 
> wrong to me. Perhaps it depends on the specific circumstance, but I'm
> thinking of something like "poco a poco più f". As a musician, I'd
> start "poco a poco"-ing as soon as the first word starts -- I wouldn't
> wait till the "f". 

True, but then "poco a poco" is probably a bad example, as for me the "poco a 
poco"-ing starts with the text, so you definitely shouldn't align the f on 
the note (since the f does not affect the note, but it gradually evolved a 
few notes later)
Imagine a "subito pp". If you are sight-reading such a mark, it's really easy 
to miss the fact that the pp should start immedately at the spot 
where "subito" is placed.

> That said, I wonder what the treatises have to say 
> on the topic (eg. Gardner Read etc.).

Gardner Read is quiet on such dynamics with additional comments. However, 
here's what he says in general about dynamic markings (p.252):
"In general, dynamic marks should be placed //as close as possible// to the 
notes they affect -- if this position is consistent with over-all visual 
clarity."

Cheers,
Reinhold

- -- 
- ------------------------------------------------------------------
Reinhold Kainhofer, Vienna University of Technology, Austria
email: address@hidden, http://reinhold.kainhofer.com/
 * Financial and Actuarial Mathematics, TU Wien, http://www.fam.tuwien.ac.at/
 * K Desktop Environment, http://www.kde.org, KOrganizer maintainer
 * Chorvereinigung "Jung-Wien", http://www.jung-wien.at/
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v1.4.6 (GNU/Linux)

iD8DBQFI2suDTqjEwhXvPN0RApPxAKCotHV25Cz/UNCXQZGfL6qUooAabgCgkVRM
PbADZp49FgozGRg+yJ7fncw=
=T0Ly
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----