Re: Why the part-combining in American hymnals? (WAS: Beaming, partcombine and pickups)

[David Wright]

On Mon 19 Sep 2016 at 21:32:10 (-0400), Kieren MacMillan wrote:
> Hi David,
> 
> > Turning the leaves of American hymnbooks, I can't see many
> > where space is saved just by combining voices.
> 
> I don’t have time to do the same… but as I said, the spacing savings of 
> combined voices is quite easy to demonstrate:

Yes, I understood your post, and your snippet shows the effect you're
talking about. But the hymns in the small sample of American hymnbooks
I've consulted do not look like your snippet.

By way of an example, the attached hymn, taken once again from
http://www.hymnary.org/text/amazing_grace_how_sweet_the_sound#pagescans
(panel 12, I think), illustrates my point. Look at the gap below the
words to verse 5 in the first system. Why is that space there? Because
the systems are all the same height, making the page more balanced and
pleasing to the eye.

Cheers,
David.

snippet.png
Description: PNG image

hymn266.jpg
Description: JPEG image