Re: {SPAM 01.0} Re: Changing the form of a whole-bar rest

[David Sumbler]

On Sun, 2016-12-04 at 15:40 +0000, Phil Holmes wrote:
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Simon Albrecht" <address@hidden>
> To: <address@hidden>; <address@hidden>
> Sent: Sunday, December 04, 2016 3:23 PM
> Subject: Re: Changing the form of a whole-bar rest
> 
> 
> > 
> > On 04.12.2016 15:16, David Sumbler wrote:
> > > 
> > > I want the "normal" whole-bar rest to appear instead, i.e. a
> > > semibreve
> > > rest.
> > Why would you want that?
> > 
> > Best, Simon
> 
> Seems to make a good deal of sense to me.  We use full measure rests
> when 
> the bar length is 1/4, 2/4, 3/4, 3/8, 4/4, 6/4, 2/2, 3/2, etc.,
> etc.  Why 
> should 4/2 be different?
> 
> I would also remark that personally, I think WMRs are the work of the
> devil. 
> In music where the time signature changes frequently (e.g. the
> Durufle 
> Requiem) having to keep looking for the most recent time sig change
> to count 
> the rests before you come in is a complete pain.  Don't know who
> started it 
> as an idea, but I think they should be shot.  Just my 2p.
> 
> --
> Phil Holmes 

Having spent over half a century playing in orchestras, I confess I
have never questioned the use of semebreve rests as whole bar rests.
 But I take Phil's point.  Now that you have made the point, the
convention does seem illogical and in no way helpful - except that in a
full score it makes it more obvious which voices/instruments are
playing and which are not.

Simon asks why I want a semibreve rest in a bar which has the length of
a breve.  Basically, for consistency.

The short piece I am setting is for flute and baritone voice.  The
nature of the rhythms are such that I wrote it (37 years ago!) without
time signatures, which would just clutter things up; the actual number
and length of beats mostly varies in each bar.  However, the groupings
are clear from the notation, and as there are only 2 lines of music to
follow, I still think that the decision to omit the time signatures was
a good one.

There is just one bar which is as long as a semibreve, and using a
different rest in the voice part at that point would simply distract
the singer for no reason.  It certainly looks better with a semibreve
rest.

As it happens, the bar is a bar of 4/2, but it could just as easily
have been (3+4+5+4)/8 or something; what would be the point of using a
different rest mark just for this one bar?

Actually, setting this piece has been very useful for me, because there
have been a number of challenges - "how do I do such-and-such?"  I have
managed to solve most of the problems myself, but correcting (or the
opposite, if that is your opinion) this rest stumped me.

I have another problem which I haven't managed to solve yet - I might
be back tomorrow with another question!

David