Re: engraving question - temporary voices in vocal music

[Trevor Daniels]

Janek Warchoł wrote Friday, February 18, 2011 8:00 PM

> i have a SATB choral piece and occasionally some voices are split 
> in
> two. If the rhythyms differ, a polyphonic notation must be used -
> that's obvious. But, what to do in the situation pictured in the
> problem.png attachment? Is the notation used self-explanatory?
> It's all about the first note. In my opinion it's clear that it 
> should
> be sang by both voices, but maybe an explicit polyphonic notation
> should be used (see explicit.png)?
> Do engraving books say anything about this?
> What do you think about this?

I think it would depend on the length of the passage which is the
same for the two voices.  If this is extensive with just a few notes
that split, then using just one voice for the notes that are the 
same
is fine.  If the opposite applies, with a long passage of split 
notes
and a short section where the notes are the same then making
them explicit would be clearer.

In your case you say the voices split occasionally, so I'd use
two voices only for those occasional sections.

Trevor