Re: What is this mark?

[Phil Holmes]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Colin Campbell" <address@hidden>
To: <address@hidden>
Sent: Sunday, October 06, 2013 1:13 AM
Subject: Re: What is this mark?
> Looking at my copy of the Novello Messiah, bar 17 is marked for Strings, 
> so it seems pretty clear that your mark is simply a device used by Watkins 
> Shaw to indicate changes in the instrumental summary below the choral 
> parts.  For example, at rehearsal B, bar 22, the mark shows that the top 
> half note belongs to the first violin, while the trumpets have the rest of 
> ther notes on beat one.


Agreed.  My 1966 Novello reprint of the 1959 version has a line spanning 
from the word "Trumpet" to the bracket where they end - this style of 
indication would make a good candidate for a text spanner.

--
Phil Holmes