Re: [Spam] Re: Multiple instruments in score and parts

[David Sumbler]

On Sat, 2017-04-15 at 12:34 +0200, Rutger Hofman wrote:
> On 04/13/2017 03:37 PM, David Sumbler wrote:
> > 
> > On Thu, 2017-04-13 at 09:19 -0400, Kieren MacMillan wrote:
> > > 
> > > Hi David,
> > > 
> > > > 
> > > > 
> > > > At the moment I cannot really see how to deal with this sort of
> > > > problem, other than having completely separate input for the
> > > > score
> > > > and
> > > > the part at these points, controlled by tags.  But is there a
> > > > better
> > > > way - one which requires less duplication of material in the
> > > > input?
> > > > 
> > > > Any suggestions or pointers to help with this will be
> > > > gratefully
> > > > received!
> > > If you search for ‘divisi’ on the list — and sort in reverse
> > > chronological order (which really should be the default!) —
> > > you’ll
> > > find many related threads, containing lots of hints and tips on
> > > how
> > > to attack this problem (e.g., <http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/
> > > lily
> > > pond-user/2016-08/msg00256.html>).
> > > 
> > > Hope this helps,
> > > Kieren.
> > It does - I simply hadn't thought of searching for "divisi"!  Even
> > after a cursory glance at some of the stuff that that search comes
> > up
> > with, I can see that this is going to be very helpful.
> > 
> > Thanks
> > 
> > David
> Yes, this can be accomplished with the divisi engraver (or whatever
> it 
> is called), but I would recommend to use this only in the full
> score, 
> and keep all variants of e.g. Violin I in one part, including 
> first/second half, solo parts etc. From what I have seen, that is 
> customary in professional editions. I have seen a Messiaen Violin I
> part 
> where the divisi is in (uh... what was it... ) 8 or 10 or so solo
> parts, 
> and all were in the same physical Violin I 'part'.
> 
> For winds, this is a different matter. A separate part for each 
> instrument is usual, although sometimes the parts for e.g. the two 
> flutes are combined into one 'part'. I have seen that mostly in
> French 
> editions, FWIW.
> 
> Rutger

I agree with what you say - in the Messiaen example you mention, I
would expect the 8 or 10 divisi Violin 1 lines to be in one physical
part, but probably on 4 or 5 lines - perhaps even 8 or 10.

As an ex-flautist, I would say that the custom of having, say, Flutes 1
and 2 in the same physical part is very useful, so long as each player
has a separate copy of the part.  For flutes, in particular, having 2
players trying to read off the same copy is completely unacceptable
because of the sideways length of the instrument.

In the ballet company for which I mostly worked in the last couple of
decades, I encouraged our arrangers/copyists/typesetters to do the
flute, clarinet, horn etc. parts in this way.  My principle reason for
doing this was that if there is a "dep" (deputy) player owing to
illness or any other reason, they are far less likely to get lost
during a performance if they can see their partner's line of music
above or below their own.  It gives them confidence, resulting in the
likelihood of a better performance than if they are sight-reading a
part with no external references.

David