Re: Big Measures in Large Ensemble

[Trevor Daniels]

craigbakalian wrote Friday, July 24, 2009 11:58 PM

> I am writing a large ensemble work, a saxophone concerto.  The 
> first
> movement is in 8/4.  It has got to be an 8/4 because I am 
> constantly
> shifting the 3+3+2 to 3+2+3 and 2+3+3 quality of beat emphasis and
> phrasing.  The sax has 16th notes, often enough.  This question 
> may be a
> bit premature, but I am worried about the smashing and stretching 
> of
> measures that could occur.  Does anyone have experience with this? 
> And
> is there a possibility of cutting a measure off and finishing it 
> on
> another page?

Yes, as long as there is a place in the
measure where all sounding notes end
simultaneously.  A line break can be permitted
or even forced at that point.  See
"Bar lines" in section 1.2.5 Bars in the
Notation Reference.

Trevor