----- Original Message ----- From: "Kieren MacMillan"
<address@hidden>
To: "Urs Liska" <address@hidden>
Cc: "Lilypond-User Mailing List" <address@hidden>
Sent: Monday, November 11, 2013 2:12 PM
Subject: Re: Beam positions and time signature spacing
In 19th century song notation (e.g. look at all old Peters editions
of Schubert/Schumann etc. songs) slurs were used to indicate melismas
- but they were usually used _in combination_ with beams.
It’s not just "19th century notation": it persisted as the standard in
operas and musicals written/engraved well into the second half of the
20th Century.
And — unimaginably — there are still people in our 21st Century worlds
who still swear [strongly] by it, and consciously use it in their own
writing/engraving.
I have come to _very much_ disagree to this _very common_ practice.
Apart from being redundant this is "evil" because I have to tell
virtually any singer (of any level) that these slurs do _not_ have
any articulatory meaning. It's very hard to convince them on the
intellectual level and even harder making them _really_ ignore them.
Worse than “redundant”, it’s counterproductive and an impediment to
sightsinging and proper phrasing.
“Evil” does really come closest to describing it.
Of the many nuances of music engraving, this is the only one for which
I have a really tall soapbox. =)
Cheers,
Kieren.
===========================================
Not sure which practice you hate: slurs or beams? For myself, a
singer who sings for 10s of hours a week, I like slurs to indicate
melisma and think beaming for the same purpose is irritating in the
extreme.