> Mats Bengtsson <mats.bengts...@ee.kth.se> writes: > >> Graham Percival wrote: > >>> I don't think that lilypond should serve as a crutch to composer who >>> know so little about their craft that they write unplayable notes. >>> But if you want to persue this, feel free to write a music function >>> which checks the ranges (or anything else) and add it to LSR.
is ly strictly a composers tool? There are also musicologist editors of editions, arrangers, part-scribes and even performers making private editions to consider as users. speaking as a player, mainly I work with editions of renaissance music, both tablature for plucked strings and mensural for winds and mixed ensembles. Quite a bit of that music was originally published for the marketplace of anyone who would buy it, to be performed on whatever ensemble was available. It is often performed that way today. it is a rare incunabula edition that limited itself to particular arrangements, the 3vv 15c polyphonic music of isaac, josquin, busnois, compere etc had a wide variety of part ranges and is playable on all sorts of winds as well as bowed and plucked strings - ATB, STB, SSA (TTB), AAT... Later music for 4vv, 5vv, 6vv+ and poly-choral settings was less wide ranging, but also remained varied; modern instrumental ensembles do have to consider ambitus at times even there. Some editions are kind and print part ranges so one isnt obliged to scan several pages and can just pick a piece or two for the sunday band to look at; other editions sport penciled showing the omitted information, along with custos and other performers aids. Ambitus information can be useful to the music director and the performer when printed on the TOC, or as a part of an incipit; I dont think it has much use to anyone when left on the console. There are several online references for composers that cover the subject of instrument ranges and capabilities; there is no one proper range for any particular instrument, not even the concert piano (concert grands are made with extended bass ranges). Some instruments are incomplete in fundamental ranges, others are limited in the hands of an ordinary player, but can reliably be taken higher in the hands of a virtuoso; giving different ranges for the section and for the soloist. Use of strict replica instruments for baroque and early romantic music brings problems with certain notes on valve-less and port-less trumpets, horns and trombones; 3-keyed clarinets and oboes (which lack trill keys, and will have a diatonic fundamental octave)). Alto recorders on certain models have nearly the range of a flute, other models only two octaves; this is because the alto size has natural hole placements close to where the players fingers want to be, and also have a wind-force requirement that is well-matched to the human players capability. Other sizes of recorder are not so generous, an octave and a seventh or 6th. -- Dana Emery _______________________________________________ lilypond-devel mailing list lilypond-devel@gnu.org http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/lilypond-devel
