Hi Murray,
please always include the list as others might wish to know the answer
as well.
Do I understand your answer to my first question correctly when I
paraphrase it like this:
"I'm aware that some of my new clefs replicate other already existing
clefs. I do that simply because of personal taste".
FWIW I'm used to reading tenor, soprano, mezzosoprano and alto clef (on
top of the usual G and F clefs) due to choir music having used these
clefs during the 19th century. At least in germany. So I would not want
to use different shapes to the same meaning. But then I don't play
bagpipes and know between little to nothing about their traditions.
Since you wish for seven letters for the diffent notes something could
be tuned to then I ask (a bit provocatively ;):
Why not suggest twelve?
Am 17.01.25 um 18:46 schrieb murray.macken...@forces.gc.ca:
Michael,
At the outset, I should mention that I'm a bit of a math guy. I like G to mean
G, and F to mean F, and C to mean C always.
A FEW EXAMPLES:
In the situation of a single-lined stave: I want to be able to index that line
(Fritz BERGER style uniline) with any of the first (1st) seven (7) letters of
the roman alphabet. And - for example - I don't like to use a G-clef to index
a single B-line. Some kind of clef that looks like a B should be used for that.
Back in the 1970s when drummers writing & playing sheet music designed to
competitively work for specific pipe tunes was still kind of a new thing: The
snare line would be G from the G-clef, and the tenor drum line would be an F from
the F clef, and the bass line would also be an F from a very similar F clef. This
worked because the bass was in the bottom of the system and the snare would be up
top and the tenor would be in between. In this method, the clefs of the drum
voices weren't actually indicating pitches, but nowadays for the tenor/bass corps
some bands are starting to have a bunch of differently pitched drums.
So now the tenor & bass drums, which were bagpipe instrument pitch A3 & A2
respectively, should be acknowledged as A's, thusly the bass drum voice can get a
dedicated clef (A2) and the tenors can do whatever they do (quasi melody on 5-line
F-clef is the current fashion for them).
I also hear there are also deliberately dissonant tunings now towards the
subtonic or supertonic degrees of the pipe scale instead of the more intuitive
tonic, dominant,... etc. In that case I double-down on my desire for
generality of the clef-fonts.
Another example would be using a D-clef to index the center-line of the three-line stave
used in the "Binneas is Borreraig" book of classical Highland piping (samples
can be seen on the web). An F-clef up that high would just feel wrong and there are no G
or C lines in that stave. The author, Roderick ROSS (therefor I suppose) declined to use
clefs entirely.
And I think maybe someone will ask: Why have even a single line if the
instrument voice only has one (1) pitch? Answer: Highland drummers place
punctae above the line for right-hand notes and below the line for left-hand
notes; thusly no R's and L's under the score. The tenors (at least one tenor
drummer) often do other things entirely, and these days they seem to own both
the F-clefs and the C-clefs.
Cpl Murray J. MacKenzie, BSc CD1
3rd Piper, THE CAPE BRETON HIGHLANDERS
Canadian Armed Forces
murray.macken...@forces.gc.ca / pers cell: (902) 565-2326 / unit fax: (902)
564-2533
3eme Sonneur, THE CAPE BRETON HIGHLANDERS
Forces armées canadiennes
murray.macken...@forces.gc.ca / pers cell: (902) 565-2326 / unit fax: (902)
564-2533
-----Original Message-----
From: Michael Gerdau <m...@qata.de>
Sent: Friday, January 17, 2025 06:00
To: Murray MacKENZIE <mur...@hotmail.com>; supp...@musescore.com; lilypond-user@gnu.org;
MacMillan Sgt MJ@CBH@Sydney <michael.macmill...@forces.gc.ca>; Alex Hellsten
<alex.hells...@iki.fi>
Cc: MacKenzie Cpl MJ@CBH@Sydney <murray.macken...@forces.gc.ca>; Mike MacMillan
<mike_macmill...@hotmail.com>
Subject: Re: clef - letter clefs - A, B, D, E
Hi Murray,
I've looked at your clefs and have a few questions:
1) What is the difference between your AtriumTHREE/BarraTHREE/EuEchoFOUR clefs
and tenor (or tenorvarC)/tenorG/mezzosoprano clefs respectively?
At first glance they appear to mean the same.
2) Which musical problem are you trying to solve by these new clefs?
[note I'm not disputing they might be useful, I'm just curious]
Kind regards,
Michael
--
Michael Gerdau email: m...@qata.de
GPG-keys available on request or at public keyserver
