Seeking Notation Advice

[Jody Stecher]

I'm wondering if I am giving too much left hand information in a score I'm developing.  I'd like to know what the site members here think and what they prefer. 

The Humours of Glendart is a simple double jig that plays easily in C. I've kept it in its original key of D for 2 reasons.

1) In C the highest note is F so there is no opportunity to play the 5th string.

2) In D the B part of the tune practically plays itself when hand positions are held in place. The fingers of the right hand do all the work. It is lovely economy of motion.

I prefer elevated bass tuning for this tune because of the sonority it produces and also because it puts F# at fret 4 thus avoiding big jumps between A at fret 2 and F# at fret 6 as it would be in C tuning.

Part 1 (the A part) is straightforward. In measures 1, 3, and 5 I prefer the sound of B on the 3rd string. Elsewhere in this part I use the open B string. I have not notated this, preferring an uncluttered score.

My first puzzle is the transition from the A to the B part. The first phrase of the B part begins with the "pickup" at the end of measure 8. That note and the next 4 are all gotten out of a hand position that remains in place except to lift the 4th finger to get E on fret 2 of string 1, which is part of an index finger bar/barre/barré.  I have questions about this.

1) Do people prefer seeing the fingering of the PB  chord vertically as in measure 8 or horizontally as in measure 9, one number to the left of each musical note?

2) As the B part  opening phrase and its fingering begin at the last note of the A part I've put information about that in measure 8 and then again in measure 9 at the start of the third line of the score. It would be simpler if measures 8 and 9 were side by side but that would upset the symmetry of 4 measures per line until the end.  What would best?

Then 2 measures later, starting in measure 11 we have a new hand position: 421.

Here I have given strings, fingers and right hand finger indications. The latter is essential for the musical flow. But for the left hand perhaps it is redundant to give both fingers and strings.

I would value the opinion of others on this matter.

I am bearing in mind Marc's wise council that people are free to ignore fingering indications so I can add whatever suggestions or instructions I wish. But I'm also trying to balance this with an uncluttered appearance to the score.

The score in its current experimental condition is attached below. 

Thoughts and suggestions will be appreciated.

Thanks,

Jody

[Trapdoor2]

It looks to me like you're working at the "California Dept. of Redundancy Dept." ;-)

As my typical usage of fingering is to develop Tab, I shouldn't really have a dog in this fight. However, I do use it and I do read it...I just don't sight-read/play from it.

To me, single melody line fingering should be next to individual notes. Positions should start wherever you think the player ought to get into position. In this case, I would delete the "421" in M8. In M11, pick your poison. I do like string bubbles...but they're really redundant with the 4P......... and fingering.

Familiar tune. Ah, probably because it was featured in one of the Harry Potter movies...

[Jody Stecher]

OK. The player should get into position at the very end of measure 8. I can indicate that without 421. But I want the player to know the position extends well into measure 9. If I extend the horizontal line into measure 9 when they are on the same line of the score there is no problem at all. But if I try to extend it across a line break Musescore goes bananas and throws up obstacles that are hard to clear.  I could start measure 9 at the end of line 2 thereby upsetting the symmetry of 4 bars per line but I'd rather not. So I'm uncertain what to do. 

I do know that bubbles and fingering and 4P is too much. But I don't which of these are preferred by others.

Dept. of Redundancy Dept is my second favorite sign. My favorite is said to be real, spotted at a military base in Virginia in the 1960s. There was a sign on a door. It said "No Admittance To Authorized Personnel".

[Trapdoor2]

I tried it out on mine (I copied your score into Musescore). I have no problem setting a text line that wraps from the end of one to the beginning of the next line. Of course, it just sez "2PB--" on the last note of M8 and M9 has the extension of dots...

I select the last note in M8, then hold down the shift key and select the 4th note in M9. That highlights everything in between. Then I pull down the "palettes" menu and select "Lines" and then "more" and there's a "VII----" symbol. That's the "text line". Click that, which places VII----- into the score where you highlghted. Then I highlight it, go to "properties", change the text to 2PB and change the line-type to dots. Done! Sometimes it will extend the dots too far but you just click on it and drag the dotted line shorter...

Of course, as we've talked about before, you're using the Mac version and I'm not. It sounds very different.

The%20Humors%20of%20Glendart.pdf

[Jody Stecher]

Oh!  I was doing it a different way. I'll try your way. I bet it works. Thank you.

Trapdoor2 said:

I tried it out on mine (I copied your score into Musescore). I have no problem setting a text line that wraps from the end of one to the beginning of the next line. Of course, it just sez "2PB--" on the last note of M8 and M9 has the extension of dots...

I select the last note in M8, then hold down the shift key and select the 4th note in M9. That highlights everything in between. Then I pull down the "palettes" menu and select "Lines" and then "more" and there's a "VII----" symbol. That's the "text line". Click that, which places VII----- into the score where you highlghted. Then I highlight it, go to "properties", change the text to 2PB and change the line-type to dots. Done! Sometimes it will extend the dots too far but you just click on it and drag the dotted line shorter...

Of course, as we've talked about before, you're using the Mac version and I'm not. It sounds very different.

The%20Humors%20of%20Glendart.pdf

[Jody Stecher]

I'm getting everything except for the line starting after 2PB within measure 8. I've tried it 3 times and each time the line starts at the beginning of measure 9. I undid the layout of measures so that measures 8 and 9 were side by side. Automatically the line started within measure 8. I restored the layout of 4 measures per line and once again there was no line until  measure 8.  So I have to find some other way to fool the software to do what I want.

Jody Stecher said:

Oh!  I was doing it a different way. I'll try your way. I bet it works. Thank you.

Trapdoor2 said:

I tried it out on mine (I copied your score into Musescore). I have no problem setting a text line that wraps from the end of one to the beginning of the next line. Of course, it just sez "2PB--" on the last note of M8 and M9 has the extension of dots...

I select the last note in M8, then hold down the shift key and select the 4th note in M9. That highlights everything in between. Then I pull down the "palettes" menu and select "Lines" and then "more" and there's a "VII----" symbol. That's the "text line". Click that, which places VII----- into the score where you highlghted. Then I highlight it, go to "properties", change the text to 2PB and change the line-type to dots. Done! Sometimes it will extend the dots too far but you just click on it and drag the dotted line shorter...

Of course, as we've talked about before, you're using the Mac version and I'm not. It sounds very different.

The%20Humors%20of%20Glendart.pdf

[Jody Stecher]

I thought perhaps the problem was the repeat sign at the end of measure 8. But removing it did not fix the problem. However....the line beginning at the start of measure 9 is still much better than the line beginning at the end of measure 8 and extending to the right for a half a mile past the border of the score, better than a phantom measure added between 8 and 9, better than some other anomalies I previously got which are hard to describe other than "unwanted".

BTW, sure enough I found a Harry Potter soundtrack with the Humours of Glendart. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8zSbX9cmjw

And sure enough, my version is more melodious, for which I take no credit. I'm simply presenting the tune as I learned it. 

[Trapdoor2]

To get a couple of dots after 2PB on M8, simply drag the 2PB a little to the left...and the dots will appear. The program wont put them in if there's no room.

[Jody Stecher]

That was the first thing I tried. It didn't work. I guess I didn't pull it far enough left 'cause I did again just now and ...Voila!

Thanks a million for all your help, Marc.  I hope others can benefit from this conversation as well. Musescore has steadily improved over the years without a change in price. It's still free and the scores it creates look good. And it's fun to use as well. 

Trapdoor2 said:

To get a couple of dots after 2PB on M8, simply drag the 2PB a little to the left...and the dots will appear. The program wont put them in if there's no room.