Swing Feel

[dj]

And, it don't mean a thing if ain't got that . . . you know . . . what's that called?

[rrayner]

In the aftermath of my cleanup after completing Yesterdays, I thought I would try to extrapolate some of the new tricks Sherry taught me.

Specifically, Sherry and David showed me how to notate glissandi by having two staves for each instrument, one hidden which contains the written-out (and hard to read) glissando, and the other visible staff showing the clean, easy to read notation for printing (see the visible and hidden staves for the baritone sax in measures 1 through 4). I thought I would try to do the same thing with the turns in measures 56 and 57. It turns out (no pun intended) that the way we were taught to play turns at Berklee is not what Mark implemented in the Notation Software, and I assume Mark's implementation is the strict classical form.

The turns we were taught at Berklee sound like the way I notated them in measures 56 and 57. When I tried to implement the Notation turns (tu) in their stead, the resulting sound is not at all what I wanted to hear the horns playing, so I will stick with the way I had originally notated the turns.

See/listen to the attached sample of those two measures: the first two measures are the way I notated the turns; the second two measures have Notation performing the turns. I'm certain that the Notation implementation of turns is legitimate -- it just doesn't fit in a jazz/swing score. You can see the way Notation has handled the turns by using the qsor command. For some reason, Notation hides the eighth notes in measure 4 for the trumpet and tenor.

There may be some refinements that I can make to the Notation turns that could capture the sound I want, but that research will have to come at a later date. Of course, I can still use the visible/hidden staves to clean up the printed parts.

Ralph

[Sherry C]

Hi Ralph,

I'm no expert, but in referring to my little "Essential Dictionary of Music" by Alfred publishing, the Notation rendering of the Turn is "correct" (according to the Dictionary, anyway) while your notation is referred to as an "Inverted Mordent".

I know that even though we think of "standardized notation", sometimes there are still differences in definition of terms due to historical or genre differences. I think this is probably one of those instances

Thanks for pointing out the difference in this instance, and for the opportunity for me to learn a bit more in the process.

ttfn,
Sherry

[rrayner]

Hi Sherry,

I was dead certain that Mark's implementation of a turn would be "spot on".

Thanks for the revisit to my school days. The term "inverted mordent" does sound familiar, although I never could have identified it as such.

Maybe you could add it to the palette??

Ralph

[Sherry C]

Hi Ralph,

Actually mordents - both upward and downward - are already on the Ornaments palette (right after Turn and Delayed Turn).

ttfn,
Sherry

[dj]

Hi, guys:

An inverted mordent would, roughly translated, be an "upside down dying".

Jargon is weird, sometimes.

(It's so freaking cold here that I'm in a joking frame of mind, to try to generate warmth. Spent most of the day yesterday down in my well, trying to unfreeze things. We have water again.)

David

[Sherry C]

Hi David,

Originally Posted by dj

(It's so freaking cold here that I'm in a joking frame of mind, to try to generate warmth. Spent most of the day yesterday down in my well, trying to unfreeze things. We have water again.)

Glad you've now got water, and hope you're enjoying some of the heat wave we're having now (it got up to 15F today). I know you guys have it a lot worse than we do.

I also hope thinking up jokes revs up the brain to put off more heat

ttfn,
Sherry