Re: Lyircs melsima line ending in interpunctation

[Hayden Muhl]

I am a singer, and would like to weigh in.

In my opinion, it is preferable to put the punctuation with the syllable. The punctuation may have an impact on how the singer wants to interpret a phrase. If you put the punctuation after the extension line, the singer will not see the punctuation until he's already done with the line. To my mind, this would be equivalent to putting the final consonant at the end of the passage, and I hope no one would think that would be a good idea.

One thing I have seen in some scores is reprinting the syllable in parentheses after a page or line break. Take this line from the Queen of the Night's famous aria. If the melisma extends across too many staves or pages, you might see this. 

  Al - le Ban ________________________________

  

  (Ban)____________________ - de der Na - tur.

Another possibility might look like this.

  Al - le Ban ________________________________

  

  ______________________(Ban) - de der Na - tur

I've only seen something like the first example in print. I only included the second example, because it is similar to what the publisher is asking for. As a singer, I would probably prefer the first example.

On Mon, Jan 23, 2012 at 1:10 PM, David Kastrup <address@hidden> wrote:

Shane Brandes <address@hidden> writes:

>> On Mon, Jan 23, 2012 at 3:21 PM, David Kastrup <address@hidden> wrote:
>>> Marc Hohl <address@hidden> writes:
>>>
>>>> Am 23.01.2012 20:36, schrieb Nils:
>>>>> [...]
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> Any known solutions? And if not: I find it strange to make it like
>>>>> this. Do you know reasons that speaks against __ _ _! which I can
>>>>> tell my publisher?
>>>> Well, at least in "Behind bars" from Elaine Gould it is explained that the
>>>> punctuations come *before* the extender line. This book is said to be
>>>> the ultimate guide to writing scores - does that count?
>>>
>>> I'd be interested in the rationale.  So what is the explanation?
>

> It would seem more useful. To have such punctuation against the word
> for the reason that for example with an exclamation point it alters
> the _expression_ of the word. if you have to arrive at the end of the
> extender lines to find out about such a change it impedes a quick and
> accurate reading of the score.

Your opinion or that of Gould?  A valid reason would be in my opinion
that a period or comma would likely get lost behind an extender.  But
for singing, where hyphenation also is often altered to put the
consonant at the beginning of the next syllable, it does seem strange to
put a full stop first, then have a complete phrase following still.

--
David Kastrup

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