How to Write Music Part 3

27.--At one time whole notes and shorter notes were not round, but lozenge-shaped, the longer notes being square, and the stem was then in the middle, thus [Symbol: square note]. These gave way to round notes about the seventeenth century. Playford's well-known _Whole Booke of Psalms_, published about 1675, was probably one of the earliest books printed wholly with round notes.

28.--It follows from the foregoing rules that even so apparently simple a task as transcribing a part--soprano, alto, tenor, or ba.s.s--from a short-score hymn or chant book into a choir part-book is not mere copying. In the hymn or chant book the stems of one part are all turned the same way: in the part-book they must be turned according to their relation to the middle line.

Hooks.

29.--With one exception, hooks should be made at the _right-hand_ side of the stem; they are therefore sometimes at the same side as the note-head, and sometimes not.

30.--The exception is when longer and shorter notes are combined in the same group. In this case the hooks not common to the whole group are invariably turned so as to lie _within_ the group, and, subject to this, if the group contains more than one beat, so as to lie _within_ the beat of which they form part.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 20.]

31.--Previous to 1660, each eighth or shorter note had a separate hook or hooks. But at the time of the Restoration, John Playford subst.i.tuted a connecting horizontal line for the separate hooks of two or more eighths belonging to the same division of the measure. The device was copied by the Dutch, French, and Germans. The Italians did not adopt it till later. Thus, Marcello's Psalms, published in Venice as late as 1724-27, have separate hooks. (In an edition in the writer's possession, published in 1757, _united_ hooks are used, but this is probably rather due to the _venue_ than to the later date.)

32.--Hooks in instrumental music must be united in strict accordance with the laws of rhythm (see "Notation of Rhythm," pars. 8-13). Thus, four eighth notes must not have the same hook in Compound Time: they must be grouped as three and one, or one and three, or two and two, according to the position they occupy in the beat they belong to. In three-four time, six eighth notes may have one hook, but in six-eight time they should preferably have separate hooks of three eighth notes each. Broadly speaking, the notes forming a single beat of the measure should be united in one hook, but very commonly two beats have one hook between them, especially in four-four time.

In the case of sixteenths and shorter notes, the outermost hook often shows the half-measure, and the inner hook or hooks the sub-division into beats (see Fig. 21).

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 21.]

33.--So closely should the hooks follow the rhythm, that where a phrase crosses the measure beginning at the end of one measure, and ending at the beginning of the next, the hook crosses the bar-line too, uniting notes in different measures (see a, Fig. 22). Notes may have the same hook though separated by a rest (see b, Fig. 22).

34.--The hook to a group of notes which ascends or descends may either slant in the direction taken by the notes, or may be straight (see c, Fig. 22). In the writer's opinion slanted hooks are preferable as being a better guide to the eye. In ma.n.u.script music, when hooks have to be drawn within the stave, and not above or below it, they should invariably be slanted when this is possible; otherwise they are very apt to coincide with the stave-lines, and fail of distinctness. A common fault is in not making them thick enough. Notes are sometimes "hooked"

in accordance, not with the rhythm, but with the hand which is to play them (see d, Fig. 22). This is necessitated by the usage with regard to stems in such cases [see "Stems," par. 22, exception (2)].

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 22.]

35.--In vocal music notes should not have the same hook which are sung to a different syllable (see "Vocal Music," par. 37). Subject to these exceptions, notes must be grouped according to their rhythm.

Leger-lines.

36.--The appeal to the eye (see "Notation of Rhythm," par. 8, and "Placing of Notes," par. 14) must be maintained as regards the pitch as well as the duration of notes--their perpendicular as well as their horizontal position. Consequently leger-lines must be the same distance from the stave, and from each other, as the stave-lines are one from another. Carelessness in this matter is very common and very confusing.

How often a lower note looks as though above a higher one, because leger-lines are cramped together in one case and too wide apart in another (see Fig. 23).

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 23.]

"Two things which are equal to the same thing are equal to each other,"

as Euclid says: let leger-lines be equidistant with stave-lines, and they will be level with each other.

But accuracy in the number of lines is of more importance than the appeal to the eye, and the appeal to the eye must of course not be made a subst.i.tute for it. The context shows the high note in Fig. 24 (which is several times repeated) to have been _intended_ for E, the position of which, on the paper, it about occupies. But, being on the first leger-line, it _is_ A, and would be were it a yard above the stave! (The example is taken from a _printed_, not a ma.n.u.script copy! The first two notes are evidently intended as grace-notes, though the stems are turned down; the stems in the second half of the first measure should have been turned up.)

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 24.]

Vocal Music.

37.--In vocal music the singing of one syllable to two or more notes is shown in the case of whole notes, half notes, and quarters, by a slur (see Fig. 25).

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 25. Te Deum. C. V. Stanford.]

It will be seen from the above that a slur does not dispense with the necessity for tying consecutive notes of the same pitch, occurring in a pa.s.sage sung to one syllable. For an apparent exception see a pa.s.sage from Handel's "But who may abide":

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 26.]

But here, the repeated note occurring on a strong accent preceded by a weak one, is evidently intended _not_ to be tied, but to receive an emphasis. (Similar exceptions may be found in "Every Valley.")

In modern music, when _all the notes of a measure_ are to be sung to the _same_ syllable, and there is _no likelihood of confusion_, the slur is often dispensed with. This is especially the case in Mendelssohn's music.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 27. Mendelssohn's "St. Paul."]

38.--Eighths and shorter notes, to which one syllable is to be sung, should have a united hook, _provided that they belong to the same rhythmic group_; and _separate_ hooks, though belonging to the same _rhythmic_ group, if sung to separate syllables:

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 28.]

39.--Many writers place a slur over eighth notes, as well as quarters and longer notes, when sung to one syllable. But this is quite unnecessary with hooked notes unless, as in the preceding example, a syllable is sung to a whole group and _part_ of another, or _parts_ of two groups. Redundancy of slurs--very common in old music--is confusing rather than helpful.

Intelligibility depends much upon getting the syllables exactly under or over the notes to which they are to be sung.

40.--Syllables sung to notes extending over more s.p.a.ce than themselves should be followed by dots if forming a complete word, and by strokes, or hyphens, if parts of a word. See preceding examples.

Open Score to Short Score.