Skip to main content ↑ ↓
Topic: Broken bars (Read 4571 times) previous topic - next topic

Broken bars

In the example attached, having some layered staves that end before the end of the piece, the bar lines in the grand staff are broken. I mean: the bar lines are two segments with a hole in the middle.
Is it there a reason for that behaviour?

Re: Broken bars

Reply #1 –
G'day Flurmy,
the layered staff (the short one) has different upper and lower limits - 12 and 16 instead of 13 and 14 as the real top staff is set.
I plays 'Bones, crumpets, coronets, floosgals, youfonymums 'n tubies.

Re: Broken bars

Reply #2 –
Thank you Lawrie.
I was sure I overlooked something stupid.

Re: Broken bars

Reply #3 –
I liked Flurmy's composition, but not being a pianist, I was wondering if this sort of leap in the left hand is common, or would it be easier to give the treble clef notes to the right hand?

!NoteWorthyComposerClip(2.0,Single)
|Clef|Type:Bass
|Note|Dur:8th,Slur|Pos:1|Opts:Stem=Up,Beam=First
|Note|Dur:8th|Pos:-3|Opts:Stem=Up,Beam=End
|Dynamic|Style:mf|Pos:-8|Visibility:Never
|Bar
|DynamicVariance|Style:Decrescendo|Pos:-9|Visibility:TopStaff
|Rest|Dur:4th
|Clef|Type:Treble
|Note|Dur:8th,Slur|Pos:3
|Bar
|Note|Dur:8th|Pos:-1
|Rest|Dur:4th
|Bar
!NoteWorthyComposerClip-End

Re: Broken bars

Reply #4 –
Cross-hands passages like this aren't uncommon. I'll be interested to see what Rick, whom I believe is the best pianist among us, has to say; but it looks logical to me. If you go back to the original (m. 59-62), you'll see that the emphasis throughout those measures is on a two-note figure that drops a fifth, repeated several times in different octaves. If I were performing it, I would expect to try to bring that figure out. That's easier to do if the figure is always in one hand, rather than sometimes being in one hand and at other times being split between the two hands - which is what you would get if you played all the treble-clef notes in one hand and all the bass-clef notes in the other. Dunno if this helps....

Bill

Re: Broken bars

Reply #5 –
Quote
I liked Flurmy's composition

Sic!
That's not my composition. Halas, I'm not a composer at all...
That piece was composed by Mussorgski.
All I did was to transcribe it in NWC. If you mean that for "composing"... ok, it's my work. :-)
(By the way: soon you'll have the whole Mussorgski's piano works in the scripto.)

Quote
Cross-hands passages like this aren't uncommon.

Not uncommon at all!

In this case, if you try to imagine a pianist playing the measures 59-62 using the right hand to play what's written in the upper staff and the left hand playing what's in the lower one you'll discover that's the most natural and comfortable way to play it.

Off topic: it was funny when the harp teacher tried to explain me how to assign the notes of the grand staff to the hands. The thing was absolutely obvious for me.
She always forgot that I was not a true beginner in music and that I play keyboards too.

Re: Broken bars

Reply #6 –
Quote from: David Palmquist –
I was wondering if this sort of leap in the left hand is common
Yes it is common. I don't pay any more attention to what hand the editor thinks I should be using than I do his fingering.
I printed this page out and played the section a few times. The editor's choice of hands felt quite natural as written.

I suspect that there is some beaming across barlines in the original.
I would be tempted to put m59-61 into 2 measures of 3/4.

I looked at this earlier but decided not to comment. When someone attaches a song, asking for help in a specific area, I think it uncharitable to offer unsolicited comments about other areas.
Registered user since 1996
 

Re: Broken bars

Reply #7 –
Quote
When someone attaches a song, asking for help in a specific area, I think it uncharitable to offer unsolicited comments about other areas.

Speaking for myself: don't worry, mates, your comments are always very interesting so be welcome.