Arpeggio question

2015-07-08 07:46 pm

Hello all,

I am in the process of updating my Arpeggio.ms user object (for NWC 2.75, coming to a theater near you soon!) and I had a "style" question I'm hoping someone can answer. I've tried searching both in the forums and in Google-land, with no meaningful results.

When an arpeggiated chord is played on the piano, it seems to me that it can be played two ways: 1) with the first note starting at the chord's normal "play position", and each successive note slightly later, or 2) with the last note played at the chord's normal play position, and the previous notes coming slightly earlier.

Arpeggios created in NWC by using tied grace notes would generally be of the former variety, since grace notes "steal" from the following note. I'm not sure how easy it would be to create the latter playback using NWC notation, but the reason I am asking this question is that I'm adding playback to Arpeggio.ms, and I should be able to achieve both playback options. What I want to know is: are there names for these two playback styles, or ways that they are notated? Something like "leading" or "trailing" perhaps?

Thanks,
Mike

Re: Arpeggio question

Reply #1 – 2015-07-08 10:03 pm

Quote from: Mike Shawaluk – 2015-07-08 07:46 pm

When an arpeggiated chord is played on the piano, it seems to me that it can be played two ways:

There are more than two ways. Much depends on the surrounding music. Normally, one does not begin an arpeggio until after prior notes/rests are performed. The arpeggio normally ends before any subsequent notes/rests for that hand.

One method to indicate an arpeggio that begins before the beat is to write it out using grace notes that appear before the beat.

Sometimes, it is obvious that the composer intends a harp effect and the performer will make an effort to sound like a harp.

Sometimes, the sign appears because it is obvious that a normal hand is not large enough to play the notes in the chord at the same time. These are usually played as quickly as is possible.