weird looking notation

[thalbergmad]

Could some clever person (like retro or John) please explain this to me.

Never seen anything like this before.

Thanks

Thal

[retrouvailles]

That is called feathered beaming. It basically means that it speeds up and then slows down. It takes up the same amount of the measure as a non-feather beamed tuplet. The part of the beam that is thinner (with less beams) is supposed to be slower than the part of the beam that is thicker (with more beams) is supposed to be quicker. This is all rather freely played, as long as the overall tuplet is played in time. It is pretty common in modern music, actually. What piece is this from, by the way?

[thalbergmad]

Thanks old chap, I thought you would know this. it is from Stances by Betsy Jolas.

I take it this is a 20th century invention??

Thal

[retrouvailles]

Thanks old chap, I thought you would know this. it is from Stances by Betsy Jolas.

I take it this is a 20th century invention??

Yes, it is. However, I think I have seen things that were similar to this in late Romantic music, just without the same looking notation.

I am going to give that Jolas piece a listen now. Her music has piqued my curiosity in the past.

[pianowolfi]

What is that 2a3", a time mark? So that 9tuplet should be played in 2-3 seconds?

[retrouvailles]

What is that 2a3", a time mark? So that 9tuplet should be played in 2-3 seconds?

My guess is that you would have to see the whole piece's score and any sort of notes before the piece to know what the context of that notation is. I will give the piece a listen to see if I could figure it out. I haven't seen a score of the work ever.

[retrouvailles]

I listened to a bit of the work and it sounds like a very freely timed piece, possibly with some rhythmically aleatoric sections. It has a lot of space in it, so I guess many of these markings are open to interpretation and freedom on the part of the performer. Again, any notes before the work could clarify it.

[thalbergmad]

Here you are old chap.

Unusually, I was using me scanner.

Thal

[retrouvailles]

Heh, I didn't mean musical notes, I meant any sort of program notes or performance notes before the actual work in the score. I'll admit that I still don't know what to make of some of these markings, such as the 2 a 3" marking. "Suivez le soliste" just adds to my theory that the work is very free rhythmically, though.

[fast_forward]

Its a solo piano on the top with the orchestral reduction underneath, right? (At least that's what it seems like from the double dash and the rehearsal 5 marking.

It looks like its a measured free section, where the soloist can take there time with those figures and add the accel-rit (feather beams), in those gestures. The 2 a 3" I think means that those should take 2 to 3 seconds for each of those n-tuplets.

Also the orchestra/accompanist gets the lovely job of following the soloist, lining up at those arrows and following along for the 9tuplet.

[retrouvailles]

I hardly doubt anything needs to be lined up. It seems to be similar to Lutosławski's aleatoric music, in that it doesn't matter a whole lot if certain events line up exactly, as long as the overall gesture is there.