Vocal notation

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Soh what?

But when you do music theory, you learn that in 6/8 time, you group quavers in 3s. When in 2/2 time, you group them in 4s. However, with vocal beaming, all this goes out of the window and quavers are grouped according to the syllables being sung. It's a nightmare.

[MrGongGong]

I don't write or perform vocal music
but don't remember ever finding vocal beaming a problem when I was younger and sang in choirs
it seems to make sense to me if one is trying to get a flow with a piece of text

I do think that we should teach notation as a much more flexible system (it IS important to learn the conventions as well !) rather than something rigidly laid down in the little red book (not sure where mine is these days ?)... there are generic things about the notation of musics that once grasped make the whole thing simple. In much late 20th Century and 21st Century music notation becomes another thing all together ...........

I would suggest this classic as a sight reading exercise !

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/148/406258694_e65219a08c_o.jpg

maybe followed by this ?

http://www.violinstudent.com/images/crumbspirallarge.gif

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I don't write or perform vocal music
but don't remember ever finding vocal beaming a problem when I was younger and sang in choirs
it seems to make sense to me if one is trying to get a flow with a piece of te...

Yes, I can see the reasoning, but I've more than happy to see the practice dying out in recent years, when all that is required is a a simple slur.
Perhaps the suggestion that singers cannot stay in time is more the fault of publishers than the musicians themselves.

[EnemyoftheStoat]

Doh... oh deery me....

[Chris Newman]

Time for te(a), methinks.

[PatrickOD]

Time for te(a), methinks.

...which leads me to suggest a tonic, preferably with gin.

[Chris Newman]

You mean a bar's rest, Patrick?

[PatrickOD]

Fine, Chris.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I know this is very old (and to modern eyes) slightly awkward to read anyway, but look how confusing it is in the "fa la la" section when there is a mixture of crotchets and quavers.

[jean]

How odd those minims look!

[Pabmusic]

How odd those minims look!

Yes, they do. It's because the downward stems are on the 'wrong' side of the note heads, of course, but it's an interesting thing to note that many (?most) composers wrote that way. I suppose it's natural if you move from left to right to place all stems on the right. I think the usual printed convention of down-stems on the left is from the days of block-printing of music, so that you only needed one block for (say) a minim, which could simply be turned upside-down as required. The music example given originally is different, though, so is wasn't universal.

[cavatina]

In the States, I remember being taught solfège in some of my very earliest music classes-- maybe kindergarten or first grade-- but never had much exposure to it after that. I'm not sure if anyone learns it these days.

Did you know solfège has its origins in Indian classical music? Here's a fascinating overview, if you're interested:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swara

[mercia]

but look how confusing it is in the "fa la la" section when there is a mixture of crotchets and quavers

I don't find that too bad. At least there is no doubt or confusion about which syllable goes with which note. The difficult thing for me about your example are the clefs used for countertenor & tenor. I would have problems playing that on the piano for rehearsal purposes (hopefully my hypothetical choir wouldn't need any piano guidance). On second thoughts I think I would find it difficult to sing with those clefs too.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I often compare the Prout and Watkins Shaw editions of Handel's Messiah, the latter being much clearer with it's instrumental beaming.

[David Underdown]

The other problem is the old style crotchet rest, looking like a backward quaver rest, combined with unbeamed quavers it makes sight reading very difficult