Dotted slurs?

[tubatimberinger]

You are absolutely correct in that Notion's basic engraving tools are behind. Don't get me started. But, what is the specific instruction you are trying to convey with the dotted slurs (as opposed to using a regular one)?

-t

[tubatimberinger]

Hopefully this helps.

But I think no one would disagree that your best bet, for more than just practical reasons, would be to ask a friend who has experience with choral works (preferably the director of the choir you are doing this for or another choir director). The practical reason is that the director might actually like the dotted slur thing after all and in the end, HE/SHE is the one you need to please. Another reason is that musicians LOVE when you ask their opinion or for information. It creates a collaborative component. Muy bueno.

Good luck!

-t

[Surfwhammy]

I did a bit of research, and it appears that in the online universe the "dotted slur" exists only in the minds of composers who want more specific control over vocal phrasing, which is fine with me . . .

[NOTE: I might be imaging the Latin "rea" bit, since I thought I found it except that after trying to find it again it was gone, but so what. Mozart's "Requiem Mass in D minor" was one of the pieces I learned when I was in the liturgical boys choir, so perhaps I remember it from those days, although it just as easily could be something I remember from the "Banana Boat Song (Day O)" (Harry Belafonte), since it was a popular song at the time, which due to having had a surreal sense of musical humor even at an early age might have mapped to adding a bit of spice to a few of the Mozart phrases if I was able to find a few cohorts, which certainly would have been possible . . . ]

"Banana Boat Song (Day O)" (Harry Belafonte) -- YouTube music video

I also found some images of handwritten music apparently done by Mozart, which was interesting, since he used curved stems on some of the notes, but for phrasing lyrics Mozart used the same general strategy that is used in NOTION 3, and I found a few phrases where there are three notes in a slur but the actual syllable is underneath the first note in the three-note slur, where in one of the instances it was a "syllable" which actually would be sung as three syllables, where as I recall the Latin was "rea", which I would sing as "ray-eh-ah" if it were spread over three notes (half note followed by two quarter notes) . . .

As noted in my previous post(s) to this discussion, I remember the notes on the treble clef, and I remember being instructed diligently in great detail by the choirmaster on the correct ways to enunciate words, but I do not remember how the lyrics were written on the sheet music, which probably is due to the fact that we sang the lyrics differently to cut through the vast reverberation of the cathedral . . .

Thinking aloud, I suppose it is a matter of what makes the most sense at the dawn of the early-21st century given the overall intelligence and mental abilities of vocalists . . .

I know that we did a lot of practicing, and this included working on individual syllables and phrases over and over, since the piece was performed with orchestral instruments played by skilled musicians (primarily strings, a few woodwinds, and some brass, along with the cathedral pipe organ which was awesome), and there also was an adult choir with an approximately equal number of male and female singers, soloists, and so forth . . .

Overall, I think that the choirmaster and conductor, if there is a conductor, need to know all the details intimately, but I am not so certain about the musicians and vocalists with respect to the music notation on their sheet music, because I also recall that the musicians made performance notes on their sheet music, but we had to remember everything, which was fine with me, since we were paid 25 cents an hour to practice, which included not being paid as a penalty when were behaved badly, which actually was a smart way to keep everything under control and to encourage focus, because 25 cents an hour was a lot of money in those days, and we usually practiced at least 10 hours each week, really . . .

Really!