Correct placing of coda phrases

[Denkster]

For position of Coda Phrases, clear prescriptions exist.
Encore does not follow these.
Worse, Coda Phrases often seem to get lost when measure width is changed one way or the other.

My request is simply: have Encore follow the prescriptions.
I copied the following from "Essential Dictionary of Music Notation", pages 122-133

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In short, the rules are these:

• These should always be flushed right to the right barline:
  
  • To Coda
  • Fine
  • Da Capo
  • Dal Segno
  • Da Capo Al Fine
  • Dal Segno al Fine
• That right barline must be a double (thin - thin) for:
  
  • Da Capo
  • Dal Segno
  • Da Capo Al Fine
  • Da Capo Al Coda
  • Dal Segno al Fine
  • Dal Segno al Coda
• That right barline must be a final double (thin - thick) for:
  
  • Fine
• These should always be centered above the left barline:
  
  • Coda
• These should always be flushed left to the left barline:
  
  • Segno

[Rob M.]

And until Encore builds in those layout principles, could your post be made a sticky so I can find it when I need it?

[Denkster]

Yes, I recommend to buy the booklet.
It is full of such clear and useful tips.
It wouldn't be fair to copy from it and not recommend it, would it?

Eveline

[Rob M.]

A good point, Eveline and anaigeon. Can either of you (or anyone else?) point to an on-line source for the book?

I've found Gardner Read's Music Notation - A Manual of Modern Practice very helpful, but he rarely discusses placement to that level of detail.

[Rob M.]

I withdraw my request. Both Amazon and Barnes & Noble list it at $6.95.
At 351 pages, that has to be the deal of the month!

[Doug Kerr]

Hi, Rob,

I withdraw my request. Both Amazon and Barnes & Noble list it at $6.95.
At 351 pages, that has to be the deal of the month!

This is one of my three notation books (all three recommended by John Alexander, the principal developer of Encore 4.5). It is very useful.

Best regards,

Doug

[Rob M.]

Now you've piqued my curiosity, Doug. What are the other two books?

Given those credentials, they're probably worth having on the shelf if one is at all serious about doing it right.

[Doug Kerr]

Hi, Rob,

Now you've piqued my curiosity, Doug. What are the other two books?

Read, Gardner, Music Notation - A Manual of Modern Practice (I have the 2nd edition, 1979).

McGrain, Mark, Music Notation - Theory and Technique for Music Notation, Berklee Press, 1986 (This has rather the format and graphic style of well-done 1960's style course notes.) (Berklee was John Alexander's alma mater.)

Best regards,

Doug

[Rob M.]

Read, Gardner, Music Notation - A Manual of Modern Practice (I have the 2nd edition, 1979).

McGrain, Mark, Music Notation - Theory and Technique for Music Notation, Berklee Press, 1986 (This has rather the format and graphic style of well-done 1960's style course notes.) (Berklee was John Alexander's alma mater.)

Thanks, Doug.

Read's text I have, thanks to my good wife. Wikipedia holds that it's a standard reference text, and that some regard it as the "final word". I suppose some might suggest that it could be a little dated. After all, the first edition came out in 1969, and was followed only 10 years later by the second edition. As far as I know, there is no third edition. But how much has changed in music notation in the last 30 years? I've no idea.

Google Books allows a good look at McGrain's treatise at http://books.google.com/books?id=S_y7JAZqx6QC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_navlinks_s. It looks like it would be a good alternative to Read's treatise.

Hmmm. I begin to wonder if it would be useful to collect these various citations and put them in a sticky somewhere for the benefit of those wanting to know what reference texts on music notation are available.