Klarinet Archive - Posting 000310.txt from 2000/10

From: David Glenn <notestaff@-----.de>
Subj: Re: [kl] how long does a note last?
Date: Fri, 6 Oct 2000 18:10:36 -0400

Karl Krelove wrote:

> >
> > I wonder to what extent this "speeding up" was the result of
> > improved instruments that could articulate faster? Or did tempo
> > markings slow down over the centuries?
> >
> My impression has been that most of the music that was written down in this
> notation was choral music - mostly sacred for liturgical use. Intrumental
> technique or construction shouldn't have had a major influence.
>
> > My dictionary defines the original notes this way:
> >
> > Imperfect longa = 2 breves
> > Perfect longa = 3 breves
> > Imperfect larga = 2 longas
> > (perfect or imperfect? it doesn't say)
> > Perfect larga = 3 longas
> > (the longest note, called a 'maxima')
> >
>
> Threes, as I remember from my music history classes a long time ago, were
> considered perfect because they represented the Holy Trinity. In fact, our
> modern "C" that we use for "Common Time" was actually a broken circle
> signifying an imperfect meter (whose subdivisions also were imperfect). A
> circle (which modern notation has dropped) was used to signify a triple
> meter.
>
> Karl Krelove
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Fascinating! My pupils have more often asked what that "C" means. All I
know to
tell them is that it's another way to write (or an abbreviation for) 4/4
time.

When was this circle and broken circle used? Middle ages?

Another interesting correlation with triple time and holiness: If you
march in
2/4 (straw, grass, straw, grass, etc.) or 4/4 time with your feet (this
is
*not* a marching band thread!), it seems relatively aggressive. If you
then
change to triple time (LEFT, right, left, RIGHT, left, right, etc.) that
aggression disappears! Has anybody tried this?

David

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