 The Fingering Forum
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Author: clarinet d'amore
Date: 2005-02-28 20:47
okay i was looking at the score to the third movement of la mer by debussy (the actual name of the song escapes me right now). anyway at one point in the song the violins have, well a whole a flat (right above the staff). but the a flat as a d written over it except the d is a diamond shaped whole note instead of the normal oval. above the d is a small circle, like the circle signifying degrees (temperature). what does this circle mean? also i listened to the song and it sounds like the string are playing an aflat(second a flat above the staff) above the one written in the music (first a flat above the staff)
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Author: Derek
Date: 2005-03-01 02:29
Although I'm not a string player, i *believe* that notation is used to better explain the harmonic fingering for reaching an altissimo note, in this case altissimo Ab. The diamond note tells something about the harmonic fingering but being a clarinet player i can offer no more than this. Any1 who knows what they're talking about please correct me if im wrong =P
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Author: Trentus
Date: 2005-03-01 09:13
I think you kinda have it right... i think it tells the violinist how to execute the change between the notes. For example, move only the finger, not the whole hand, or move the finger and then the hand.
I've recently gotten a few Bach sonatas, and I'm going to try and play "Partita III fur Violin Solo - Gavotte and Rondo" on alto sax. I remember seeing an explanation to those things, but i don't have the origional book anymore.
hope this helps.
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Author: musical lottie
Date: 2005-04-01 15:12
Yes it means a harmonic (trust me, I play violin and viola as well as woodwind) You mentioned a diamond - was there an ordinary notehead underneath it? If so (this is what you were thinking of, Trentus) then the ordinary notehead signifies the first finger and the diamond signifies the harmonic finger (ie the finger that lightly touches the string to produce the harmonic - the ordinary notehead is the note on which the player applies ordinay pressure to the string.)
It's so much easier to show people than to try and explain - I hope this explanation wasn't too mangled to understand!
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