Staccato positioning
(A)
(B)
Items for articulation such as staccato or tenuto are
generally placed on the note head side. But in the score for
two voices like the example above, they are placed on the
opposite stem side. The question in this case is a horizontal
position. Although they are centered to the note head
doubtlessly if placed on the note head side, it becomes quite
puzzling whether it should be centered to the note head or
to the stem side when placed on the stem side. In the two
examples above, both of tenuto and accent are centered to
the note head, whereas staccato is centered to the stem in (A)
and to the note head in (B).
As for two styles, it could be said that both two are
correct. Both two styles have been acceptable in Japanese
autographing sore and the style (A) seems to have been
preferable in Western engraving. However, the score
published by Schott which is the source of this example has
the style (B) except for some unevenness by manual work.
Perhaps there woud not be any absolute rule either for this
question.
Anyway, the style (B) comes out if one creates a score
with the item for staccato supplied by default file of
the present version of Finale. Nevertheless, it does not
necessarily mean that the developer’s first choice was (B).
It should be considered that centering to the note head at
the stem side placement is reasonably more convenient if an
automatic edit must be required by all means.
Another example below is an articulation designer for
staccato. The function of “Auto Note/Stem Side” was added
recently. This if for a score of two voices where the stems
for upper voice are always up and those for lower voice are
always down forced by the definition of layer option. The
item is placed on the stem side automatically when the stem
direction is forced to be up or down like this. If not, then it
is placed on the note head side according to the basic rule
automatically too. Even in a single voice, Finale places it on
the stem side when the stem direction is forced to be up or
down by manual edit too.
That option, perhaps since Ver.2007 or 2008, is so well
designed that the only one item is sufficient for both of note
head side and stem side.
However, the automatic edit by that option will not be
available any more when one likes to place staccato on the
stem side centering to the stem like (A). It is because of the
fact that the one called stem is always attached to the right
side of note head if its direction is up and to the left side if
down. The option is not able to deal with them automatically.
Since the program has its own convenience, it will not be
preferable to follow Finale’s default setting unconditionally
even though it esteems the tradition of engraving in general.
Actually, it is easy to realize the style (A) by making
proper use of two items designed individually, that I will
make clear for the next time.
July 2010 Masahiro Umemoto