[smufl-discuss] Re: unison whole?

[Glenn Linderman]

Hi Dave,

Some music I have seen, the unison whole/semibreve appeared to be
flatter and larger than the individual whole/semibreves. From
Alexander's Hymns #3, USA edition, 1915, Hymn #248 (I think downloaded
from Google Books).

http://nevcal.com/temporary/ss_20141224_164524.png

Note how the unison whole at the end of the hymn is composed of two
whole notes in basic appearance, but the axis of the composed whole
notes is smaller than the angle of the tenor and bass whole notes on the
staff below. Each of the composed whole notes seems to be nearly 50%
wider than the individual whole notes in the bass staff, and about twice
as wide overall for the complete composed note head.

On that particular music font, the whole and half noteheads appear to be
the same, which isn't always the case, either.


On 12/24/2014 4:14 PM, David Webber wrote:

> From: Glenn Linderman
>
>> ...While the appearance is very similar to two overlapped whole notes,
>> and
> it could be constructed that way if all else fails, I was surprised to
> find so many variations of whole notes in SMUFL (& Bravura) yet not this
> one.<
>
> I think you'll find that that is because it *is* two overlapped whole
> notes. Syntactically most music software would surely be structured to
> have have two parts on the staff, one with stems up and the other with
> down.  When they get to a whole note unison, they're still two parts,
> and rather than sharing a special symbol, they'd each be thought of as
> having their own semibreve, with an offset between the two, to make them
> visible.
>
> In the days when the images were hammered into a metal plate to make a
> negative image for printing, I guess it may have helped to have a single
> stamp for the combined symbol in order to create a sharp image.  I don't
> know if they did this or not, but there is surely no need for it in a
> software font, and I wouldn't expect it.
>
> [OTOH SMuFL has a profligate number of clef entries with little 8's
> above or below, when the normal clefs plus a separate 8 symbol would
> have simplified things considerably. So I also wouldn't have been
> surprised if it had also had a double semibreve.]
>
> Dave
>
> David Webber
> Mozart Music Software
> http://www.mozart.co.uk/
>
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