How to notate this two-voice syncopation in 12/8 time?
Currently working on this composition which is in 12/8 time. I want the rhythm in the left hand to be like this:
But the notation looks difficult to read. Also tried this:
But the C octave chord is a bit too short (I want it to be sustained the length of 10 eighth-notes). How should I best notate this without making the notation look messy?
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Yes, this is tricky. It may depend on what you have in the remaining voices/hands/parts, but one possible solution is to use stem direction to your advantage:
By using stem-down notes for the held Cs and stem-up notes for the moving line, it minimizes the confusion on the large beat 3 (where earlier the E looked as if it came after the dotted-quarter Cs).
There are a few weaknesses here:
The dots on beat 3, which can certainly be moved closer to the Cs as desired.
The hidden dotted-quarter rest on beat 1 looks a bit swallowed up here. But I'm assuming that a moving line in another voice will clarify where this first E is placed. If not, I'd recommend making that rest visible.
Lastly, these stem directions may not make any sense with your composition; if the held Cs are really viewed as an "upper voice" in this staff, then this may not be an ideal solution.
A scorched-earth solution may be to just briefly include a third staff (think of the famous Rachmaninoff C-sharp prelude here), but that should probably be your last resort.
Alternatively, you could write one of the voices with smaller notes.
I'd be curious to hear what recommendations others have. My sense is that this may just be one of those examples that will always look a little wonky, but I'd love to be proven wrong!
Change to 3 staves
For the densest parts, you can add staves, e.g.
@Richard makes some very good points and suggestions but because of the voices overlapping in note length AND register it’s going to be messy no matter what. These two may not be ideal but they are possible solutions:
On the first the slurs suggest holding the note till beat 10.
The second using the sustain pedal wont work if you do not want the E on beat 5 to ring out till beat 10.
Like Richard I’m curious to see what other solutions are offered.
This is somewhat cleaner and makes it clear where the E begins:
Here are my preferred options, one a variation on Richard's solution.
I think the first option is cleanest, though could give pause at first sight.
The second option is explicit, but I think a bit visually complex. The variation on Richard's solution I propose is keeping the "smaller" tied notes contained within the larger ties -- i.e., not crossing the chord stems. I also lengthened the stems a bit to help clarify visually.
I'm largely agnostic on the rest placement, though I tend to prefer the initial dotted-quarter rest be hidden, and a quarter rest at the end rather than two eighth rests. The "inner" eighth rest is the only one that is absolutely necessary, and I've played with its vertical placement a bit.
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