The closer two voices are, the bigger the difference in volume between them needed to tell the two apart.
It's easy to bring out the theme in a fugue when it is an octave distance from the nearest other voice, its quite another story if they are close together, or even crossing with each other. The same principle applies to the relationship between melody and accompaniment.
I agree with most things you say, Ahmed -but this seems just a tiny bit random. Take for instance, a soprano and alto voice singing. They both may have crossing lines where one takes the alto and the other crosses into soprano territory - and then what do you do? Suddenly switch the loudness to the other. That doesn't make as much sense as paying attention to the entrance of the voices. Always, the entering voice is louder because it is announcing 'here we go again.' Then, it calms down - to let the tenor or bass come in the same way. At least that is my humble perspective (or not so humble - as i sometimes can be). Susan
ReplyDeleteIF, at the point of 'crossover' - you have one voice that has recently started vs. another voice that has been bugeling for a while - i would choose the recent voice over the latter to be the loudest dynamic.
ReplyDeleteYes. I should have pointed out that I am talking about the solo piano, where a whole different set of rules applies. There you have to deal with the fact that every note has the same basic tone, and that a note won't do a real crescendo however much one wants it to.
ReplyDeleteI mean the entire phrase - not just one note doing any crescendo. I was meaning that following each of the lines would be much more subtle than worrying about the notes which are closer or farther away from each other. And, to me - it IS very much like singing and singers. You are imitating them and giving the piano a singing voice in fugues, especially. But, maybe in preludes - the ideas you are presenting are 'voicing' of parts and more orchestral? Noticing so that if one voice is not heard as much as another - to re-voice so that it is.
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