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I’m transcribing a piano part. I initially wrote it this way (for clarity). In reality, if you listen to the example, the piano is played legato.

notation v. 1, with rests

Does it make sense to write it as in the first example (indicating only the sustain pedal) or as in this example?

notation v. 2, with tied notes replacing rests

The goal is for musicians to be able to read it at first sight

Example:

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  • Can you clarify whether the first bar with Cm7 is supposed to have a sixteenth rest or not? You have a rest in the first version, but it also has a pedal mark, so there will be sound, not rest/silence as notated. The second version clearly has not rest. So, which is it supposed to be rest or no rest? Commented yesterday
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    @MichaelCurtis - wasn't that the point of the question? Commented yesterday
  • @Tim, IMO, no. First the OP needs to say what they intend, then you notate it clearly. Since they wrote confusing notation, seem hung up on notation technicalities, they should say in plain English what they intend. It's objective, but to me, a rest is more intentional that a pedal mark. So, I just want to simple answer, did they intend any silence? Commented yesterday
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    Underlying point to be clear on: Rhythmic notation doesn't explicitly tell you what to do with your hands. It tells you how long the sound should be, and you figure out what to do with your hands to make that happen. (Second layer of nuance: It doesn't necessarily tell exactly how long the sound should be to a given level of precision. It can just be a general representation of a concept.) Commented 21 hours ago
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    @AndyBonner seems to be spot on concerning the underlying confusion. Or to make his point less tactfully (in order to make it clearer why it does not make sense to use rhythmic notation this way): why is it so important that the player must continue holding down the first chord until precisely one sixteenth of a beat before playing the next one? If it's not important, why are you trying to micromanage the player into doing that? Commented 15 hours ago

4 Answers 4

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The second version is more clear, since a true legato, by definition, wouldn't be interrupted by a rest. The pedal, in a situation like this, is for tone color rather that helping sustain legato.

The first example is ambiguous, leaving the pianist uncertain of the meaning of the rest, but it clearly implies removing one's hands from the keys (non-legato) even though the pedal holds the sound.

Note the errors in the second measure. The right hand should begin with a quarter note tied to a sixteenth, and the left hand should begin with a quarter note tied to a dotted eighth.

correctly notated second measure

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  • In the second measure, do you mean I should write a G on the sixteenth-note rest as well and tie them together? Commented 2 days ago
  • @SimoneFurnari I'm referring to the right hand. An eighth note (chord) tied to a dotted eighth note (chord) is non-standard; rather, it should be a quarter note (chord) tied to a sixteenth note (chord). Commented 2 days ago
  • Two questions? 1) Is the first measure of the second example correct, then? 2) I’ve placed the G in the left hand in the second measure on the rest of the sixteenth note: G (tied quarter note) + G (sixteenth note tied to the first G)—is that correct? Commented 2 days ago
  • @SimoneFurnari see the update to the post. Commented 2 days ago
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The first example will have sight readers wondering. The idea of pedals is to sustain notes played, but also to enrichen their sound. The rest put at the end of the pedal mark is confusing: if I hold the pedal until the end of the rest, then there's no rest. A rest is specifically to say silence.

Coupled with the fact that in the version listened to, there's no gap anyway

Bar two suffers from the same syndrome - no rest needed. A good pedaller will make the change just before the middle of the bar.

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While the other answers are essentially correct, they overlook an important point. In particular, the example in Aaron's answer does not have a legato indication. To indicate legato, you should write the word legato or use slurs.

Without such an indication, the performer has a good deal of freedom with respect to the articulation, and may well choose to play non legato.

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  • I always felt that unless told otherwise, a piece should be played legato. Sort of default. Staccato generally has marks to tell, so, if in doubt, play legato. Commented yesterday
  • @Tim why then are there marks for legato? Commented yesterday
  • Good question. But are they there at the start of every piece that is legato? Commented yesterday
  • @Tim That's just a very wrong assumption, then; at least in that it will vary a lot based on instrument and the piece being played. Some music does lend itself to a natural legato approach, but the default should be full value notes with (tempo/rhythm permitting) a very slight articulation between each - basically non legato or maybe undifferentiated tenuto. And, also, composers did not always feel it necessary to write down what would be obvious to anybody who has sufficient stylistic awareness of the music in question! Commented 9 hours ago
  • @AlexJ - disagree to some degree. Can't think of an instrument which cannot play legato, and playing with slight articulation? Sorry. Non-legato and tenuto are both on the way to staccato, and if one listened to a player playing as you describe, they're be thinking why aren't those notes joined together? So not wrong, certainly not very wrong. Maybe this is the basis for a question from you? Commented 7 hours ago
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I would absolutely go for the second variant. Rests are confusing. The second example very clearly are simply syncopated half notes. But rather than notating lots of pedal markings, just notate legato and leave it to the player to find a combination of fingering and pedalling for achieving the legato. Often you should not notate how to play, but what it should sound like. The player will find a way to achieve that.

Also the 8th tied to dotted 8th notation in the second bar is weird. I’d do something like

enter image description here

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  • 'Rests are confusing' - they're as important as dots! Commented 22 hours ago

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