# Understanding Ferneyhough...



## Kjetil Heggelund

Is it possible? I have the score to "Kurtze Schatten II", maybe the hardest guitar solo in the universe, and it's so complex I have no clue to getting note values right. Here's an excerpt from 1st mvt. Maybe the easiest technically...What do you think?


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## Kjetil Heggelund

Anybody have a clue to what the brackets mean? F.ex. 15:16 top stave,13:8 middle, 5:4 lower in first measure. There are several guitarists who play this piece. Don't know if I ever will try to play this...


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## millionrainbows

The brackets are called irrational rhythms. For a full explanation, get a copy of "Music Notation" by Gardner Read.

15:16 means that there are 15 notes within the duration/space that 16 notes would normally appear.

Try this out on something simpler, first, and work your way up to the more complex instances.

For 5:4, get a metronome, and tap out 5 beats within every 4 beats of the metronome.

Start with the normal 4 beats, then try to work in 5. You will notice, eventually, that the "net effect" of this is a gradual speeding up of the taps, or a precise way of notating an accelerando.

That's all it really is. I take this kind of complex notation with a grain of salt. As I recall it, I first saw this kind of complex notation with Stockhausen, and I read somewhere that this was attributable to Stockhausen's Germanic desire for precision and detail. Whether or not such notation could be played accurately depends, I suppose, on the performer. It is said that David Tudor was such a human. Check out his premier of Stockhausen's Klavierstücke on the Hat Art label.

Perhaps Stockhausen was looking forward to synthesis and programming, and was accommodating for that.

I hope this is of help.


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## Kjetil Heggelund

Thanx! I was afraid it was the normal bracket and has always seemed totally unplayable since it's all for 1 guitar. If it's an accelerando then I can "fake it"


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