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What is the meaning of those lines: enter image description here

Michael Haddad
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2 Answers2

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It's actually very simple: it means that the right hand (which was originally playing in the top-most clef) is to play the half note pointed to in the lower clef.

So basically, you are supposed to play the chords in both your hands, then your left hand jumps down to play the octave on the D, and the right hand goes down to play the D below middle C.

The line that goes back up shows that the right hand moves back up into the higher clef to play the chord in the next measure.

Richard
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anonymous2
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    How is an indication of a glissando different? – Neil Meyer Mar 31 '17 at 12:04
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    @NeilMeyer, a glissando is a wavy line. – anonymous2 Mar 31 '17 at 12:05
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    A glissando line isn't necessarily wavy, but it doesn't make much sense to write a gliss starting on a 4-note chord and ending on a single note. (Is the single note supposed to be the top note or the bottom one?) Actually, writing a gliss on a 4-note chord doesn't make much sense for piano, period, though it might make more sense on an "unweighted" organ keyboard. –  Mar 31 '17 at 13:10
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    What's the point of using the line to denote the hand movement when it is already implied by the left hand notes having upsidedown stems? – EvSunWoodard Mar 31 '17 at 14:26
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    @EvSunWoodard Because there are big jumps here, the lines might be there to emphasize this (useful when sight-reading). In other cases, these lines might also be used to emphasize a melody line that goes from one hand (/staff) to another. – Karlo Mar 31 '17 at 14:43
  • @EvSunWoodard Karlo is correct; also, stems are not consistently/reliably used to indicate which hand should play a note. – Kyle Strand Mar 31 '17 at 17:44
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    @EvSunWoodard: In the absence of other markings, the placement of notes in the upper staff indicates that the right hand should play them, and likewise for the lower staff and left hand. In most cases where simultaneous up-stem and down-stem notes appear, the intention is that they represent different parts which have different rhythms, *but should be played by the same hand in the absence of markings indicating otherwise*. Also, without the diagonal lines a performer might play the bass clef D's with the left hand and *not even notice* the notes down below. BTW, I don't think this... – supercat Mar 31 '17 at 19:28
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    ...is very well printed, because it would suggest that a performer should hold the notes played on the first beat of each measure while playing notes that are many octaves away. I think the score would be clearer if the first beat used quarter notes, and had a pedal marking on the first beat to show that the pedal should sustain those notes for the rest of the measure. – supercat Mar 31 '17 at 19:32
  • @supercat It is up to the composer to select note durations, and it's quite common to have durations that aren't reasonable without the pedal--often without actually specifying how the pedal is to be used. Also, in any real piece, any indication of which hand should play which notes is strictly a courtesy; performers should always feel free to switch which hand plays a note if that makes it easier to play well. – Kyle Strand Apr 02 '17 at 14:55
  • @KyleStrand: The right-hand part has a dotted half note followed by a half note. If the half note is supposed to start on the second beat, there should be either a note or a rest of single-beat duration *in the right-hand part*. Using a quarter rest near the bottom of the treble clef might be better than making the dotted half notes into quarter notes, but there IMHO there should be something that indicates where the second note starts that isn't printed way at the bottom. – supercat Apr 02 '17 at 16:33
  • @supercat What the composer is indicating here are the *voices* involved--the hands of the pianist are merely a means to an end. Two vertically-aligned quarter rests could be appropriate, but there certainly should *not* be a rest that is in completely separate staff from the *voice* to which it corresponds. – Kyle Strand Apr 02 '17 at 20:19
  • @KyleStrand: As I would read/notate it, each staff has two voices during beat 1, one of which has a rest. The lower voice from the upper staff then crosses down to the lower staff. Otherwise, there's nothing in the upper staff that would represent beat 1 of the voice from the upper staff which is playing the half notes on beat 2. – supercat Apr 03 '17 at 14:19
  • @supercat There is only one voice in the upper staff, though. – Kyle Strand Apr 03 '17 at 15:18
  • @KyleStrand: What voice is affected by the diagonal lines? It looks to me like it's the one playing the "d" half note in the middle of the bass clef in the first measure. The first diagonal line would suggest that the voice came from the upper staff. So what did it do there prior to that first diagonal line? By my reckoning, during beat 1 of the first two measures, there should be two voices in each staff, with the lower ones having rests. During beats 2-3, there would be one voice in the top staff (with the sustained chord), and three voices in the lower staff. – supercat Apr 03 '17 at 16:30
  • The upper and lower voices of the lower staff would have half notes, while the "middle" voice of the lower staff would have the dotted half notes sustained from beat 1. I would interpret the diagonal lines as saying "treat the following as though it were on the treble clef with a lot of ledger lines". If the "d" had been on the treble clef with four ledger lines, it would have needed a rest before it. I would thus consider the rest appropriate here as well. – supercat Apr 03 '17 at 16:35
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    Let us [continue this discussion in chat](http://chat.stackexchange.com/rooms/56506/discussion-between-kyle-strand-and-supercat). – Kyle Strand Apr 03 '17 at 16:48
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Perhaps this is a comment and not an answer.

In music scored for the Barbershop style, such a diagonal line indicates that the melody is passing from one part to another. Reasoning by similarity, the diagonal line may indicate that the melodic line moves in an unexpected way, which could alter the interpretation.

cmm
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