The subject of musical notation may not appeal to everyone. But if you're in the business of composing, arranging, orchestrating, extracting parts, conducting, singing or playing music, it's actually quite important.
Think how much it costs to pay a whole orchestra to sit in a rehearsal for the time it takes for one player to get a question answered about unclear notation. We're talking serious money. Worse, the question might never be raised at all, and the player will simply play what the composer didn't intend.
Enter Elaine Gould. Senior New Music Editor at publishing house Faber, she's seen it all. Like many of us, she's known for years that this issue needed addressing, and the books which we relied on in the 1970s didn't cover quite enough. Unlike the rest of us, Elaine did something about it. Something that took 16 years to research and write.
She took advantage of her access to some of Britain's top performers and composers. This gave her not only the answers to some tricky notational problems, but also the confidence to demolish some old practices which were, to be honest, in need of demolishing. Singers — who have struggled with scores in which their rhythms are hopelessly disguised by the old practice of beaming only as far as one syllable — will benefit, now that she's given her blessing to the use of beat-related beaming as in instrumental music. (Elaine is herself a superb singer, which is the capacity in which I met her.)
There are other books on this subject, but if you're really serious, this is the one you'll want access to. With 676 pages and crystal-clear illustrations, it fully merits the comments on the dust jacket from Simon Rattle and Elliott Carter, who call it "a blessing" and "an invaluable resource".
I am very particular on this subject, and a critical reader, yet I've found only one thing in Elaine's book which I'd like to see changed. She claims it's a difference between American and British usage, but to check it I asked a room full of British musicians what they thought was the singular of "staves". They all answered "staff" which is what I've always been taught. Elaine, it's not too late to fix that one little thing!
I shouldn't be churlish. This is a huge achievement, and I applaud wholeheartedly.