Re: Style for Editorial Rests

Hi Gabriel (et al.),

> I would strongly advise against this. The comma already has a specific and common musical meaning. Almost any other punctuation glyph would be preferable, e.g. an asterisk.

+1

> My initial idea here is the comma because it most resembles the symbol that I, as a singer, pencil into my own scores when my choirmaster says something like “take an eighth off.”

Commas always — always — mean “short breath” in my world(s), including choral writing/conducting/singing, and musical theatre writing/MDing/singing. A comma over a rest would be quite confusing (though a comma JUST BEFORE or JUST AFTER would not).

For anything “editorial”, I always prefer square brackets. (That’s also the convention/standard seen in several critical editions/series.)

Cheers,
Kieren.
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