losing the ASCII war of attrition --

Somewhat predictably, my enthusiasm for converting scores to ASCII has
waned - it's an awful lot of finicky work to do just to do it. (Though
I do feel as though I've gotten a sense of a way in which it could be
developed into a notational method with its own inherent strengths and
beauty.)

Anyway, here's a bit of what the full ASCII score simile of "Serenity"
was shaping up to look like just to show some of the basic ideas at
the point in which I've abandoned them...

"SERENITY" Charles Ives
[arrangement, D. Stearns]

Whittier

very slowly
,/`=,/` throughout

/(1)........................|(2).......................\
| | |
| SOPRANO (~JI) | _____|_
| p | / |
| | {-----2----} |
6/8 ,/. ,/. | ,/. ,/ ,/ |
| r```````````r``````````` | r```````````r`````*````` |
| | C5 |
| | O, |
|...........................|..........................|
| | |
| PIANO (20e) | |
| pp | |
| _________ | _________ |
| / \ | / \ |
6/8 ,/. ,/. | ,/. ,/. |
| *```````````*``````````` | *```````````*``````````` |
| 16 20 |16 20 |
| 13 15 |13 15 |
| 9 11 | 9 11 |
| 3 -7 | 3 -7 |
|...........................|..........................|
| | |
| BELLS (20e) | |
| | |
| notes are to be played as though they were the |
| receding echoes of the piano part |
| | |
| ppp | |
| | |
6/8 ,/` ,/ ,/ ,/` | ,/` ,/ ,/ ,/` |
| r```*```````````````r``` | r```*```````````````r``` |
| 13-------13 | 13-------13 |
| (-2)-----(-2) | (-2)-----(-2) |
|...........................|..........................|
| | |
| VIOLIN & VIOLA (~19e) | |
| | |
| to be played at a distance from the main ensemble |
| in a blurred and murmuring way |
| | |
| pppp | _____ |
| | / \ |
6/8 ,/. ,/. | ,/` ,/ ,/ ,/` |
| r```````````r``````````` | *```*```````*```````*``` |
| | D#4 Db C B3---|-
|...........................|..........................|
| | F#3 |
| (r) (r) |(r) (o/) (r) |
\...........................|........................../

/(3)........................|(4).......................\
| | |
| SOPRANO | |
_|___________________________|____________ _____|_
| | \ / |
| {-----2----} | {-----2----} |
6/8 ,/ ,/ ,/ ,/` | ,/`. ",/,/` ,/ ,/ |
| *`````*`````*```````*``` | *`````*`*`````````*````` |
| C C D C | Bb4 C5C---C C |
| Sab - bath rest of | Gal - i-lee! O, |
| | |
|...........................|..........................|
| | |
| PIANO | |
| _________ | _________ |
| / \ | / \ |
6/8 ,/. ,/. | ,/. ,/. |
| *```````````*``````````` | *```````````*``````````` |
| 16 20 |16 20 |
| 13 15 |13 15 |
| 9 11 | 9 11 |
| 3 -7 | 3 -7 |
|...........................|..........................|
| | |
| BELLS | |
| | |
6/8 ,/` ,/ ,/ ,/` | ,/` ,/ ,/ ,/` |
| r```*```````````````r``` | r```*```````````````r``` |
| 13-------13 | 13-------13 |
| (-2)-----(-2) | (-2)-----(-2) |
|...........................|..........................|
| | |
| VIOLIN & VIOLA | |
| __________ | ___________________|_
| / \ | / |
3/4 ,/` ,/`",/,/`. ,/`. ",/ | ,/` ,/` ,/` ,/` ,/` ,/` |
| ````*`````*`````*`````*` | ````*```*```*```*```*``` |
-|--B3 Db4-DbG# Gb A#-|-A# Cb G# Gb C Cb |
|...........................|..........................|
| F#3 | E3 |
| (r) (o/) (r) |(r) (o/) (r) |
\...........................|........................../

/(5)........................|(6).......................\
| | |
| SOPRANO | |
_|___________________________|____________ _____|_
| | \ / |
| | {-----2----} |
6/8 ,/ ,/` ,/`. ",/,/` | ,/. ,/ ,/ |
| *```````*```*`````*`*``` | ``````````````````*````` |
| D C C Bb4C5---|-C-----------C C |
| calm of hills a bove,| Where |
|...........................|..........................|
| | |
| PIANO | |
| _________ | _________ |
| / \ | / \ |
6/8 ,/. ,/. | ,/. ,/. |
| *```````````*``````````` | *```````````*``````````` |
| 16 20 |16 20 |
| 13 15 |13 15 |
| 9 11 | 9 11 |
| 3 -7 | 3 -7 |
|...........................|..........................|
| | |
| BELLS | |
| _______________________|________ |
| / | \ |
3/4 o/ ,/. | ,/ o/ |
| *```````````````*``````` | ````````*``````````````` |
| 8 6--------|-6 4 |
| 1 0--------|-0 -1 |
|...........................|..........................|
| | |
| VIOLIN & VIOLA | |
_|_ | |
| \ | |
3/4 o/ ,/ | ,/ o/ |
| *```````````````*``````` | *```````*``````````````` |
| Gb F--------|-F Fb |
|...........................|..........................|
| (o/.) |(o/.) |
| (r) |(r) |
\...........................|........................../

etc.

Dan