There’s this little detail in the way the clash cymbals are called “cymbales de fanfare” that I don’t really like. Probably because I’ve never heard them be called like that in the different orchestras where I’ve been playing. I just stumbled upon those “cymbales frappées” in the excellent Guide de la Percussion written by Raphaël Simon (Dorico user, by the way…) and Amélie Stillitano and thought that this is how they should be named. This is a name I can recall that was really used in those orchestras. What do you think?
I fully agree! I think I had never heard of cymbales de fanfare and the usual term is indeed cymbales frappées, as far as I know. I think I’ve seen paire de cymbales before, but it’s rarer, I believe.
les percussionistes auquels j’ai parlés m’ont toutes dit que le terme italien “piatti” était assez universellement compris. dans mes pièces avec cymbales, j’utilise “cymbale suspendue” et “piatti” pour différencier entre les deux genres.
Je suis d’accord pour la compréhension, en revanche je trouve dommage d’utiliser un terme italien lorsque son équivalent en français existe… et serait plus communément répandu que “cymbales de fanfare” (qui au passage est parfaitement compréhensible, il faut l’avouer).
I do agree that piatti is perfectly understandable (and understood) by French percussionists, but I think a French term should be used when it exists, and is more used than cymbales de fanfare (although I have to admit that this term is perfectly understandable too)
I’ve just checked the French edition of Samuel Adler: they choose paire de cymbales, and explain in a footnote why they prefer it over cymbales frappées — while admitting that the latter is the common term.
Well, your mileage may vary, as they say, but I’d rather trust le Guide de la Percussion, which I know has been written very carefully and by real percussion players… By the way, their English, German and Italian translations seem rather good too.
I don’t know anything about what relationship Philippe Vernier, Gilbert Amy or Bruno Gillet share with percussions (they were responsible for Adler’s book translation), although they are recognized composers and conductors. Their explanation about crash cymbals seems to ignore crash cymbals in a drum set, which I find quite problematic. But what’s the most important thing here, they do not mention “cymbales de fanfare”, which makes my point clearer.
honestly, I think it should be singular when referring to a suspended cymbal “cymbale suspendue”, and “cymbales” (pl) when referring to crash cymbals.
that seems to me the most efficient use of often-limited space in a score, and seems clear enough to me. but I’d hesitate to use it without at least a footnote in the percussion part to indicate that the use of plural is intended to mean “a pair of cymbals.”
as I said (albeit in French!) I tend to use the Italian piatti when intending a pair of cymbals hit together. mostly because it’s shorter than “paire de cymbales” or “cymbales frappées”
and “cymbales de fanfare” has a certain… je ne sais quoi… at least here in Québec. it sort of sounds trailer park-ish, it has a connotation of simply loud and clangy.
