smufl
smufl copied to clipboard
Changes to names for hard and soft flats in 'Medieval and Renaissance accidentals' range
Says Freeman Gilmore:
I have a question about, U+E9E1 it is called a 'Flat,hard B (mi)' At one time only one flat note, it was a Bb.
The gamut was:
[Gamma uppercase] A B C D E F G a b [square b] c d e f g aa bb [square bb] cc.dd ee.
b was Bb, called soft B, and also fa, (U+E9E0) And it was also sometimes used as an accidental on the staft to make it clear that the B note was Bb. (the written note B in German.)
Square b was B, called hard B, and also fa, (U+E9Ei) And it was also sometimes used as an accidental on the staft to make it clear that the B note was B. Should be called 'Hard B (mi)', is not a Flat hard B (mi), (the written note H in German, because they thought the square B looked like the lowercase gothic H).
What do you make of this, @mscuthbert? Do you agree we should change the glyph descriptions of these glyphs to be "Hard B" and "Soft B" rather than specifically including "flat" in their names?
That's probably correct. Maybe they should be "Hard (Square) B" and "Soft (Flat) B"?
I wouldn't include the "mi" and "fa" designations even though they're correct, they'll just confuse people further.