and smiles - yes to what you wrote in the other thread, and in some way, that indeed is what prompted me to even mention it separately here - just thought it might be of interest, especially to newcomers to music in general - who are often disconcerted by changes in meter (or tempo - which is of course a different thing) on a score.

I have no personal preference on this one (but that's because I know it so well by now).  However, were the score to be new to me - well, I'd go for the 2nd or 3rd image - I would (without having down/up bow indications) "struggle with the intent of the composer" on the 3/4-all-the-way-through-version, especially if I had never heard or seen it played....  But that's just me! LOL

How might "accelerando" be used?  Along with, or possible in place of the time change? 

  If I modified the tempo (by accelerando-ing) the section - then the overall timing (in terms of how-long-it-lasts-for) of THAT 8 bars would be shorter than both the earlier, and the following, 8 bars which are 3/4 all the way - which are not shown here - and - for this tune - I know I would find THAT somewhat disconcerting - who mentioned Schönberg - i.e. Schönberg  = disconcerting ... ROFL )

  Hmmmm.... but I do know what you mean there - but it's not what I was trying to achieve - it is still (over the 8 bars of interest) a fixed tempo.  All of the 3 scored variations last precisely the same time at the same overall tempo and have 24 beats in that section - regardless of the difference in the number of bars making up that section. 

  Ahaaaa - light-bulb-moment - sure, I say that - but - I'm having to think more on it ( thanks, Emily! ) and yes OK - I have it - IF I speeded-up a section over 3 or 4 bars in an 8-bar 3/4 section, it wouldn't "last as long" ( which is important for this piece to match the earlier and following sections ) - so... yes - absolutely - speed it up, but also add some extra notes  (8ths or 16ths etc) to "fill in the now missing-time of the 8 bars"...   Aye.... I see that, and sure it would be more than a grace-note or two, - maybe a little "decoration with a flourish" LOLOL - yeah - I see where you're going now....  Yeah, possibly, and still end up with "the equivalent of" a 24-beat 8-bar section when the tempo (which is now changing across the 8 bars, is normalized/amortized over the section)...  Interesting!  Thanks!   My only "down-side" to this approach is that doing such would seem to "make the piece fit a score" and not "make the score fit the piece"..... and that seems somehow wrong to me....?????  Honestly, I really don't know ???  But thought-provoking nonetheless !

  To my mind, regardless of the scored representation (and that's the point on this discussion - to me, the score is JUST a representation of what has to be played, no more, no less, it is in some way decoupled from what, when played correctly, a listener will hear). 

  In my piece, the tempo just does not change, the rhythm does, that's all.   

  Although NOT intended as a dance tune - I did want to keep a constant overall timing (yes, the rhythm is, by my command and design, allowed to change) - but I did want a tight-rein on the timing of the overall 8-bar structure - whatever the tempo changes (if used as per your thoughts) - in this piece, yes, it would have to last "the equivalent of" 24 beats at 135bpm over the 8 bars and could be achieved by slightly-modifying the tune-as-played.....  aye... that's it in a nutshell.

  Thanks for the feedback Emily - yeah - it's a simple thing, but I know it raises questions, and hopefully, makes folks think about these things.  Cool !

  Nice one, got me thinking !   Excuse my verbosity ( it was me, talking to myself really.  I need a cardboard cut-out proper musician to talk to ! )

E L E V E N !!!!

  Yeah, it is interesting the deeper we dig into these things.... it can all appear SO simple with a little single-page 4/4, 6/8 or whatever (and often poorly notated)  fiddle tune.....  aye, indeed!

GregW said
.......sorry @billyg..ive derailed your topic sir.

LOL @ABitRusty - nah, not at all, no way !!!

It's constructive and educational ( great link by the way, thanks for sharing that )

My own exposure to "fiddle tunes" is largely Scottish traditional dance music, and to a limited extent, what might be classed as UK-wide folk music.

Through this forum, I've been introduced to tunes I simply had never heard before - it started off with stuff @Barry played for us - like Old Joe Clarke, 8th of January and a good number more (and thanks for that Barry!)....  That general "style" is indeed foreign to me, but I make a reasonable stab-at-it.

I'm not sure my tune is a "crooked tune" in the precise sense I currently understand it - but - I'm maybe splitting-hairs here....   In my piece, by intent, I have kept the 8-bar (when scored in 3/4 time) sequence to exactly 24 beats at the overall unchanging tempo (whatever it was).  I'm getting the impression that a "crooked tune" really DOES (and there is nothing wrong with that at all) sort of break-the-overall rhythm - it's like a "pause, or when dancing, take a different couple of steps, because - something's about to change" - and - sure - I can see that as entirely danceable as well.

Interesting!  

Thanks for all your feedback @ELCBK and @ABitRusty - PRECISELY what I wanted !  TY!

( and I'm now away to download a number of these midi files, Greg ! ^5s )

@ABitRusty - yes - in fact that's close to what I did.   And, indeed, if you check back to the first post, and look at the first image - that's exactly how it ended up - bars 84, 85, 86 were indeed "different"

Now - it didn't worry me at all - but  I know some folks prefer to see the stressed beat in a regular place in a bar.  In this case, yes, the first beat in the bar happens to be (in the rest of the 3/4 bars) the stressed beat.

It was quite clear that in fact, for these 3 bars, the timing had moved from 3/4 to 4/4 - so - the devil in me posed the general question - I can re-arrange these bars and show them as 2/4 or 4/4 without changing in any way the overall duration for the original 8 bars in question - but - (for those to whom it does make a difference) - it MIGHT be more readable (again, particularly if they have never heard it played).  Equally, I know some fiddlers don't like to see time-sig changes where, strictly I suppose, they are not necessary.   Also, some prefer to actually see a section like that as exactly 8 bars - suddenly making it 10 bars when the "offending bars" are re-notated as 2/4, or 7 bars when the offending bars were notated as 4/4 can "throw" some folks. As I say, just the devil in me....

And @ELCBK -

Do you actually play this exactly as you wrote this? 

No fractional rests anywhere? 

When is enough, enough?

Errr... yes, pretty much exactly.  It IS a tune being played on (in this instance) a fiddle - and - sure - there can be little embellishments at the instant of playing, but yes, that's how I generally expect it to be played.

Nope - no little or fractional rests anywhere (unless, when playing, I may feel like fore-shortening a note here or there to bring attention to the NEXT little bit to be played - again - that's individual, it's just in the moment, I might do that sometimes, other times, no). 

So, I'm not sure what prompted your question about that though - the piece will sound exactly the same, has exactly the same number of notes, and lasts exactly the same overall time regardless of whether the section in question (between the repeats) is scored entirely 3/4 (first image - where the section is 8 bars), a mix of 3/4 and 2/4 ( second image - where the section is now 10 bars long), or a mix of 3/4 and 4/4 (final image - where that section in question is now only 7 bars) - they are identical in all respects when played..... so - I don't "get" the query about the rests.  If I misunderstand you, or haven't managed to answer - ask again !!! ( LOL, no problem!  We'll nail it! )

As to when is enough, enough - trust me - I don't know !!!!  It's all good !