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Topic: 3 different notes (Read 4176 times) previous topic - next topic

3 different notes

I'm a fairly new Noteworthy Composer user, having purchased and dealt with v.1 for a while before installing (just today) the preview to v.2.  I don't know if this is an exclusive forum, but I thought it probably wouldn't hurt to ask.

I was just wondering if it is possible at all (in either v.1 or v.2) to have more than two kinds of notes in one chord.  I know you can have two by putting the stems in opposite directions, but is it possible to have, for instance, a half note on top of a quarter note on top of an eighth note?  Or, another kind of example (that I have actually come across), two half notes, one above and the other below a quarter note in the middle.

Thanks a lot,
Bruce R. Kyte

Re: 3 different notes

Reply #1 –
I don't think it can be done directly, but you can layer a couple of staffs, and tweak the stem lengths.  If you have a note cluster, it probably won't display correctly, but if the notes aren't right together it should be ok.  (This is guessing on my part - I haven't tried it.)

Re: 3 different notes

Reply #2 –
Hmm... David is correct. Although it is possible to have TWO notes of different durations, without necessarily layering, it seems that neither NWC1 nor NWC2 allows THREE notes of different durations unless you use layering.

All this time, and I never noticed! But there is a reason: SATB choral music is very common, using 2 staves. On each staff, the two voices may move at different times. But it is not as common to have three or more independent times on one staff.

Before our experts reply that in the 17-1/2th century, the Lower Moravian church music of Helmut van Fribblehoff regularly used three independent voices per staff, I repeat that I am writing about what is common!

Re: 3 different notes

Reply #3 –
As David says, layering is the answer.  If your notes start to overlap, you can shift them horizontally.  I think that's also possible with later versions of NWC1.  You can also shift accidentals horizontally, and independently of the notes.

You might have to shift the following notes too, so that the relative spacing looks right to the player.

Re: 3 different notes

Reply #4 –
Thanks a lot; that answers my question.  I had actually seen the layering feature before, but I hadn't known that you also had to "allow layering" in the page setup window.  As a matter of fact, that answers a lot of questions, thanks!
Bruce

Re: 3 different notes

Reply #5 –
You're welcome.  Also, you can, since 1.75b, "allow layering" in the dropdown View menu.  It saves a couple of clicks.