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Messages - MusicJohn

1
User Tools / Re: NWCCONVERTOR
It would be helpful if the updating of the Convertor was carried out using a specific "updating" system, from within the Converter itelf,  rather than the downloading of a new version with the rather irritating logging-in procedure.
MusicJohn, 7/Nov/24
5
General Discussion / Re: Real Instrument Dynamic Velocities

   I may be missing the point, here, but ... surely it's irrelevant what the real-life differences in dynamic values - volumes - actually are for real instruments, for the NWC2 "Insert Instrument change" allows the dynamic volume values for each Midi instrument (whether inserted onto or assigned to a staff/channel) to be altered as much as you require.  So the volume associated with "p" chosen for, say, a flute can be different from that for the "p" chosen for a violin and different from that for the "p" chosen for a trumpet.  Therefore you can adjust relative volumes any way you want, so that it sounds right to you.

   MusicJohn, 4Jul23
6
General Discussion / Re: how to make a song sheet
As I usually use on my Website - www/learnchoralmusic.co.uk - I recommend French horn for Tenor1, Trombone for Tenor 2, Bassoon for Bass Baritone and Tuba for Bass .

   MusicJohn, 10/Apr/23
7
General Discussion / Re: Figured Bass
   Well, I suppose that in truth it was really just the fact that when I got it NWC2 seemed different that put me off.  There were a few completely trivial matters - I didn't like the new cursor, I couldn't immediately grasp the new Midi Instrument menu, I missed the staff size +/- magnifying glass - and I was in the middle of a largish job and didn't want to spend time becoming accustomed to new things. 

   And I only used NWC2 seriously once, when I had both to key in and to print out a new orchestrated Choral 4-Part Work with lyrics for a friendly local composer and have it look good (as you know, normally I never print anything, so I don't care what it looks like, and normally I never include any words [one of the things that really lets NWC down is its rotten way of inserting lyrics; surely it must be possible to add them directly to the Editing Screen, so you see them line up with the notes?]), at which point I needed to learn about several "new" features, such as User Objects and Tools and Boundary Changes.  And I managed all this quite well, but ... but soon relapsed back into NWC1, which I know and love.

   As I said: trivial.

   MusicJohn, 12/Feb/22

8
General Discussion / Re: Figured Bass
   Thanks, Melismata and Laurie.  I do in fact have a copy of the current NWC2, and I have even used it once or twice, when I needed to print something out.  But as I said, NWC1.75 (to which I have updated myself in various steps since the days when I first installed 1.1 back in the very early 90s) has served me well, apart from the absence of User add-ons, and I continue to upload stuff to the Scriptorium using it, and to make Choir learning tool Midis with it which are then uploaded to my Website.

   MusicJohn, 7/Feb/22
9
General Discussion / Re: Figured Bass
"The point we've been trying to make is that there is no single "right" realization of a figured bass. The figures tell you in one specific place in the music what chord notes the composer expects to be played above the bass line. They don't tell you what register those notes should appear in, or what their order should be above the bass, or how they should lead into the next chord .... So, no, you can't mechanically realize a figured bass into standard notation, without putting a great deal of AI to work to simulate what a performer might come up with (emphasize might, because different performers would likely come up with different, but equally valid, realizations). You can mechanically indicate what notes the figured bass implies, in standard notation. But that's not the same thing."

   No, I see that such a mechanical indication may well not be the "right" solution, but it would - at least, for my purposes - be much better than nothing.  After all, in a Rectitativ there is not too much scope for making the whole musically wonderful; really, all I want is a simple indication of what chords the Composer thought should be associated with the Soloist's notes.  And yes; I appreciate that were I a better musician I'd be able to do that myself.  But I'm not, and so I'm hoping that NWC - perhaps a User tool - can do it for me.

       MusicJohn, 6/Feb/22
10
General Discussion / Re: Figured Bass

   Yeeesss.  That would be a start.  But - and perhaps more relevant for me personally - would be doing it the other way round, and thus realising a Figured Bass Score into standard notation form.  That ought to be relative easy, no?  Though even then there'd be problems, with many of the "tune" notes not having any figuring directly associated with them.

   MusicJohn, 3/Feb/22
11
General Discussion / Re: Figured Bass

   Thanks everyone for your comments.

   I am keying in Handel's "Nabal" - which is an Oratorio made up after Handel's death by his associate John Christoper Smith by taking bits from several of Handel's other Works and mashing them together plus some Recitativs that he probably wrote himself - and it has lots of Recits in which the backing is either solely a Bass Continuo line or a Figured Bass - such a Bass line plus the relevant chord-defining Figures.  The Recits are rather boring without a fully realized Backing, and I was hoping that NWC might be able to help by either constructing one or by realizing the ones indicated.  I am not sufficient of a musician to do that myself.

   The "Rules" for realization seem, on the face of it, to be quite simple - see, for instance

   https://hellomusictheory.com/learn/figured-bass/

- and so in theory pretty suitable for computer implementation ... and even in real time by NWC.  And I can see that Melismata's suggestion to do something employing the user tool, ChordPlay.nw, might be an excellent starting point.

   I am not conversant with ChordpPlay.nw - indeed, I am a real stick-in-the-mud, not having changed to NWC2 but still using NWC1 (!!), which doesn't employ User Tools, which is more than adequate for my purposes of preparing Learning Midis for singers of Choral Works - and if anyone is prepared to invest some time and effort trying to use it to implement Figured Bass realization, or expanding a Bass Continuo, I'd be very interested.

   MusicJohn, 31/jan/22
12
General Discussion / Figured Bass
    Does anyone know whether anyone - and Rick would have been the obvious man -
has done anything to let NWC read/write figured Bass?  I can guess that the figures would be inserted as a lyric, and that they could then be read and converted, possibly in real time, as the Score is played, to the relevant notes (which could perhaps then be inserted in ordinary note format into the Score).

   MusicJohn, 30/Jan/22

13
Tips & Tricks / Re: Entering lyrics efficiently
   Mike's comment (in the earlier thread) about MuseScore - which I have but don't use - is relevant if the lyrics input processor I hope for doesn't have basic word-processing capabilities. 

   H.M.'s detailed and systematic approach to the NWC entry method is good, and when necessary I already use most of the techniques he mentions for my Files (all of which are intended for Choirs, although in my opinion the Singer should be reading the paper Score, with all its pencil scribbles noting the Conductor's instructions, while listening to the File, rather than looking at the screen).  I particularly appreciate his explanations of how to get from the Score to the right "wrong" place in the lyric, and of how to deal with various different sorts of long word-empty stretches of notes.

   MusicJohn, 29/Oct/21
14
General Discussion / Re: Graphics....
   Mike says: "Another option that needs upgrading are song lyrics. Better control over line spacing, font properties like italics, and an easier way to change these values in the middle of the score, using a boundary object or something similar. "

   I almost never include lyrics in my Files, mainly because I find that entering them in the separate lyrics window, and then switching back and forth between that and the staff to make sure everything is properly positioned and aligned, is too much hard work.  What I would dearly like, instead, is the ability effectively to enter lyrics directly on the actual staff, so as to be able immediately to see how the syllables match the notes.

   MusicJohn, 26/Oct/21

15
General Discussion / Re: Mike Gibson, OBE
Mike was an experienced NWC User, much of his output being submitted to CPDL, for which he was both a contributor and an Editor -

https://www.cpdl.org/wiki/index.php/Category:Michael_Gibson_editions

Latterly his considerable work has been uploaded to the Scriptorium as well, with our Rich taking over and putting Mike's produce in the appropriate format for upload.  I myself have used with gratitude many of Mike's Files as the basis for my own NWC notations, subsequently uploaded in Midi format to my Website.

   We will miss him.

   MuisicJohn, 14/Mar/21

16
Tips & Tricks / Re: Sharp in stead of flat, how to change?

   Auditing the enharmonic spelling is what you need.  But ... irritatingly, Noteworthy only does this one way round - and in your case that's the wrong way.  But you can still crack the problem by first effecting a transposition - up, or down, one or two semitones; sometimes one works, sometimes the other - then effecting the enharmonic audit, and then transposing back again.  In your case, transpose down two semitones, make the audit, and then transpose up two.  Voila!

       MusicJohn 4/Jun/20
17
General Discussion / Re: Repeat all
   Something - especially for Rick - to help you all while away the Lock-down.  [:-)]

   I have a string of (meaningless) notes (Les Moutons de Panurge) -

   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oR7KOncoYOc

They are to be played as a sequence - 1 - 1,2 - 1,2,3 - 1,2,3,4 - which keeps repeating going back to the start and playing up to the next note, and so on.  Much like the attached.

   I can see how to do it with special endings, but ... we're limited, are we not, to 7 of them, and I need ... 140-odd.  The best I can do is include a duplication of the notes (green) in batches of 7, 14, 21, and so on, each followed by another 7 special endings.  Can you think of a better way?

       MusicJohn, 24/Apr/20
18
General Discussion / Re: 10000
 Until relatively recently there was an original Forum accessible at https://noteworthycomposer.com/nwcforum/.  Perhaps I nodded off when we were told it was going to be erased, and so didn't see that?  Anyway, shouldn't the Forum Numbers Count start from this old one?

MusicJohn 21/Apr/20
19
General Discussion / Re: Preparing Teaching Tracks

   Using Noteworthy Files with a suitable emphasis, and the Viewer is good, but as good - and with the advantage that it works for people with Macs, Tablets and Smartphones - is turning them into Midi versions.  I make a Master Midi - with all the dynamics and so forth - and then directly prepare from it whichever Voice-emphasised versions are needed.  For this I usually employ Chris Hills's - https://chrishills.org.uk/ChrisHills/midiplay/index.html - MidiPlay, which works fine.  You can see/listen to the results on my Website, www.learnchoralmusic.co.uk,

   MusicJohn, 8/Feb/20

20
General Discussion / Re: Symbol used in Vocal Scores

   Thanks, Rick.  I had thought of using the square bracket text character - "[" - thus:-

!NoteWorthyComposerClip(2.751,Single)
|Text|Text:"["|Font:PageTitleText|Scale:40|Pos:-0.5|Wide:Y|Visibility:Always
|Chord|Dur:Whole|Pos:-2,0,3
!NoteWorthyComposerClip-End

but I was hoping that there was some standard musical notation built in to Noteworthy that I'd simply missed.  But thanks anyway.

MusicJohn

21
General Discussion / Symbol used in Vocal Scores

   In vocal scores where two voices - soprano and alto, say - are shown on the same staff it is occasionally the case that one or other voice is divided into two for a single bar.  When depicting this, and especially when the notes are semibreves, and thus without tails, it is common to show the divided voice with the two notes "combined" by a symbol character that looks like an open square brackets.  This shows that those two notes are sung by one of the Voices, the other (third) note being sung by the other voice.

   Does anyone know what this symbol is called - if it has a musical name - and how to implement it in Noteworthy?

   MusicJohn, 18/Oct/19

22
General Discussion / Re: Encoding notes of different lengths
Hi, Lew.

Tell me; did you ever persevere with my suggestion - almost exactly 3 years ago - of note entry using not the mouse but instead effectively only the number pad and the right-hand + and - keys, plus a bit of left-handed Control and Shift work?  It's really very fast when you get used to it!

MusicJohn, 27/Jun/18
24
General Discussion / Re: System broken?
   I'm not unwilling, I merely thought that chatting directly to Richard might be quickest.

   OK.  Here you are:-


>> >         Hi, Richard.
>> >
>> >         At 14:19 29/05/2017, you wrote:
>> >
>> >>Not aware that there was any system maintenance - but what is it
>> >>that you think is broken?
>> >
>> >         A couple of days ago an attempt to visit the Website got me
>> >a message along the lines of "Site not available.  Routine
>> >maintenance in progress"
>> >
>> >         Then, the next (?) day my visit showed me more or less this
>> >- see Forum attachment - but without your upload (and, of course,
>> >without mine).  Firstly, all input between David P's and yours had
>> >vanished, and secondly everything was marked "new" despite the fact
>> >that it wasn't ... and "new" won't go away after reading the latest posts.
>> >
>> >         You can tell Mike Shawaluk, who just come online.



>> >
>> >         And I've just noticed that my own post has now gone!
>> >


>         At 14:42 29/05/2017, you wrote:
>
>>Can't see the same as you and your post is still there.
>
>         Hmmm.  Fascinating, Captain.  I'm using a PC running Windows
>2000 and Firefox.  The Forum Homepage now shows Mike's but not mine,
>and nothing else after your Scriptorium update entry.  Everything still "new".
>
>         However ...
>
>         My Android-running Nexus 4 Firefox shows MY post but not
>Mike's and also nothing else after your Scriptorium update.
>
>         ????
>
>

>===============================================
>
>         I see the same with android nexus 4 and chrome.
>
>===============================================

>
>         Ah, no sorry - I DO see Mike's answer to my post.  I misread
>the phone's display.



 
Posted a response on the forum. See if you can see it.

=========================================

   There is more, but ... the conversation ends thus:-





   Hi, Richard.

   At 15:29 29/05/2017, you wrote:

You have to be logged in for it to know who your are and therefore if "it" knows that you have seen a post.

   Errrmmmm ... no, that's not the way I remember it.  I rarely log in, but it still knows me (web address, I guess), and if a post is new to me then it says so but after I've read it it isn't, and doesn't.  So something has changed somewhere; everything is now "new" regardless.

Also, you have to be logged in so that "it" knows that you are allowed to see all posts - for example, only nwc2 users and virtuosos can see Back stage I think.

   Mmmm - but at one stage previously some such posts were shown in the Forums listing when I am logged on, but now they're not.  Only one is now, for instance -

   State of the beta? William Ashworth Back Stage A week ago

So you need to be logged in so that "it" knows you are a virtuoso.

   Something has changed somewhere!

I'm sure you know all this.  Still recovering from those birthday drinks ?  Or perhaps take more alcohol with the water :)

   Sort of, yes, and yes - in that order.

   And ... no-one has commented upon my seeing a page saying something like along the lines of "Site not available.  Routine maintenance in progress"


===================



   At 17:00 29/05/2017, you wrote:

>         Errrmmmm ... no, that's not the way I remember it.  I rarely
>log in, but it still knows me (web address, I guess), and if a post
>is new to me then it says so but after I've read it it isn't, and
>doesn't.  So something has changed somewhere; everything is now "new"
>regardless.

You normally don't have to log in because once you have done that - it can last for ever unless something changes it.  So when you log in, there is a check box that says something like "Stay logged in for ever".

   No.  That is, I always log in and then I always log out (except right now, where I'm in for 60 minutes).

I don't want to go an check that because I don't want to logout. I can't remember what my password is. I have it written down somewhere.  I suspect that you were logged in "for ever" but then for some reason, you were logged out.

   No.

>         And ... no-one has commented upon my seeing a page saying
>something like along the lines of "Site not available.  Routine
>maintenance in progress"


Well, I didn't see that - but that happens every so often. But as far as I can see, there is nothing different recently.

   OK, maybe it's just co-incidence, but ... something has changed!
 




   MusicJohn, 29/May/17

25
General Discussion / System broken?
The Forum "maintenance" carried out a couple of days ago seems to have broken something quite badly.  Is any one looking into this?
MuscJohn, 29May/17
26
General Discussion / Re: middle line stem direction default
   Yes.  I may have been one of those that ranted about this before. 

   Almost all my use of Noteworthy involves the keying-in of Choral Works - I'm working on Handel's "Deborah" at the moment, which is typical - and invariably any "lone" (not part of a group) note on the centre line of the upper/treble staff - B - is shown tail up and yet infuriatingly when keyed in NWC always shows it tail down.

   It really would be nice to have the ability to change the default!

   MusicJohn, 17/Apr/17

27
General Discussion / Irritations when importing Midi Files

   Using Noteworthy I prepare a lot of Midi Files of major Choral Works, which Files I then upload to my Website for any Singer to use to help them learn the Work.  Sometimes I "borrow" Midi Files previously prepared by others, and import these into Noteworthy so that I can fettle them into my preferred format before uploading them (with thanks to their original maker).

   For the most part, Noteworthy is quite good about importing Midis, and provides an NWC version which is reasonably accurate and usable.  Sometimes, however, it isn't, and doesn't.

   Here is an example using NWC2.75.  It is the soprano line of the Agnus Dei from the Requiem by a well-known modern Composer, and I have shown the line in two forms.  The upper staff is as the Composer wrote it (or, at least, as I keyed it in).  The lower is what I get if I export the File as a Midi File, and then import it back in, otherwise untouched.

   There are, clearly, several things "wrong" with the imported staff.

   Firstly, all the time signatures are "misplaced", being positioned before rather than after the relevant bar line.

   Secondly, the staff has been given the "wrong" enharmonic signature.

   Thirdly, Noteworthy fails to "recognise" the triplets.

   Fourthly, ... there are other differences, but these are not Noteworthy's fault, because they relate to data not passed on in the Midi File - dynamic markings, beaming, some tied notes.

   It's the time signature and enharmonic tuning matters with I find most irritating.  My question, then, is: can Noteworthy be changed to deal with them, or am *I* doing something wrong, and is there any way I can force Noteworthy to get them right?

   MusicJohn, 8/Jan/17

28
General Discussion / Re: smartphone / tablet app

   "The problem is the MIDI synth."

   I recommend either "Midisheetmusic" (free) or "Practice Player Live" (which I mention on my Website; not free, but inexpensive).

   MusicJohn, 21/Dec/16

29
General Discussion / Re: A wish - another OK box in the character map window...



   In much the same way it would be nice if the "topic" line - which in this present case is

   "Topic: A wish - another OK box in the character map window...  previous topic - next topic"

  - was repeated at the bottom, so that, after reading several comments/replies on a Topic, one could stay down at the bottom and then click forwards or backward with the previous topic - next topic buttons.

   MusicJohn, 13/Aug/16

31
General Discussion / Re: BAK files


   Hi, Rik.

   Rick G probably thought it was too obvious to mention this, but ... I didn't know the answer, so I went via "Help" File options dialog tab" to Tools|Options|File ... and found the tick box he is referring to.

   Good luck!

   MusicJohn, 22/Jul/16


32
General Discussion / Re: Ritard at the end of final verse


   Hi, robynadair.

   In Noteworthy the tempo change commands "rallentando", "ritardano" and "ritenuto" all seem to do the same thing;  gradually change - up or down! - the tempo to the next tempo marking on the staff.  So, basically stick one in whenever you want the slowdown to start, and then insert an appropriate reduced tempo mark just before the end - say, at the start of the last bar.  If you want a "ritenuto" - which usually has a sudden but small reduction in tempo at the very start of the change, put that in just in front of the "rit" marking.  So, a crotchet tempo of 100 might change to 90 just before a "rit" two or three bars from the end, and be followed by a 60 at the start of the last bar.  You can make these markings invisible if you wish, though I don't.

   MusicJohn, 12/Jul/16

34
General Discussion / Re: Simulating realistic guitar playing

   Going back to Musicalgenocide's query ... I am not a guitar player, but I can imagine strumming the strings - with successive down and up strokes - where each down stroke is slightly more vigorous, and thus louder, than the following up stroke, with the first down stroke of a set a bit louder still.  So, with this strumming on one note staff, why not include a hidden corresponding, "parallel", staff, using the same Midi channel, on which is notated simply a matching succession of rests and a suitable set of dynamics (preferably effected using the MPC Volume or Expression command rather than an actual dynamic, so that they do not affect the overall loudness set for the note staff).  Something like the attached.

   Possibly there could be made micro tempo changes (using the MPC Tempo command) in the same way.

   MusicJohn, 9/Jan/16



   
35
General Discussion / Re: Transpose a whole score
   Thanks for all your comments.  Once I move over to NWC2 - 2.75 - I will endeavour to make use of them.

   Meanwhile ... still using W2K I fear I may have to continue adjusting each staff, one by one, changing the pitch using the Staff Properties (F2)/Midi window (in 2.75, of course, this pitch control has been moved over to the selected Instrument Window). 

   It really, really would be nice if I could transpose - ie, modify the pitch - the lot all in one fell swoop!

   Of course, one possibility, albeit rather time-consuming, is to convert the File to nwctxt, do a find-and-replace of the several "trans" commands, and then convert back to plain nwc.  That works - provided I choose the right variety of plain text to convert back to - though it's a bit draggy to import to 2.75, save as nwctxt, load into Notepad and do the f-&-r and save, import back into 2.75, and finally export as 1.75.  Still, worth doing with a File with lots of staves.

   MusicJohn, 12/Oct/15
37
General Discussion / Re: Transpose a whole score

   Sorry: I hit the wrong key!

   "The Viewer can be used to transpose the play back of a file."

   Ah.  I didn't know that.  But ... if it can, then presumably the main NWC ought to be able to - could easily be modified to - do such a global transpose as well?

   And ... if I could send the transposed version to NWC2 - which I can't; probably because I'm still using W2K I get an error message

   "The Windows Shell reports that the file
   could not be opened using the "open with
   NWC Version 2" verb.  NWC 2 may not be
   completely installed on your system"

- or to NWC 1 - which again I can't but this time because the choice is "greyed out" - I think I'd be happy.

   At the moment I am totally higgorant about global mods and the like.

   MusicJohn, 4/Oct/15



39
General Discussion / Transpose a whole score


   I know that in the past a wish-list item has been an expansion of the "Transpose" function to work not only on one Staff at a time but in addition, and if so chosen, on the entire (multi-staff) Score in one fell swoop.  This latter would be very convenient when trying to match/compare a previously-written NWC Score with a recording of the Work that has been made at a lower pitch - typical of many Classical pieces which were originally intended for playing at "Baroque" pitch (C=415) rather than modern pitch (C=440).  Changing an orchestral score staff by staff, while perfectly possible, is a bit of a drag!  And it's especially irritating for me, when working on a Choral Score, such as a Mass, with maybe ten or more independent sections.

   So: can we do a "whole Score" transpose now, with 2.75 (if so, I can't find how!), or ... has someone made a User Tool for this?

   MusicJohn, 4/Oct/15

40
General Discussion / Drop-out with W10 ??

   Has anyone come across problems playing either NWC or Midi - or, indeed, both - Files under W10?

   I have a 5-year old PC originally using W7 but recently upgraded to W10.  I find that when I try and play a Midi File using large numbers of channels/tracks/staves I get repeatable drop-out of one (or more) of the staves (this might be channel-related, but I'm not sure).  Moreover, when I play the NWC File from which the Midi was derived, I get the same drop-out - as I suppose I might expect, since, or so I understand, NWC Files are actually played via Midi.

   An example is the orchestrally-backed 7-voice Zadok the Priest, which requires 17 staves, downloadable from the Scriptorium - I attach a simplified NWC sample of this (Bars 22 to 30 of the Work), in which everything has been set to "p" except for the Tenor voice which is "ff".  This plays perfectly OK under W2K (and I am told it does under XP, too).  However, under W10, the Tenor voice drops out again and again.

   The drop-out effect, which occurs whether using NWC 1.75 (which I normally do) or 2.51a, doesn't seem to be related to the usual Midi problem of having too many staves/instruments for the number - limited to 15 - of available Midi channels.

   Any advice would be gratefully received.

   MusicJohn, 21/Sep/15
41
General Discussion / Re: Create Template


   Mmmm.  Rich has been gently nagging me about this, but ... since for the most part my Files are Choral Works used simply for rehearsal assistance, and 1.75 generally provides any sound effects I can be bothered to utilise (and anyway 2.5 et al, and now 2.75, seem mostly to be about visual improvements), I have never found it necessary or even especially advantageous to move up.  However, once 2.75 comes out for real I will bite the bullet (and probably break another tooth, but hey, that's life), and switch over.  And I might even use my W7-upped-to-W10 machine!

   So, Bob: how have you got on with Mike's advice?

   MusicJohn, 15/Sep/15
42
General Discussion / Re: Create Template

   Hi again, Bob.

   Yes, Mike's right.  I'm afraid I'm still using NWC 1.75 running under W2K, which doesn't seem to get so tetchy about Administrator Powers (or the lack of them).  My apologies for probably misleading you.

   So ... how did you get on with Mike's suggestion?

   MusicJohn, 13/Sep/15
43
General Discussion / Re: Create Template

   Hi, Bob.

   It might be something as simple as you're trying to save it in the wrong place.

   Just check:

   You must do a "Save as ..."

   You must then go to the "Save in ... "part of the "Save" window, and navigate to where Noteworthy has actually stored the Custom/Rythm and other Template Files.  On my Computer that's C:/Program Files/Noteworthy/Template.

   And "Save".

   Try again, and come back and tell us how you get on.

   MusicJohn, 12/Sep/15
45
Tips & Tricks / Re: Breathing spaces
   Hi, Bill, Rick, Bart.

   Thanks for your input.

   The problem is to provide a simple way which keeps the score looking the same, and overall playing the same, but still gives the "breathing" gaps indicated by the Score's punctuation.

   Rick's cunning use of hidden grace notes is interesting, but somewhat less "simple" than dotting and slurring.  Good, though, and worth thinking about if you really need to keep the appearance right while also having it sound right.

   Bill's breath marks with a real length insert a real pause, which unacceptably disturbs the flow of the music.  And they don't transfer to Midi.  And anyway it's the _punctuation_ which defines the breathing space.

   Bart's suggestion of a zero-length breath mark and a sostenuto performance style marking is, in the circumstances, of little help; the punctuation indicates where the singer should breath (so a breath mark is unnecessary), while "sostenuto" doesn't do anything special either in Noteworthy or in Midi (as he subsequently notes).

   So I may have to stick with a slurred staccato/staccatissimo.  But thanks anyway.

   Incidentally, I see that the sounding length of notes in NWC2.5 - as opposed to 1.75; sorry, Richard - increases in the following sequence (which may be of use to someone):-

   Staccatissimo
   Staccato
   Slurred staccatissimo
   Slurred staccato
   Semplice (or one of the other performance styles which has no effect, such as Marcato)
   Tenuto/Legato

   Thanks again.

   MusicJohn, 16/Jul/15



   
46
Tips & Tricks / Re: Breathing spaces
   Hi, Bill.

   You say: "Perhaps I'm missing something, but why don't you use the Breath Mark with its pause of multiple 16ths as required?"

   Because (a) it puts a real pause in the playing, which then upsets the flow of the music (which is no good if all you want to do is use the punctuation as an opportunity to take a breath), and (b) because it doesn't transfer to Midi (all my output is destined for my Website in Midi format, for use as Rehearsal Files on any machine more or less independent of OS and software).

   MusicJohn, 15/Jul/15

47
Tips & Tricks / Breathing spaces

   Choral singing is full of punctuation, and sometimes this is where the singers are expected to snatch a breath.

   In my NWC 1.75 Choral Rehearsal Files I usually deal with this - providing a shortened note, and so leaving breathing room in the sound output but without actually deviating too much from the Score notation - by marking the note staccato but at the same time slurring it to the next note.  This lengthens the note sound to something longer than staccato but a little shorter that plain "semplice", with a significant gap before the next note. 

   This simple and easily-applicable technique provides a resulting breathing space gap that has a length that depends on the length of the basic note.  Generally it sounds fine, though some modification may be needed if the basic note is long - a semibreve, say - while the breathing space is required to be quite short.  I usually cope with this by splitting the long basic note into two shorter notes tied together, and then applying the slurred staccato technique to the second of the two.

   A problem arising from using this technique is that the NWC Score then looks rather odd/messy - which I don't usually mind, because I'm really only interested in what it sounds like, but it must be rather irrtating to the rest of us who perhaps want to print the Score out, and have to "clean" it up first.  So: can anyone suggest an alternative  (simple) method to achieve the desired breathing-space effect that leaves the Score looking OK?

   MusicJohn, 15/Jul/15
48
General Discussion / Re: Playback for congregational singing.

   Hi again, Bill.

   You say: "... Personally I believe that Noteworthy's in-line display is easier to follow on today's wide-angle screens, with only a limited number of flip-backs to the LH edge."

   Well, yes, perhaps - and the in-line display has the benefit of being more like the standard "score" commonly shown in most hymn books.

   You add: "With a formatted score, as with Sibelius or Musescore the frequent line changes and page changes can be more confusing and harder to follow."

   Mmmm.  On the other hand, if it's a Choral Work you're singing, then practising while looking at a representation of the real score that you use in a performance is surely best?

   Actually, displaying a hymn - where basically you only have the Choral staves (and only two of them at that!) - in the normal formatted way should be perfectly OK ... and will almost never require more than one page, so page turning shouldn't be an issue.

   Incidentally, I discovered, to my surprise, that when - as you suggest - you use the Viewer's print-preview capability to display a formatted score while the File is actually playing, it automatically shows that page currently being played at the moment you initiate the preview.  It would seem, then, that it shouldn't be too difficult to arrange that the displayed preview page changes to keep matching what's being played.

   MusicJohn, 11/Jul/15

50
General Discussion / Re: Playback for congregational singing.
 Hi, mdeadly.

If you are wanting to display the score - properly formatted in conventional sheet music layout - while playing the music ... that is, if you want Noteworthy to do this - then you're out of luck.  Sibelius and Finale and a number of others can do it, but with Noteworthy probably the best you can do is print the Noteworthy File out and display it on one screen while, quite separately, playing the NWC (or Midi) File independently.

In the past people have requested that Noteworthy be able to play from a formatted score, but so far such a capability has not been provided.

MusicJohn, 10/Jul/15