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Topics - David Palmquist

1
General Discussion / Two bar repeat sign
Item:
Insert Object SingleDoubleBarRepeat.

I can't seem to get the two bar repeat sign to work.  I think it did, not so long ago, but I must be getting rusty.  All I get is a text string on the staff that says "SingleDoubleBarRepeat."

Clearly I'vew lost track of how to get the symbol.   Help, please?

!NoteWorthyComposerClip(2.751,Single)
|TimeSig|Signature:4/4
|Text|Text:"Hi-Hat Cymbals"|Font:StaffLyric|Pos:12
|Text|Text:""|Font:StaffSymbols|Pos:8.5|Justify:Center|Placement:AtNextNote
|Note|Dur:8th|Pos:0x|Opts:Stem=Up,Beam=First
|Text|Text:""|Font:StaffSymbols|Pos:8.5|Justify:Center|Placement:AtNextNote
|Note|Dur:8th|Pos:0x|Opts:Stem=Up,Beam
|Text|Text:""|Font:StaffSymbols|Pos:8.5
|Note|Dur:8th|Pos:0x|Opts:Stem=Up,Beam
|Text|Text:""|Font:StaffSymbols|Pos:8.5|Justify:Center|Placement:AtNextNote
|Note|Dur:8th|Pos:0x|Opts:Stem=Up,Beam=End
|Text|Text:""|Font:StaffSymbols|Pos:8.5|Justify:Center|Placement:AtNextNote
|Note|Dur:8th|Pos:0x|Opts:Stem=Up,Beam=First
|Text|Text:""|Font:StaffSymbols|Pos:8.5
|Note|Dur:8th|Pos:0x|Opts:Stem=Up,Beam
|Text|Text:""|Font:StaffSymbols|Pos:8.5|Justify:Center|Placement:AtNextNote
|Note|Dur:8th|Pos:0x|Opts:Stem=Up,Beam
|Text|Text:""|Font:StaffSymbols|Pos:8.5|Justify:Center|Placement:AtNextNote
|Note|Dur:8th|Pos:0x|Opts:Stem=Up,Beam=End
|Bar
|Text|Text:""|Font:StaffSymbols|Pos:8.5|Justify:Center|Placement:AtNextNote
|Note|Dur:8th|Pos:0x|Opts:Stem=Up,Beam=First
|Text|Text:""|Font:StaffSymbols|Pos:8.5|Justify:Center|Placement:AtNextNote
|Note|Dur:8th|Pos:0x|Opts:Stem=Up,Beam
|Text|Text:""|Font:StaffSymbols|Pos:8.5|Justify:Center|Placement:AtNextNote
|Note|Dur:8th|Pos:0x|Opts:Stem=Up,Beam
|Text|Text:""|Font:StaffSymbols|Pos:8.5
|Note|Dur:8th|Pos:0x|Opts:Stem=Up,Beam=End
|Text|Text:""|Font:StaffSymbols|Pos:8.5|Justify:Center|Placement:AtNextNote
|Note|Dur:8th|Pos:0x|Opts:Stem=Up,Beam=First
|Text|Text:""|Font:StaffSymbols|Pos:8.5|Justify:Center|Placement:AtNextNote
|Note|Dur:8th|Pos:0x|Opts:Stem=Up,Beam
|Text|Text:""|Font:StaffSymbols|Pos:8.5|Justify:Center|Placement:AtNextNote
|Note|Dur:8th|Pos:0x|Opts:Stem=Up,Beam
|Text|Text:""|Font:StaffSymbols|Pos:8.5|Justify:Center|Placement:AtNextNote
|Note|Dur:8th|Pos:0x|Opts:Stem=Up,Beam=End
|Bar
|Rest|Dur:Whole|Visibility:Never
|Bar
|User|SingleDoubleBarRepeat|Pos:-2
|Rest|Dur:Whole|Visibility:Never
!NoteWorthyComposerClip-End
2
Avant-garde / Rehearsal marks
Experienced users, ignore this.  You have your own methods.

New users, when you're writing a chart you may want to use rehearsal numbers or letters.  Generally I create these as text entries, in UserFont1, set to Boxmarks2, Bold, Size 16 (use the Page Setup/Fonts submenu for this). 

I place them at the beginning of their respective bars, right-justified to appear above the preceding bar line.  When the staff wraps  when printing, the rehearsal mark will be at the beginning of the new staff instead of orphaned at the end of the previous staff  I also set them to Visibility=Top Staff Only so they don't clutter up a multiple part score, but I usually enter them on all the parts so they're there when I go to print separate instrument parts. 

You can get away with entering each rehearal mark once only if you put them in a staff full of rests at the top of your score, but there are pros and cons to that.

Alphabetic rehearsal letters are simply a matter of adding a capital letter.  With Boxmark2, it will show inside a rectangular box.  Numeric rehearsal marks are a little more complicated. You need to use the Character Map and select one element at a time.  Start with the [ bracket. Then select the numeral(s) you want using the Character Map.  Choose the numbers that have horizontal lines above and below it. Finally end with the ] bracket. Your number will be entered as a boxed number, and can be 1, 2, 3 or even more characters long.

It's tedious to enter a lot of numeric rehearsal marks because you need the Character Map, so I usually create a supersized one at the very beginning of the staff, with this text string:
123456789012345678901234567890 .  When I need to add a rehearsal number, I just copy that to the appropriate bar and edit the copy to remove the numbers I don't want.  It saves a lot of time and work if your piece is 300 or more bars long.

3
General Discussion / CueHeads.ms
Mike, just a quick thank you for CueHeads.ms.  I haven't used it until today, and it works like a charm.

4
General Discussion / How would you play this?
!NoteWorthyComposerClip(2.751,Single)
|Clef|Type:Treble
|Note|Dur:Whole,Slur|Pos:b-5
|Bar
|Note|Dur:Whole,Slur|Pos:b-5
|Bar
|Note|Dur:Whole,Slur|Pos:-5
|Bar
|Note|Dur:Whole|Pos:-5
!NoteWorthyComposerClip-End

This extract is from the bass clarinet part of a long composition written with no key signature.  I'm not familiar with music written without a key signature; I gather it may be called an "open key" or somesuch.  I've confirmed the oboe and english horn parts also have no key signatures. 

Since the notes are tied, NWC will interpret all four of these notes as D-flat.  I'm curious if you, a iving musician, would play the third and fourth bars.  

The accidental in the second bar may or may not be intentional.  If I know the arranger simply made a mistake in writing that flat,  I would play all four bars flat.  If the second bar is intentionally flatted, though, I must wonder why the arranger flattened that note and not the succeeding ones.  Maybe he meant the third and fourth bars to be D natural. 

Thoughts?
5
General Discussion / PageTextMaestro and PageText.
Is there a user-friendly explanation of how to use PageTextMaestro.nw and PageText.nw?

I thought I had them figured out a few months ago, but now I'm befuddled.  The highly technical discussion that started 7 years ago and continued 4 years ago is way over my head and the sample file isn't helpful   

I've finished my project printing page headings the old way, so there's no urgency, but thought it might be worth asking because most users are probably as technically challenged as me.
6
General Discussion / Converting common time to 12/8
My questions starts after this Preamble
I have a score in common time at a slow tempo (quarter = 90).  It is a pop ballad from 40 or 50 years ago and has many triplet groupings, some of which are hard for an ensemble to sight read, an example being
!NoteWorthyComposerClip(2.751,Single)
|Bar
|Note|Dur:4th|Pos:0
|Note|Dur:4th|Pos:0
|Note|Dur:4th,Triplet=First|Pos:0
|Note|Dur:8th,Triplet=End|Pos:0
|Note|Dur:4th,Triplet=First|Pos:0
|Note|Dur:8th,Triplet=End|Pos:0^
|Bar
|Note|Dur:8th,Triplet=First|Pos:0
|Note|Dur:4th,Triplet=End|Pos:0
|Note|Dur:8th,Triplet=First|Pos:0|Opts:Stem=Down,Beam=First
|Note|Dur:8th,Triplet|Pos:0|Opts:Stem=Down,Beam
|Note|Dur:8th,Triplet=End|Pos:0|Opts:Stem=Down,Beam=End
|Note|Dur:4th,Triplet=First|Pos:0
|Note|Dur:8th,Triplet=End|Pos:0^
|Note|Dur:8th,Triplet=First|Pos:0|Opts:Stem=Down,Beam=First
|Note|Dur:8th,Triplet|Pos:0|Opts:Stem=Down,Beam
|Note|Dur:8th,Triplet=End|Pos:0|Opts:Stem=Down,Beam=End
|Bar
!NoteWorthyComposerClip-End

I've decided to rewrite the chart in 12 8 time to make it easier for the ensemble to play such phrases correctly the first time when sightreading the chart.

Converting eighth, quarter, half and whole notes is easy - just add an augmention dot. 

This is a bit more complicated
!NoteWorthyComposerClip(2.751,Single)
|Bar
|TimeSig|Signature:Common
|Note|Dur:4th,Triplet=First|Pos:0
|Note|Dur:4th,Triplet|Pos:0
|Note|Dur:4th,Triplet=End|Pos:0
|Note|Dur:4th,Triplet=First|Pos:0
|Note|Dur:8th,Triplet=End|Pos:0^
|Note|Dur:8th,Triplet=First|Pos:0|Opts:Stem=Up,Beam=First
|Note|Dur:8th,Triplet|Pos:0|Opts:Stem=Up,Beam
|Note|Dur:8th,Triplet=End|Pos:0|Opts:Stem=Up,Beam=End
|Bar
!NoteWorthyComposerClip-End
It becomes !NoteWorthyComposerClip(2.751,Single)
|Bar
|TimeSig|Signature:12/8
|Note|Dur:4th|Pos:0
|Note|Dur:4th|Pos:0
|Note|Dur:4th|Pos:0
|Note|Dur:4th|Pos:0
|Note|Dur:8th|Pos:0^
|Note|Dur:8th|Pos:0|Opts:Stem=Down,Beam=First
|Note|Dur:8th|Pos:0|Opts:Stem=Down,Beam
|Note|Dur:8th|Pos:0|Opts:Stem=Down,Beam=End
|Bar
!NoteWorthyComposerClip-End
or, for more clarity,
!NoteWorthyComposerClip(2.751,Single)
|Bar
|TimeSig|Signature:12/8
|Note|Dur:4th|Pos:0
|Note|Dur:8th|Pos:0^|Opts:Stem=Down,Beam=First
|Note|Dur:8th|Pos:0|Opts:Stem=Down,Beam=End
|Note|Dur:4th|Pos:0
|Note|Dur:4th|Pos:0
|Note|Dur:8th|Pos:0^
|Note|Dur:8th|Pos:0|Opts:Stem=Down,Beam=First
|Note|Dur:8th|Pos:0|Opts:Stem=Down,Beam
|Note|Dur:8th|Pos:0|Opts:Stem=Down,Beam=End
|Bar
!NoteWorthyComposerClip-End

My rationale for converting the time signature:  While the piece is only 38 bars long, but has 10 sets of triplet eighths, 8 sets of triplet quarters, 4 tripletized quarter-eighths, 2 or 3 tripletized eighth-quarters, and a few tripletized half-quarter note figures.  Many of the triplets are syncopated, either beginning with an inbound tie or ending with an outgoing tied note.



My question:
Several parts have this rhythm in common time:
!NoteWorthyComposerClip(2.751,Single)
|Bar
|TimeSig|Signature:Common
|Note|Dur:Half,Dotted|Pos:4
|Note|Dur:4th|Pos:4
|Bar
!NoteWorthyComposerClip-End
It is necessary in common time to notate the fourth beat separately because it begins a new glissando phrase, and will change pitch before the end of the bar.

Converting to 12 8 time, the bar becomes
!NoteWorthyComposerClip(2.751,Single)
|Bar
|TimeSig|Signature:12/8
|Note|Dur:Half,Dotted,Slur|Pos:4^|
|Note|Dur:4th,Dotted,Slur|Pos:4
|Note|Dur:4th,Dotted|Pos:4
|Bar
!NoteWorthyComposerClip-End

Is there a more efficient presentation of this bar's rhythm, so as to reduce the double curved arches (tie and slur) to just one arch?

7
General Discussion / Just list'nin'
I was browsing through the Scriptorium and came across two wonderful compositions. 

Fred Nachbauer's Down Id Da Dungeon
and
Andrew Purdam's Shock 

I think they're worth listening to.
8
General Discussion / Move Staff
I'm unable to use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl +Shift +PgUp  and Ctrl +Shift +PgDown today to move staffs up or down. 

The dropdown menu choices Staff - Move staff...  ,Staff - Move Staff Up and Staff - Move Staff Down methods work but the shortcut keys don't. 

I thought it might be corrected by closing and reopening the program, but not so.  I haven't yet rebooted - I have a LOT of programs on the go, so I'd prefer to hold off on that for now.

Is anyone else experiencing problems with these hotkey combinations at the moment?
9
General Discussion / Edit window scrolling - one for the wishlist
Our band received some donated music which is missing a score.  It's 353 bars long with parts for the full gamut of concert band instrumentation.   It's long out of print, so our conductor asked me if I'd write a score from the parts.  Foolishly, I said yes.

Where an instrument has more than one part (i.e., first, second, third, etc.) they often are parallel or at least have the same phrasing, note values, articulations and rhythms.  It is convenient to copy from one part to the other and do a little tweaking.

Having copied out the first 10 parts (Sharpeye didn't do very well this time) I'm at about bar 280 in the 11th.  The active bar in this 11th part is near the right edge of the edit window so I cannot see what is coming up in the preceding systems that I might copy into the active staff to save time re-notating tricky rhythms and articulations. 

I can see potential copyable bars in a preceding part if I move up a system, scroll right, copy what I need, and move back down to the active staff.

It would be really nice if the edit window could be set to scroll right and stop where the active bar is near the left side of the window.  
 That way the following bars in the preceding parts would be visible. 

Since not all users would want this, it should be something to toggle on or off.

One for the wish list, I think.  Not essential, but nice to have one day.
10
General Discussion / A compliment!
I used SharpEye just now to create an XML file from tuned percussion parts, converted that with Niversoft's converter, and brought the resulting nwctxt file into NWC.

I was delighted to see the bar number panel now shows tiny red x marks in each bar where there was a hidden SharpEye artifact - maybe that's what they're intended to identify, or perhaps they're intended to identify bars that don't have the right number of beats for the time signature.

Either way, they're going to make life much easier. 

Thank you, Eric, for adding this feature.  
12
General Discussion / Buglet in printing?
I'm a bit rusty, so I'm probably doing something wrong, but tonight I'm finding text disappears in the Preview Window and in  printing to PDF , if the text is after a collapse command.  The text remains visible in the Edit window. 

In case it's not me, I thought I should report it.  In this example, User1 is Boxmarks2., murgatryd is a misspelled nonsense word I added as I tested, and the text I've 'lost' is the rehearsal letter F.


!NoteWorthyComposerClip(2.751,Single)
|Bar
|Rest|Dur:8th
|Note|Dur:8th|Pos:7|Opts:Stem=Down,Diminuendo,Lyric=Never,Beam=First
|Note|Dur:8th|Pos:8|Opts:Stem=Down,Diminuendo,Lyric=Never,Beam
|Note|Dur:8th|Pos:7|Opts:Stem=Down,Diminuendo,Lyric=Never,Beam=End
|Note|Dur:8th|Pos:6|Opts:Stem=Down,Diminuendo,Lyric=Never,Beam=First
|Text|Text:"murgatryd"|Font:StaffItalic|Pos:12|Justify:Right|Placement:AsStaffSignature|Visibility:TopStaff
|Note|Dur:8th|Pos:3|Opts:Stem=Down,Diminuendo,Lyric=Never,Beam
|Note|Dur:8th|Pos:5|Opts:Stem=Down,Diminuendo,Lyric=Never,Beam
|Note|Dur:8th|Pos:4|Opts:Stem=Down,Diminuendo,Lyric=Never,Beam=End
|Bar|SysBreak:Y
|Boundary|Style:Collapse

|Rest|Dur:4th,Dotted
|Note|Dur:8th,Accent|Pos:2|Opts:Crescendo,Lyric=Never
|Rest|Dur:8th|Opts:Crescendo
|Note|Dur:8th|Pos:3|Opts:Crescendo,Lyric=Never
|Rest|Dur:8th|Opts:Crescendo
|Note|Dur:8th,Accent|Pos:2|Opts:Crescendo,Lyric=Never
|Bar|Style:Double
|Key|Signature:F#|Tonic:G
|Dynamic|Style:f|Pos:-10|Justify:Right|Visibility:TopStaff
|Note|Dur:4th,Dotted|Pos:-2|Opts:Lyric=Never
|Note|Dur:8th|Pos:-2|Opts:Lyric=Never
|Rest|Dur:4th
|Note|Dur:4th,Staccato|Pos:2|Opts:Lyric=Never
|Bar
|Rest|Dur:8th
|Note|Dur:8th|Pos:-2|Opts:Lyric=Never
|Rest|Dur:4th
|Note|Dur:4th,Staccato|Pos:2|Opts:Lyric=Never
|Rest|Dur:8th
|Note|Dur:8th|Pos:2|Opts:Lyric=Never
|Bar
|Note|Dur:4th,Dotted|Pos:-2|Opts:Lyric=Never
|Note|Dur:8th|Pos:-2|Opts:Lyric=Never
|Rest|Dur:4th
|Note|Dur:4th,Staccato|Pos:2|Opts:Lyric=Never
|Bar
|Note|Dur:4th,Staccato,Accent|Pos:-2|Opts:Lyric=Never
|Rest|Dur:4th
|Note|Dur:Half|Pos:2|Opts:Lyric=Never
|Bar|Style:Double
|Text|Text:"F"|Font:User1|Pos:9.5|Justify:Right|Placement:AsStaffSignature|Visibility:Always
|Dynamic|Style:f|Pos:-10|Justify:Right|Visibility:TopStaff
|Note|Dur:8th|Pos:-2|Opts:Stem=Up,Lyric=Never,Beam=First
|Note|Dur:8th|Pos:-2|Opts:Stem=Up,Lyric=Never,Beam=End
|Note|Dur:4th|Pos:0|Opts:Lyric=Never
|Note|Dur:4th|Pos:2|Opts:Lyric=Never
|Note|Dur:4th|Pos:3|Opts:Lyric=Never
|Bar
!NoteWorthyComposerClip-End
14
General Discussion / Wish list - note settings tab
To use a single measure repeat sign (available in the character map for Page Text Times New Roman and in some of Lawrie's fonts), I would normally create notes with blank noteheads, stem length zero, and no leger lines.  This allows the notes to be played back without being seen, and unlike Visibiltiy=Never, allows the text symbol to be fairly accurately placed.

At the moment, this requires two separate steps.  1.  Adjust the note properties with the Note Properties - Notes tab)  2. Select the blank notehead by mouse.

It occurs to me it would be more efficient if the Note Properties - Notes tab also had a choice of noteheads to select. 

Not exactly a priority wish, but a nice feature to have if possible.

While I think of it, augmentation dots should be suppressed when the notes have blank noteheads.

15
General Discussion / False error message?
This is perhaps a buglet report.  I'm not too worried, just thought it should be reported.

The source staff is a certain seasonal tune in A major which starts with E an octave below the treble clef. It has no accidentals, double flats or double sharps.

Using 2.75a Beta 7, I transposed it into all major keys, favouring minimum sharps and flats, by copying it to 11 staffs and transposing each by +1, +2, or +3 half tones, etc., up to 11 half tones. 

The +11 semitones transposition triggered the Transpose Warning error message that the E would not transpose properly. Clicking "Show Next Problem" highlighted all the notes, one at a time, as a problem, for the first 4 bars (I stopped there).  When I clicked on Proceed with Transpose Anyway, the transposition worked just fine.

I tested a workaround, transposing the source staff up 12 semitones and down one, and got no error messages.

I'm not sure why the error message appeared.  It could be a one-off glitch or it could be a minor bug.
16
General Discussion / From PDF score to NWC file
Sharpeye and Niversoft's conversion of XML files to NWC files have been around for a long time.  Niversoft is a free service for which I'm grateful; Sharpeye is not free but if you have a lot of sheet music to transpose in NWC, it's worth the price.

I've just found a way to use SharpEye if your sheet music is only in PDF digital form. 

  • My PDF program (FoxIt Phantom) allows me to export the pages to several types of image files.  I expect other PDF programs will too, but I haven't checked.
  • If I export a page at a high resolution and grey scale, I can open the image in SharpEye, available at http://www.visiv.co.uk/.
  • If a low resolution is used, SharpEye may not be able to detect the staff lines, so I suggest you export at 600 or more dpi. 
  • Sharpeye will then read it and create a "music" file (extension MRO) that you can export as a MusicXML file.
  • The resulting MusicXML file can be dragged to https://www.niversoft.com/products/xml2nwc/#conversion which will convert it to a Noteworthy Text file.
  • The Noteworthy Text file can be downloaded and opened in NWC for editing and further processing.

17
General Discussion / Text copy/paste fails often
I have been stymied a few times in NWC2 and its various updates and beta versions, when I try to copy and paste text.  Sometimes it's copying a clip from one of the forum windows, other times it's copying text from one of my staffs to the clipboard and into Find.  I've attached an illustration.  I wonder what I'm doing wrong or is there a Windows 10 setting I have to tweak?

 
18
General Discussion / Wish list - brass articulation marks
Often trumpet and trombone notes are written with + and 0 above the notes to indicate muted or open.  These are easy to insert with text until have to do lots of them to include (it happens).  Then it's a lot of text clutter, and if you transpose the part, you have to adjust the heights of these symbols.  Usually they appear above the staff, regardless of stem direction or vertical position of the note.

(The 0 is best represented as a small circle similar to a degree sign - you can find these in some user fonts.)

It would be nice if  + and 0 could be added to the note articulation choices. 
19
General Discussion / Wish list - Text position
In jazz charts, you often use small straight or jagged diagonal lines to indicate lip slurs and falls.  These are generally available in the user fonts, but placing the ones that follow a note is usually guesswork - I find it's best to put them ahead of the note but leave some white space before the symbol in order to clear the note head.

A fifth choice for text alignment/placement: 'after note' would take the guesswork out.  You'd insert the text before the target note but the text item would print/display a fraction of a notehead width after the note.
20
General Discussion / Keyboard toolbar
When I click on a note in my score, the keyboard toolbar highlights the piano key representing the concert pitch of that note.

When I'm copying transposed music, most of the time I need to see highlighted keys for the written pitch.

Another wish list item:  can we have a toggle for the keyboard toolbar to switch between concert and transposed pitches, please?

21
General Discussion / Copying staffs more efficiently
When I create a new staff that I want to copy another staff into, then page up to get the contents of the original staff, in the original staff, the cursor comes up between the key signature and the time signature.  When I press Shift-end, Copy, and Paste the result into the new staff, I find the clef and key signature have not been copied, so I have to go back to the original staff to fetch them.  This seems to be new.

I would prefer to have the cursor move up to the beginning of the new staff to the beginning of the source staff so I could copy the source staff all in one step.

It's not a major inconvenience for a single copying action, but today I'm copying four trumpet parts to new staffs to transpose for french horn, and copying the baritone sax and string bass parts to new staffs for a bass saxophone.  I'd rather copy six times before transposing, instead of twelve.

One for the wish list?


22
General Discussion / Wish List - Orchestral Bracket toggle.
Page layout:
Page 1            Page 2
  --------          ---------
  --------          ---------
  --------          ---------
  =======          ---------
  =======          ---------
  =======          ---------
  --------          ---------
  --------          ---------

------- represents collapsed sections, where only the first system will be printed.  ===== represents uncollapsed sections.

I want to use both Orchestral Bracket and Bars Connected in the two system sections to make them very obviously different.

While Bars Connected is only effective in uncollapsed sections, the Orchestral Bracket starts every visible system, regardless of whether it is part of a collapsed section or not. It looks a bit incongruous.

It would be nice if either the Orchestral Bracket would disappear automatically when the systems are collapsed to one system, as happens with Grand Staff, or if the Orchestral Bracket could be toggled on and off in the midst of a piece.

23
General Discussion / Another wish - Entering user font text
Sometimes I need to insert a text character that isn't in the user fonts I've set up already.  Let's say I have set User1 and User2, but the character I need is in another font, so I want to configure User3.  If I'm not sure which font has the character, I may have to reset User3 and explore its character map a few times before I find what I need.

Right now, you have to escape from the text entry box, open Page Setup, set User3, close the Page Setup, return to Text Entry, select User3 and explore its character map.  If you can't find what you need, you repeat the process, sometimes more than a couple of times.

How nice it would be if the User fonts could be set from the Text tab of the Notation Properties window that opens when Enter Text is selected, as well as from Page Setup. 


24
Tips & Tricks / Busy parts
I had the pleasure of attending a concert band music reading clinic yesterday and today.  Lots of fun.  We were encouraged to provide feedback.

In one piece the flautists complained their parts were written divisi even though they were "a wall of black."  I gather that meant multiple bars, even lines, of nothing but sixteenth notes in leger-line country.

They recommended printing separate parts rather than writing two as divisi

If the objective is to reduce paper, it might work to use two staves and collapse them when they're unison.

Anyway, write separate staffs where notes in divisi will be hard to make out.  The musicians (well, at least the flautists) will love you better.
25
General Discussion / Another wish - transposition
Transposing concert pitch parts for bass clarinet and baritone saxophone requires two transposition steps instead of one.

These transpositions are 14 semitones and 21 semitones respectively.  Any more than 12 semitones returns an out of range message with that annoying Windows 10 "GONG!"  (I know it can be disabled, but that's not my complaint.)

One day I'd like to see the 12 semitone limit removed.  Transposition is already super easy in NWC, and this would make it just that much more perfect.
26
General Discussion / A wish - another OK box in the character map window...
As I was writing a string of text with a user font today, I needed to use the character map.  It occurred to me it would be nice to have an "OK" box at the top of the character map window as well as at the bottom. 

This would save a few arm movements when the character map opens below the Expression box, in other words, at the bottom of the screen.  Going up rather than down to accept the selected character allows the user to select OK on the way back to the Expression window, instead of mousing down first, then back up.

The fewer arm movements the better for those with sore wrists. 

I know pressing Enter will accept a character, but that requires withdrawing from the mouse to hit the enter key, then returning to the mouse to position the pointer for the next character.

27
User Tools / How do I install a new user tool in Windows 8.1?
I'm running NWC 2.51a on Windows 8.1

I want to try combining staffs using an old script called scratch.php, downloaded from  http://nwc-scriptorium.org/nwc2scripts_scratch.html 

I saved the file from the Scriptorium to Windows (C:) Program Files(X86)/Noteworthy Composer 2/Scripts.  I also made a copy with the name nwsw_scratch.php in the same folder. 

When I invoke the User Tools menu, neither file shows up, even though I can confirm they are in the folder when I use Windows Explorer.

The script is not part of the user tool starter kit, but does that make a difference?

What do I need to do to install this user tool?
29
Tips & Tricks / Keyboard malfunctioning in NWC?
In Windows 8 and 8.1, the keyboard settings change at random intervals, and seem to begin using a European layout.  

This means the control key will no longer work in NWC until you change the keyboard back, so some hot key combinations won't work.  

A temporary and quick fix is to click the Keyboard setting at the bottom of the screen in the Windows 8/8.1 status bar - it's probably just to the left of your clock.  It's easy to change back to the keyboard you want, and then the Control key will once more do what it's supposed to in NWC.
30
General Discussion / Trill - a question for the music theorists

I'm transcribing and simplifying a part in D major that has two accidentalized notes marked to trill sharp.

The note progression is
A tr
A# tr#
B tr
B# tr#
C#
D
D#
E

Can anyone tell me whether the two sharp trills should be from A# to B#(C)  or to C#, and from B# to C#, D or D#, please?


31
General Discussion / Tempo setting dialogue
When a tempo is entered, most people will enter Base before Tempo, but sometimes a person doesn't.  If you enter Tempo first, and then change Base from its default, the value in Tempo will change.  

This should not be the default behaviour.  If one doesn't know it will happen and isn't paying attention to what appears on the screen, it's a nuisance to go back and fix it when you finally do your playback.
32
Tips & Tricks / Importing with MusicXML

Caution

If you have a song file open that you plan to use as a template for a number of pages you will import to NWC2 using mxml2nwcc.exe, there is a risk the XML files you drop into mxml2nwcc.exe will overwrite the template in NWC2.

33
General Discussion / Dotted notes and playback note chase with blank notehead, zero stem length notes
(I don't know if this is unique to 2.51 beta 29)

Drum parts often have dotted-eighth/sixteenth patters repeated measure after measure after measure.  It's customary to use a single bar repeat sign.  I use Lawrie's SwingDings \ character as a text entry, and either set the notes in repeated bars to stem-length=zero with blank noteheads, or simply set the notes to visibility=never.  

If I use zero-stem length and blank noteheads, the dotted note dots still display. They shouldn't.   

On playback, the coloured note chase on playback follows notes set to visibility=never, but not notes that are set to stem=zero/notehead=blank.

While stem=zero/blank notehead is used for things that visibility=never isn't, the note-chase and extension dots should be the same.




35
Tips & Tricks / Printing surprise - key signatures - a reminder
This is not a complaint, just an observation.

I created 20 short song files of bass parts in bass clef, concert pitch, that I needed to transpose into treble clef and transpose for a transposing instrument, and then cut into 41 strips of one "system" each, one to be taped onto the bottom of each page of a book of chorales.

I figured to save paper by making a new, 21st file, copy the 20 transposed parts into it, one after the other, and set  system breaks so each song would start on a new line.  So far so good. I ended up using 6 instead of 20 pages.  Saving trees is a good thing.

What surprised me (but should not have), the chorales were in different keys, so the new key signature at the beginning of each song was treated as a key change.  This resulted in printing several systems with "cancelling" naturals if the keys had fewer sharps or fewer flats than the preceding one. 

It's easy enough to correct before printing if one remembers, but I didn't think about it nor proof-read visually before printing.  I had already printed, cut up and started taping the 41 staffs before I noticed, so I will live with the result (the project is just for my own use), but my carelessness could have cost me another six sheets of paper. 

I  thought posting a reminder here might save someone else from making the same mistake.
36
General Discussion / Off topic - Oregon Adult Band Festival
A message from the Community Music discussion list:

"Oregon Adult Band Festival
"For those of you in America's Pacific Northwest, there is a great opportunity this weekend for you to drink your fill of concert band music. Oregon's annual Adult Band Festival will be held this Saturday, May 21, at the Brown Performing Arts Center at Canby High School in Canby, Oregon, about 30 minutes south of Portland.

Thirteen different groups from around the state will be presenting, from 8:30 in the morning to 8:00 at night. The caliber of performance is always high. ...You won't be disappointed with any of these groups. There is actually a waiting list of bands that wanted in but had to be turned away -- that is a very good sign of the interest in community music in Oregon.

As a band member, one of the things I enjoy is listening to the other groups to get ideas for pieces WE should be performing.

8:30 AM 204th Army Band of Vancouver
9:15 AM Portland Community Wind Band
10:00 AM Beaverton Community Band
10:45 AM Newberg Community Band
11:30 AM Bay Area Concert Band
12:15 PM Willamette Valley Concert Band
2:30 PM Portland Metro Concert Band
3:15 PM Second Winds Community Band
4:00 PM Beacock's New Horizons Band
4:45 PM Lake Oswego Millennium Band
5:45 PM Pacific Crest Wind Symphony
6:30 PM Tualatin Valley Community Band
7:15 PM Portland Gay Symphonic Band
"
37
General Discussion / Forum structure
At the top and bottom of long subject pages, we see an option like "Pages: 1 [2] 3 4 5   Go Up"

It would be nice to also have a "Next" button.  It's fairly common on webpages, and the user with shaky hands or lousy eyesight wouldn't have to worry about clicking the right number to move to the next page.

38
General Discussion / Windows 7
I'm toying with the idea of replacing my computer.  Many new ones come with Windows 7.  Does W7 run NWC2 ok now, or are there still growing pains?

39
General Discussion / Forte-piano dynamic variance
My suggestion on: 02-03-2010, 22:57:49:
Quote
Re: NWC2 Dynamic Variance
I haven't thought of MPCs for  while, but seeing this, it occurs to me that perhaps when we reach NWC 2.2 or 3, Eric would consider adding fp as a dynamic, which could be done with MPC. 
Rick's suggestion in response
Quote
Perhaps if you would explain in a separate topic what fp should do, we could arrive at a consensus and get it implemented. How fast is the transition from forte to piano, and does it depend the duration of the note to which it is attached? You might also wish to discuss whether it makes any difference if the currently running dynamic is piano or fortissimo.

So here starteth our new topic:

Since this may not make sense to those who play percussive instruments like a piano, I need to start by suggesting this is for instruments that can vary the volume of a single note after it begins - examples - winds or strings.

Generally, the f   is short, and immediately reduces to p volume.  Usually it will contrast with whatever the preceding volume was - you don't use fp immediately after a f note, because fp is for contrast.


The p lasts as long as the composer wants the piece to be played at p , so it carries over to succeeding notes and bars, until another volume change is entered. 

It is not uncommon to have a > < effect, denoted by a hairpin crescendo starting on the fp note, but the starting velocity for the crescendo would be p .  

The f   and p   volume settings are just the same as your normal forte and piano volumes (velocities?).

I suggest the duration of the f segment of the note would be about as long as a sixteenth note at mm q=120.

The fp would need to use the MPC so there is a transition between the two volumes, rather than a step.

40
User Tools / Multibar rests
I use the Multibar rest user tool and am very happy with it.  I use SwingDings instead of Boxmarks for the font, because Lawrie made it put the number above the horizontal line - that's more conventional.

Currently, the MBR sign appears right at the beginning of the first bar of the rest group.  If some staffs have rehearsal letters placed at the beginning of that bar, they are forced to the right because the MBR text affects their position.

I'm willing to edit the tool, but I don't know the coding.  Can someone tell me exactly what code I should use to change the position of the MBR text so it appears at the beginning of the second rest measure instead of the first, please?
41
General Discussion / !NoteWorthyComposerClip(2.0,Single) copy and paste error?
Has something changed within the past few months in the copy/paste function of NWC2?

When I copy a clip from this forum into NWC2 I often get just
Quote
!NoteWorthyComposerClip(2.0,Single)
 

Today I got this in the Find "By expression" window when I tried to copy a dozen hidden rest bars with the MBR text as well.

My computer needs a bit of a tuneup, but before I start trying to de-engineer my system, I thought I'd see if others have experienced the same copy/paste error.




42
General Discussion / Buglet
I'm working on a multistaff score with the NWC2 window reduced to half the height of the screen so I can copy from a pdf chart.

When I change staffs, the new active staff moves to the vertical centre of the screen.  The staff I intend to return to is moved down, almost out of the window. 

This movement is annoying because I'm working on the bottom staff of the group, but when I reach up to the staff above it to copy a unison bar, the staffs all move, and now I have to search for the staff I was intending to paste to.

This doesn't occur in full screen, but is does when the window isn't full height.

I'm calling it a buglet because it bugs me.  I suspect this is intentional programming, but to me, it's annoying. 
43
General Discussion / Any mathematicians among us?
I would appreciate some help for my son-in-law please.  We both figure there is a mathematical formula for the two problems I describe here.  However, my two sons-in-law couldn't agree on a formula for a drumming problem.

Is there is a formula that will count the number of combinations of accented and unaccented notes in a bar of sixteenth notes where each sixteenth not may be either:
-Unaccented
-Accented

For example:
AUUU UUUU UUUU UUUU  / UAUU UUUU UUUU UUUU / UUAU UUUU UUUU UUUU/ and so on all the way to AAAA AAAA AAAA AAAA / can be done manually, but there must be a formula. 

Next, we'd like to know how the formula would change if a ghost note is added to the mix, so you now have three possible articulations for each note.

It's beyond me.  Help please?




44
General Discussion / Minor bug report
Minor bug report -

If you insert a clef sign between members of a half-note triplet, the triplet is destroyed. 
45
General Discussion / How to screw up a transposition (changing Baritone B.C. to Baritone T.C.)
My heading says it all.  I started to put a question here, then realized what I did wrong.  Since I'd written out half my apparent problem already, I thought it would be worth fleshing out so others would know how not to screw up. 

The background:
I volunteered to transpose a handwritten Baritone Bass Clef part to Baritone Treble Clef (for some reason, baritone players usually prefer either b.c. or t.c. parts, and won't usually change over).  The bass clef part is untransposed, but Baritone T.C. is always transposed a major ninth (like a tenor sax or bass clarinet).  (If "transposing instruments" confuse you, your explanation is here: http://cnx.org/content/m10672/latest/).

So, I photographed the chart, converted the image to TIFF, used Sharpeye to create xml, used XML2NWC to import that into NWC2, and carefully edited out the errors and artifacts.  I did not edit out the various repeated key signatures and clefs Sharpeye copied from the beginning of each line (Sharpeye reproduces what it sees).  At this point, I had an accurate bass clef part in concert pitch but it had the extra clef and key data. 

What I did:
1.  I copied the bass clef part to a new staff, so if something went wrong I wouldn't have to start over.
2.  Highlighted all the notes in the new staff, down-arrowed 12 times, changed the bass clef to treble clef.  Now I had the same part in concert pitch in treble clef.
3.  Transposed 14 semitones to get the major ninth.  This is always in two steps, +12 then +2 due to limits in the transpose function. 
4.  Since I noticed a lot of double sharps, which I seldom encounter in transposing, I used the audit enharmonic spelling function.

My observations:
Since that didn't eliminate the double sharps I started looking for each one (there is no convenient way to find them in the Find function) .  In measures 19 and 20:
i.  Bass clef 3rd space E flat accidental transposed to treble clef first space F flat - should be F natural. 
ii. Bass clef 2nd space C sharp accidental transposed to treble clef D double-sharp below the staff - should have been D sharp. 
iii. Bass clef 2nd line B natural accidental transposed to treble clef C natural - should be C sharp. 
iv. I figure there are at least 50 and maybe 100 mistakes like this.  Very unusual for NWC2!  And not NWC2's fault.  My error.

Why did this happen?
Simple.  I didn't remove the extra clefs.  When I changed the bass clef to the treble clef, I just did the one at the beginning of the system, having forgotten the bass clef showed up elsewhere in the score.  The inconsistent error in i above was because this extra data was placed between the first and second occurrence of one particular accidental.  When I was seeing what I thought was a treble clef note, it was a bass clef one.

The solution?
I copied the original bass clef to a third staff, removed the extra bass clef and key signature data, then repeated steps 1 and 2 above.  The problem is gone.

I hope this "lesson learned" will save someone a couple of hours, down the road.
47
General Discussion / Slurs and triplet brackets - oddities and wishes
Merry Christmas to one and all!

There are a couple of new slur quirks I don't think we've mentioned before.   I'm not sure if the bit I've marked gold in the attached image is correct or incorrect, but it's eyecatching (meaning it looks wrong to me).  Meanwhile any ideas of how to make it look better without changing the B flat to stem up would be welcome. 

The triplet brackets I've marked in yellow seem to be wrongly placed in relation to the slur arc. I think they should be closer to the beamed notes, with the arc going over, not under.  Workarounds welcomed, please.

Triplets - take a look at the triplets I've marked in green.  I'd like to able to override the default direction, so they can be placed above, not below, the notes if that is my preference. I assume that's feasible to program, since we can already do that with slurs, ties and lyrics.

I would also like to be able to adjust the slope of the triplet brackets so one starting on a rest that is part of an ascending or descending sequence would have the same slope as the rest of the triplets in that sequence.  Maybe the way to do that would be to have phantom stem lengths and directions for rests.  Again, suggestions for workarounds are welcome.   


48
General Discussion / PDF ?? - watch out for Adobe Reader 8.1.2 !
Just a caution.

I have been delighted with Adobe Reader 7 for the last few months.  This week I received an electronic airplane ticket as a pdf document.  When I tried to open it, IE7 wouldn't recognize the association with Reader.  So I went to the Reader site, and got Adobe Reader 8.1.2. 

DON"T DO THAT if you don't want to risk some grief.

It will download, and seems to install, but it won't open for me (running Windows XP Pro).  I've associated it with my PDF extension, but double clicking any PDF gives a momentary glimpse of the pause hourglass, then nothing.  The program won't open from the Start/Programs menu nor will it run from Start/Run.  Uninstalling didn't help, because the installation already deleted version 7, and all you can download right now from the Adobe site is version 8.1.2.  I have the original version 7 and 7.05 exe files, so I'll try to instal one of them from those.  With luck, it will work.

I imagine this is some sort of glitch that will be fixed but there's no support to complain to. 

Since most of my band library is now in pdf format, I thought I was screwed.  Fortunately, I found freeware Foxit Reader 2.1 f   which is freeware from http://www.foxitsoftware.com/.  It downloaded and installed quickly, and looks good.

If Adobe 7.05 will instal again, good, but I'm not sure just now whether I'll go back to it or stay with Foxit.
49
Tips & Tricks / Cue notes?
Hmm, I think I have the beginning of a solution for cue notes.  Make sure your default staff size (Staff Metrics) is normal, say NWC2STDA size 16. 

Then set User6 to NWC2STDA font, say size 14. 

Write your cues on a layered staff, with headless notes, stem length zero.  Insert the visual notes as text, User6, aligned to next note.

Top layer:
!NoteWorthyComposerClip(2.0,Single)
|Rest|Dur:Whole
|Bar
|Rest|Dur:Half
|Note|Dur:4th|Pos:3
|Note|Dur:4th|Pos:2
|Bar
!NoteWorthyComposerClip-End

Bottom layer:
!NoteWorthyComposerClip(2.0,Single)
|Rest|Dur:Whole
|Bar
|Rest|Dur:4th|Opts:VertOffset=7|Visibility:Always
|Text|Text:"H"|Font:User6|Pos:7|Justify:Center|Placement:AtNextNote
|Note|Dur:8th,Triplet=First|Pos:5z|Opts:Stem=Up,StemLength=0
|Text|Text:"H"|Font:User6|Pos:8|Justify:Center|Placement:AtNextNote
|Note|Dur:8th,Triplet|Pos:6z|Opts:StemLength=0
|Text|Text:"H"|Font:User6|Pos:8|Justify:Center|Placement:AtNextNote
|Note|Dur:8th,Triplet=End|Pos:5z|Opts:StemLength=0
|Note|Dur:4th|Pos:3|Visibility:Never
|Note|Dur:4th|Pos:2|Visibility:Never
|Bar
!NoteWorthyComposerClip-End



"G" is a quarter note.  I haven't found the others yet.  I have a hunch G and H are actually the grace notes rather than the regular notes, because the sizing isn't right.  I also need to work out the exact vertical positioning and the triplet bracket gets in the way. 

But it's a start.





50
General Discussion / Edit window - possible glitch
I have an 8 staff score set to zoom 100% and with default staff settings.   The screen will display 7 staffs with my settings, but not all 8. 

I can move from one staff to another with {page down} or {page up}, but when I move to a staff which is beyond the top or bottom edge of the screen, the display should scroll.  It doesn't. 

This seems to be new undesirable behaviour.  Has anyone else noticed it?  For what it's worth, I believe this is the first time in a while I started with a new file instead of opening an old one to use as a template.  I tested a couple of already written files and the staffs seem to move up and down as they should.

Operating system=Windows XP Pro; fast PC clone desktop computer.  NOC 19" flat screen display set to 1152 x 864 , Microsoft Natural keyboard (articulated); Logitech cordless wheelmouse.

Staff metrics are 16 point NWC2STDA.  All fonts are defaults except user1 which is MusikDingsSerif 16.