NoteWorthy Composer Forum

This plugin creates a visual tempo marking with a number of enhancements:

• The tempo value can be general text, rather than just numbers
• The text font can be specified
• Several types of swing tempo equation can be included
• Both leading and trailing text can be included
• A text scale factor can be applied

Note that this tempo marking is visual only, and does not change the tempo of the score. A regular tempo marking with Visibility set to Never may be used in conjunction with this object.

To install the object, copy the following clip, and paste as a new file in Noteworthy 2.75:

!NoteWorthyComposerClip(2.751,Single)
|User|Tempo.ms|Pos:8.5|PostText:"but not too much"|PreText:"With feeling"|Tempo:"ca. 60"|Font:StaffItalic|LeftSwing:"Double Eighths"|RightSwing:"Triplet Quarter + Eighth"
!NoteWorthyComposerClip-End

Then, press Ctrl-J, or go to Tools > User Objects...  This will display a list of user objects that you currently have installed, as well as objects that require installation. Find "Tempo.ms" in the list, and double-click that line. This will display the object script in a window. Click the "Install" button to complete the installation.

For details on the object's parameters, refer to the context-sensitive help on object's properties page.

The Tempo.ms object has been significantly updated, and now includes a number of new parameters to implement swing tempo equation display.  The new parameters were added with backward compatibility in mind, so that scores which used the old Tempo.ms object should work the same as before.  The following changes of behavior have been made for the new version:

• The "spin" keys (+/-) now control the scale factor, and the numeric keypad keys can be used to toggle the other parameter values. Refer to the context sensitive help for more information.
• The logic which controls the presence of ( ) now works with both the standard tempo as well as the swing tempo equation. Refer to the context sensitive help for more information.
• If the tempo value is set to a blank string, the standard tempo will be suppressed. This makes the most sense if the user wishes to only display a swing tempo equation.
• The position of the augmentation dot on standard tempos has been tweaked slightly for better appearance.
• When a new Tempo.ms is inserted in the score, it will inherit the parameter settings of the preceding object in the score, if one is present.

Please let me know if you encounter any issues with the new object version.

The forum stats tell me that the new version has been downloaded 11 times, so some people will have seen it by now. But I haven't seen any comments about it, which I suppose fits the saying "no news is good news".  I am mainly interested to know if my modifications were as backward compatible as intended (i.e. that previous scores with Tempo.ms still look correct). But it would also be nice to hear if I got the new features right.

Thanks,
Mike

Hey Mike,
I haven't noticed any issues, but I haven't done much lately either...

My default custom template includes a tempo.ms object so it's not as if I'm not using it as such.

Hi Mike,

I'm so sorry, I was very busy the last days, so I didn't find the time to try your object. But now I did, and I must say: it's great!!  :) It's exactly what I was hoping for! So thanks a lot!!

Greetings from Germany,
jfb

Mike, is this the same as TempoEquation.ms, or different, and if so, do I need both?

Thanks

Tempo.ms and TempoEquation.ms are separate objects with different use cases. In short, TempoEquation.ms displays two single note durations on each side of an = sign, which is centered over a barline, and is intended to show a change in the tempo factor. Tempo.ms displays tempo values and can optionally show various double note swing rhythms. I'd suggest playing with each of them to get the feel for how they work.

Thanks for all the work that you (and others) have done to provide additional options and features for NWC.

Hi Mike (and all the other programming pros),

once again I am dreaming of an additional feature that (to my knowledge) is still missing in the tempo.ms object: I just composed a piano piece in the style of Bartok, which has a 5/8 time signature. As a tempo signature I would like to have 72 for a whole bar. So I would need a half note tied to an eight note to indicate that.

So this is what I want:
Con agitazione (half [tied to] eigth = 72)

As far as I know this is actually not possible in the program. If I am wrong, could you please tell me how to do it? And if I'm right - would it be possible to add this feature to the object? Or is this too difficult?

Hi -

here is my solution, using the XText.hmm object. I use 4 text parts (but they are all in a single XText, so the whole thingy can be moved around easily):

1. The prefix text up to and including the (, with font StaffBold.
2. The two note symbols with font Staffsymbols (%1/2% and %1/8% for a half and eighth note, respectively, with a space character in between); they need a substantial "offset" downwards so that they are about at the same vertical height as the text parts.
3. A jump back to the start of the second text (%-2%) so that the Unicode symbol 035C (a sort of tie - I skimmed through the Windows character table to find it) can be placed between the notes with a few space characters; with font StaffBold.
4. Finally, the = 72) part.

By playing around with the spaces and the text part sizes, one can "format" the text somewhat so that the symbols are at the right place.

H.M.

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Just to clarify, I would see this as 1 beat/pulse in the bar rather than the usual 2 (2+3 or 3+2 quavers)

So 72 for the whole bar would be equivalent to quaver=360, except as one beat instead of 5?

@ hmmueller:
Thanks so much! That's exactly what I needed!  :)


@ Lawry Pardie:
The way I described it seems to be the typical way for Bartok in quicker pieces with unsymetrical rhythms (which he often calls "Bulgarian Rhythms"). An example for this would be piece Nr. 115 in Volume IV of the Mikrokosmos (Bulgarian Rhythm II), which also has a 5/8 time signature.

Hi jfb,
having followed up a little more I see what you mean.

I've played a number of pieces in 5/8, and other odd meters, but using the tied note mm is new to me (I guess haven't played any Bartok ;) )

Being a piano piece I guess it isn't a big deal as the pianist can pretty much do what they want, but as a trombone player I see things like this in the light of trying to follow a conductor in a band/orchestra setting.  In the case of your example (No. 115 from Bartok's Vol IV) I would expect a conductor to indicate the pulse in 3+2 until bar 9 where it swaps to 2+3 and then back to 3+2 at bar 17 until bar 30, then swaps again for 31 and again for 32 (the last bar).

As this is a dance rhythm it is important to get the pulse right.  As a band/orchestra musician this makes it important for me to know what to expect from the conductor.

A long winded explanation why I felt the tied note mm might be confusing.

Since I was called out (as author of Tempo.ms) in the initial post, I thought I should respond, so people know that I'm still supporting these objects.

I'm grateful for @hmmueller 's XText object, and that it's able to create the notation for this. I suspect that @Rick G. 's Markup.rg object could also be used to create this, but it seems that only Rick knew how to use his object, and he's rather busy at the moment teaching the angels to notate their scores properly.

From the comments that have been written, this notation sounds like a bit of a fringe case, and since XText works for it, I don't think it makes sense for me to further complicate Tempo.ms by adding tied notes.

Wow, so it's not just my opinion...  :D

It's not even that hard - see attachment.

H.M.

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