Re: how to make it longer like in the picture
Reply #3 –
Hi Frank,
provided there are different dynamics either side of the "hairpin" AND the note isn't just one long, held note then the variance will happen.
The dynamic before the hairpin can be anywhere in the staff up to the hairpin, the one after it should be immediately after.
Quite often in engraved music there is no defined ending dynamic, and that's fine because it's up to the musician and/or the musical director what change they want, but for the computer you need to tell it or the variance will be ignored. This applies to the cresc. and decresc. markings too. HOWEVER, the dynamics do not need to be visible to work, and thus you can imitate a score that doesn't specifically define the start/finish dynamic this way.