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Topic: Ties, vertical chords and Notes (Read 4072 times) previous topic - next topic

Ties, vertical chords and Notes

I'm using v1.7 and I have 2 questions:
1. I am entering a piano accompaniment to a song using vertical chords. I encountered a problem with 2 notes with the same pitch on the same measure. The first not should tie to a note on the next measure not on the note of the same pitch in the same measure. Is there a way for me to indicate that the 2nd note should not be tied to any note? Same idea as not allowing any lyrics to attach to a note...

2. Is there a way to change the direction of a note head? i.e., make it face left or right?

Thanks...

Re: Ties, vertical chords and Notes

Reply #1 –
Well, I'm not sure to understand exactly your problem. However:
* "Same idea as not allowing any lyrics to attach to a note..." : simply edit the note properties (select it, then Ctrl+E or Alt+Enter or right-click/Properties) ; in the "Notes" tab, select "Never" in the 'Lyric Syllable' listbox.
Note: you can do this for more than one note at a time. Select the whole passage where you don't want lyrics to be attached, and do the same (quickkeys: Alt+Enter, Alt+Home, Alt+L,N,Enter, et voilà).

* "The first not[e] should tie to a note on the next measure not on the note of the same pitch in the same measure.". Here I first supposed you wanted to *slur*, not to tie, the first note.
But at second thought, is it that you play the same note twice at the same time, one being shorter ("the same pitch in the same measure") than the other, which is tied to another one in the next measure? To me, this looks like two voices crossing (or at least, meeting) at one point, one keeping the same note, the other moving elsewhere. So in that kind of thing, I think the tie direction (being up or down) gives indication of which note is tied, along with the upwards or downwards stem.
You can choose the up/down-wards direction of the tie (or slur) by editing the properties of the notes.
I made a file with what I have understood of your request (including no-lyric note): http://membres.lycos.fr/madmarsu/Nwc/2463-1.nwc .
For your convenience, it's in 1.70 format. Don't hesitate to download the version 1.75 of NWC though!

About choosing notehead on the right or the left, NWC alone chooses it (only with notes adjacent, stems on the same direction), at least at the time being (1.75)

Hope this helps!
Marsu

Re: Ties, vertical chords and Notes

Reply #2 –
>>Is there a way for me to indicate that the 2nd note should not be tied to any note?<<

You could have the 2nd note in an adjoining staff and layer the staves together.

Dick

Re: Ties, vertical chords and Notes

Reply #3 –
Thanks for the replies. I guess I can't do away with staff layering for that one yet.

I have another question...I'm notating a musical score for our choir and have encountered notes with accidentals (sharp, natural, flat) enclosed in parenthesis. What does that mean? How do I enter it in noteworthy?

Thanks...

Re: Ties, vertical chords and Notes

Reply #4 –
Anna, notes with alterations (accidentals) between parenthesis can have two meanings:
- either it's a "comfort reminder" to remind the user that the note should be #,b or natural (often after a passage where the same note was not altered the same), in which case you enter it normally with NWC;
- or it is a matter of choice, but this is usually written with the alteration over the score, not in front of the note. Rare case.
Let's go with the first hypothesis :)

To enter it in NWC, you can enter the note with the accidental; simply add a teXt item with the text '(
)' just before the note. Open parenthesis, two or 3 spaces, close parenthesis. "staff lyric" font should be ok, as well as "Page small text" font.

Hope this is clear. If I'm not complete or if I'm wrong, may some better theoricians show me the way? :)

Re: Ties, vertical chords and Notes

Reply #5 –
Marsu, just a tiny quibble with your terminology. When you say an accidental is "a matter of choice", this seems to imply that the composer is suggesting the possibility of an accidental but leaving the question up to the performer. In fact, AFAIK composers themselves never (or almost never) write this kind of accidental. What you're referring to is properly called an "editorial accidental", and occurs when there was no accidental in the original but the editor believes that one should be used in performance.

The use of the editorial accidental is almost exclusively reserved for modern editions of early music, in which some chromatic alterations were called for by the prevailing performance practice even when not notated. Contemporaries of Machaut or Dufay, for example, would have known when to inflect pitches at cadences and when not to; performers today didn't grow up steeped in Medieval or Renaissance performance practice and need such inflections spelled out. When an editor supplies this kind of accidental, the suggestion is not really that the accidental is "a matter of choice", but rather that in the editor's opinion the accidental should be observed. The issue of choice arises only when the performer questions the correctness of the editor's judgment. (Do I choose to believe the editor, or not?)

In cases where more recent composers (Baroque onwards) may have left out an accidental the editor feels to be necessary, the editor will usually specify the accidental in its normal place, without parentheses, and will add a footnote to the score indicating that the accidental was lacking in the original.

Re: Ties, vertical chords and Notes

Reply #6 –
I agree with most of what Grant says. However, I have seen many uses of a “courtesy accidental” which have been included by the composer. One such use would be the alteration of last pitch of a measure which is not altered (restored to the signature) in the following measure. Another use would be a pitch (say, Bb in the key of G Major) altered in one part (say, Trombone 2) is not altered (B natural) in another part (say, Trombone 1). Here the inclusion of the “courtesy accidental” will confirm that there are no errors in the parts.
As far as entering it, I use a font which has all of my accidentals in parentheses (in cue size, too!), so I don’t have to try to align Marsu’s ‘( )’ around the existing accidental. This I do in a muted staff, while the “normal” accidental is in the audio staff (which is invisible).
HTH

Re: Ties, vertical chords and Notes

Reply #7 –
Anne, I think you misunderstood me. I was responding specifically to marsu's second category, which he described in these words: "or it is a matter of choice, but this is usually written with the alteration over the score, not in front of the note." I agree with you that composers often supply courtesy accidentals - but such accidentals are neither (1) "a matter of choice", nor (2) written above, rather than before, the affected note.
 

Re: Ties, vertical chords and Notes

Reply #8 –
Well, thank you, Grant and Anne :)
Now I know the proper terms : "courtesy accidental", to ensure that what is written is exactly what the author wanted;
and "editorial accidental" for the ones added by the editor or transcriptor. As a matter of fact, I remember of some of them in Tourdion, an old piece of music (french or english, I'm not the sure of the oldest); I usually ignore the editorial accidental in that case, as well as in some versions of Amazing Grace; because it sounds (to me) nearer of some musical modes of that time (or of gregorian period).

BTW, thank you to the composers who supply courtesy accidentals! It avoids many discussions between choirs' people ;)