Newbie Question

2002-04-23 12:12 am

Hello, and thanks for taking the time to read this. I recently volunteered to play bass drum for my local Drum Bugle Corp., and have been spending some time going over the music for a number of our songs. All the sheet music is handwritten, and has been photocopied and marked up many times over the years. In some cases, entire measures have been cut off the sides of the sheet music. Most of the particular music sheets I've been looking at have bass drum and cymbal parts on them, but some are written for dual bass drums.

In an effort to make the learning process easier for myself, and for the other percussionists, I downloaded NoteWorthy, with the intention of using the Notation editor to re-print the sheet music, providing us with fresh, corrected copies.

I started working with NWC this evening, but noticed immediately that I am somewhat out of my league, here. First off, I couldn't find a bass drum in the instrument section, or any other fixed-tone instrument. Next, I can't seem to figure out how to label a bar, to identify "Measure A", or number the measures automatically. Finally, I can't seem to figure out how to label a 4 measure rest, without creating 4 measures with a whole rest in each.

I must ask the question: is NWC the right program for me to be doing this with? I really like the idea of having my computer print the sheet music out, but I can't tell if I'm on the right track, or not. My impression is that NWC can easily handle orchestral music, but I'm at a loss to find a simpler way to do what I'm trying to do.

Any advice or help you might have would be most appreciated, by me, and by the percussionists to follow. Not to mention the band leader

I thank you again for your time, and in advance for any help you can provide.

Re: Newbie Question

Reply #1 – 2002-04-23 02:06 am

Hi Mitchell,

<First off, I couldn't find a bass drum in the instrument section, or any other fixed-tone instrument.>

Fixed-pitch percussion is handled in a special way in midi (not just NoteWorthy Composer). Channel 10 is reserved for such percussion, so you'll need to set any drum staves to channel 10 in Staff Properties | Midi tab.

Each note "pitch" represents a different instrument in the kit (or other ensemble, such as hand drums, etc.) Have a look at "drumref.nwc" in your NWC "Samples" folder as a guide.

Another point about drums: the way that the midi standard defines the instruments is not the same as you're most likely used to seeing. You can deal with that by having two separate staves for each drum instrument: one that is muted, but contains the pitches like they're supposed to be, and the other that is hidden but actually sounds the notes at "midi standard" pitches.

<Next, I can't seem to figure out how to label a bar, to identify "Measure A", or number the measures automatically.>

File | Page Setup (or the little open-book icon in the toolbar), Options, Measure number drop-down box.

If you want to add rehearsal marks ("A", "B" etc.) get the "Boxmarks" font from the Scriptorium and assign it to one of your "user fonts" in Page Setup | Fonts.

<Finally, I can't seem to figure out how to label a 4 measure rest, without creating 4 measures with a whole rest in each.>

This can't be done directly, but you can, again, use Boxmarks to achieve the desired visual effect. You can use (hidden if desired) local repeats to repeat the "empty" bar however times you like. The issue here is that your score will no longer line up, top-to-bottom. However, I've done that sort of thing (not bothering with the repeats for proper playback) by making separate files for each instrument extraction.

Hope this makes some kind of sense.