Skip to main content ↑ ↓
Topic: Wish on special long notes used in psalms (Read 4402 times) previous topic - next topic

Wish on special long notes used in psalms

I plan to enter a wish on special long notes used in psalms.
(See also "measures and lines" thread 687 reply 3 by Marsu.)
These notes are represented (in commercial music) as a whole note with a simple or double vertical bar (same vertical size as the note)on each side of it.
They are called in french "note carrée(=square)" the whole note being a "ronde(=round) " that look like ||O|| or |O| sometimes the O is overprint by an X.
"This kind of note have no specific duration, it's used to sing all the text that needs to be sung" before a change of note.
With NWC the words should be separated by "_" instead of space.
We should define in the wish
1) the shape of the special note : 1 or 2 vertical bar each side, Xed or not (it is obvious that we cannot have all !). That means 1 new character in the NWC font.
2) its duration : fixed (2 to 4 times the lenght of a whole note), variable according the length of the text the true parameter is the number of syllables but as I don't know a way to count them the number of characters will work this is more difficult to implement but is more realistic.
3) the present capability of NWC to accept and play an abnormal number of notes between bars should be kept working.

Re: Wish on special long notes used in psalms

Reply #1 –
> (See also "measures and lines" thread 687 reply 3 by Marsu.)

I think you mean: https://forum.noteworthycomposer.com/?topic=571.msg2458#msg2458 (read Help for knowing how to embed a link to a previous message).

About the "carrée", I didn't quite agree with marsu. In all old music that I did see (and sing), a carrée had the duration of two whole notes. I believe that the note which means "continue until the end of this part" is a carrée with a stem. Anyway, this can be used only in scores where the notes can span two or more measures, which is not possible within NWC.

Re: Wish on special long notes used in psalms

Reply #2 –
You are right on the reference : I read help after preparing my message but forgot to include the code...
For the time beeing I put whole notes (and correct them manualy) instead of special and my NWC accept several full notes plus others notes (too many to be strictly legal) between normal bars and play them without complaints!
On the most of the partitions I have, the special notes look like a full note with short bars (same height as the note). The name of "carrée" was given by my wife, she is a musician (I am only a PC man)...
Dids any one already entered a wish on this subject ? There seems to be many readers working for religious singing in the forum...

Re: Wish on special long notes used in psalms

Reply #3 –
Indeed, I also work on hymns for a choir (not originals) and have had need of "extra-long whole notes" that span an indefinite number of syllables.

As the previous replies pointed out, the easiest way to do this is to simply tkae advantage of NWC's ability to allow however many notes the user wishes to place in a measure -- as long as the bars are not audited.

Since very few of these notes appear in a hymn/psalm, I just edit the printout manually by first inserting extra notes, then using white-out.

Although I would like to see this feature in a future edition, unless I miss my guess it is hard to implement in software, as there would have to be an additional provision for specifying how many syllables of lyrics attached to the note, and there might be a different number of syllables for multiple verses.

Re: Wish on special long notes used in psalms

Reply #4 –
With the soon-to-be-released version 1.70 you can put away your bottle of white-out. Notes can be hidden, and replaced with a text glyph; in fact, the soon-to-be-released revision of the user-designed "Boxmarks" font contains a breve glyph.

Re: Wish on special long notes used in psalms

Reply #5 –
Well, I added this wish to the wish list several months ago, and I still hope to have it fulfilled sometime...soon?
I would prefer the carée with two vertical lines on each side and no stem.

For the time being, I work around the problem by inserting the carée as a text symbol (from an "external" music font), but it would be much nicer and easier to have it among all the other notes in NWC. So, if more people add this wish to the wish list, may the fulfilment will come faster?

In fact, this is the only improvement I'm still waiting for. Otherwise, version 1.70 is now perfect for my needs, and I think it's fantastic that I'm given this new software for free - having paid only $39 a few years ago.

Best wishes

Paul

Re: Wish on special long notes used in psalms

Reply #6 –
Hi all,
as Fred points out, "in fact, the soon-to-be-released revision of the user-designed "Boxmarks" font contains a breve glyph.".
I'm going release the revision in the beginning of next month; I'll try to take into consideration every proposal that were made. In particular about new items, or changing the size of the breve note (the one Jean C. needs).

Hoping you can wait the 2 or 3 weeks until then!
I also need to look carefully at the new version of NWC; maybe some chars could disappear and let their place to another one.
Best regards to all,

Dominique aka Mad aka Marsu
 

Re: Wish on special long notes used in psalms

Reply #7 –
I should also find it useful if the breve (I believe you call it a "double whole note" on the other side of the Atlantic) were included as one of the standard note symbols (equal to eight crotchets (quarter notes)). This is best represented by a square symbol - two thick horizontal lines and two thin vertical lines - but occasionally one sees it as two breves (whole notes) run together.
The "long" is a breve with a stem, and the "large" is a "long" extended horizontally (as far as I remember). How many beats they are worth depends on the context.