Spread Chords with Grace Notes

2002-05-03 02:02 pm

Until now, if you wanted to achieve a spread chord effect (denoted by a vertical wavy line) using NoteWorthy Composer, you had to enter the notes exactly as they should be played. Whilst this worked well, there was always the problem of balancing the notes in order to keep to the time signature. With the implementation of grace notes on version 1.5, there is now another way of achieving the spread chord effect without having to balance the note values.

This is how : Supposing you have a chord of 4 quarter notes (crotchets) in a single stave. To turn the chord into a spread chord, turn on the persistent note tool, turn on the grace note attribute, turn on the tie. Select the eighth note (quaver) and before each note in the chord apart from the top one, enter the eighth note (i.e. press the enter key). Because you are entering grace notes, the note value of the chord does not need to be altered. (Each grace note will be above and in front of the previous one.)

If the spread chord is divided between two staves then use this procedure for ALL notes in the chord for the lower stave (left hand). For the upper stave (right hand), before entering the grace note eighth notes enter the appropriate number of 'grace note eighth rests' (If you enter a rest while the grace note attribute is selected, the rest will behave the same way a grace note does). You should enter the same number of rests that there are notes in the chord in the lower stave. After doing this, enter the grace notes for all notes in the upper chord apart from the top note.

You can beam the grace notes so that the chord looks neater. Press play and be happy with some good results without too much effort.