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Topic: Breve (Read 4808 times) previous topic - next topic

Breve

The subject was brought up earlier, but no answer was given, only a debate.

Will NWC2 have a character for a breve, or double whole-note?

Re: Breve

Reply #1 –
This is a long-standing wish, actually the only new feature which I really need to be perfectly satisfied with NWC. So, let's hope for a breve in NWC2.

Paul

Re: Breve

Reply #2 –
The reason for the debate: In NWC, notes generally have a visible (printed) meaning, and an audible (MIDI duration) meaning. But a breve (barred whole note) is often used for a note of indefinite duration, thus detaching the visible meaning from the audible meaning.

Placing a breve as text (can already be done) gives it a visible meaning, with no audible meaning. If the breve were to be placed as notation, it would be an easier user interface - but there would have to be some method for dealing with the indefinite audible meaning. Such a method is not, to my knowledge, an existing part of the NWC way of doing things.

Re: Breve

Reply #3 –
I don't believe that for a moment! A breve should play for its proper length. If you want to include a different performance then use the following technique which can shorten or lengthen the bar appropriately, and even space the lyrics properly.

Code: [Select · Download]
!NoteWorthyComposerClip(2.0,Single)
|Clef|Type:Treble
|TimeSig|Signature:4/4
|Chord|Dur:Half|Pos:0z|Opts:Stem=Up,StemLength=0|Dur2:Whole|Pos2:0
|Note|Dur:8th|Pos:0z|Opts:Stem=Up,StemLength=0
|Note|Dur:8th|Pos:0z|Opts:Stem=Up,StemLength=0
|Note|Dur:8th|Pos:0z|Opts:Stem=Up,StemLength=0
|Note|Dur:8th|Pos:0z|Opts:Stem=Up,StemLength=0
|Note|Dur:4th|Pos:0z|Opts:Stem=Up
!NoteWorthyComposerClip-End

Re: Breve

Reply #4 –
But I do believe it, because I have more than one score in which the breve simply fills the measure, the length of which is determined by the time signature.  I must qualify that a bit, as in some early music (say late 16th century) the measures don't correspond to time signatures, and here the duration of the breve is that of the totality of the duration of notes and/or rests in the corresponding measures of other staves.

But, it IS (I think) the exact equivalent of the interpretation in NWC of the whole (semi-breve) rest.  If it is alone in a measure it's duration is determined by the time signature.  So, the same logic which is applied (with hidden time signatures in the early-music case - required for whole rests to behave as intended) to whole rests should suffice.

Re: Breve

Reply #5 –
I've solved the problem for me. Bear with me.

First, I opened the NWC font and my new TimeItal font in Font Creator. I copied the whole note character from the NWC font to two locations in TimeItal, replacing the @ sign and the = sign. I tweaked the two font's and created a breve with a ledger line and a breve without a ledger line. By experimenting with these breve characters back and forth with Noteworthy Composer, I was able to tweak them so they could form a breve using the text tool directly over a whole note, so they do not look unusual in the line. I will upload the TimeItal font again to the Scriptorium with this update.

Here's how to use it: Make sure one of your User Defined fonts is TimeItal. Set it to Regular 22 pt. Set the staff size to 17 pt. Enter the breve two staff spaces above where you want it, e.g. if you want a treble clef A, put the blinking cursor on C above it. Using the text tool, select the user font where TimeItal is and place an @ if you want a breve with a ledger line or an = if you want a plain breve. If you want to offset the breve next to another note, put a space in front of the character. On the Expression Placement tab, use "At the next note or event." That's the last one on the menu. The default is "best fit"--don't use that setting.

This makes a perfect breve and it looks great. If you want it to sound, you can place a whole note over it. You can put the whole note's visibility to "Never" if you don't want to see it even though it should line up with the breve. You could tie two greyed-out whole notes together if you wanted the sound to last 8 beats, or any other combination. Just gray them out.

If you want to use a larger staff pt. size, you'll have to experiment with the font size of TimeItal. Since I always use Noteworthy as metafiles in Microsoft Publisher or Word, it doesn't worry me what the staff pt. size is. I adjust to the size I want in Publisher or Word. 17 is my standard.

I'll post again when they finally put TimeItal.ttf in the Scriptorium.

Re: Breve

Reply #6 –
I also sent in a score to the Scriptorium that uses the breves so you can see how they look. The name of the file is Only Begotten Son.nwc.

Re: Breve

Reply #7 –
Cyril, you misread what I said. Of course a breve can represent an arbitrary value - I first pointed that out in https://forum.noteworthycomposer.com/?topic=4261.msg26790#msg26790.

But the implementation of a breve should use its obvious playing length. And then I gave an easy work-round to achieve any arbitrary length and rhythm

Re: Breve

Reply #8 –
Sorry, I didn't remember the other article.  But, given the current behavior of the whole rest in NWC I can see no reason for the breve to be limited to a fixed duration.

Cyril

Re: Breve

Reply #9 –
Yes, that's possible. So a single breve in a bar takes the length of the time signature and is centred in the bar. But if it is combined with any other notes then it takes its logical duration and is positioned as an ordinary note.

Re: Breve

Reply #10 –
I tweaked the two font's...
should read
I tweaked the two fonts...

Re: Breve

Reply #11 –
I get it! Graham R. -- Grammar. Clever.