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Topic: Drum Roll Notation (Read 8058 times) previous topic - next topic

Drum Roll Notation

I am notating a marching band score and need some suggestions on how to notate snare rolls and cymbal rings.  Any ideas?

Re: Drum Roll Notation

Reply #2 –
I think Donna is looking for visual aspects.

There is a font (Boxmarks) which has "the little slashy thingies" you need for the roll, and if you want the cymbal to "just ring" after hitting it, you can tie the note to a grace note and make the grace note invisible.

Re: Drum Roll Notation

Reply #3 –
If you were to use version 2 of NWC, you could have x-shaped noteheads, good for notating cymbals, and diamond shaped noteheads, which I think might be useful for percussion sometimes.

Version 2 also has invisible noteheads, so together with well-placed forward slashes (/) you can create decent imitations of comping signs.

Re: Drum Roll Notation

Reply #4 –
Comping signs!
I _knew_ there were some more noteheads I wanted in there.
Actually the other one would be the square looking ones found in old manuscripts, though I guess not many people write those any more... :-)

Re: Drum Roll Notation

Reply #5 –
Does version two also come with the "slashy things" on the stem of the note to indicate a drum roll?  I certainly hope so!  That would be SWEET.  I'll be first in line to upgrade!

Re: Drum Roll Notation

Reply #6 –
Quote from: ironmikesh –
Does version two also come with the "slashy things" on the stem of the note to indicate a drum roll?  I certainly hope so!  That would be SWEET.  I'll be first in line to upgrade!

No, but if you download Boxmark2 or any of my font suites from the Scripto there are characters that can be placed as text that will do the job very nicely.

After you download, if you have a problem post a response here and I'll be glad to give you a demo.

The scripto location you want is here:
http://nwc-scriptorium.org/helpful.html#Fonts
I plays 'Bones, crumpets, coronets, floosgals, youfonymums 'n tubies.

Re: Drum Roll Notation

Reply #7 –
The "slashy things" are abbreviated notes.  I have asked for this feature in NWC many times, and gotten rude responses from management. 

Here is how an abbreviated note works:
1 line through the stem divides the note into two of the next smaller notes.  A line through the stem of a half note divides that note into two quarter notes, and that is how it is played.

2 lines through the stem divides the note into 4 notes.  A quarter note with 2 lines in the stem is played as 4 sixteenth notes.

3 lines through the stem divides the note into 8 notes.  A quarter note with three lines through the stem is played as 8 thirty-second notes.

This notation is used not only by drummers, but by string players and others as well.  It is MUCH easier to read longer sequences of notes of the same pitch if they are written in abbreviated fashion.

The lack of this feature in NWC prevents many of us from writing band and orchestra scores in NWC.  As a result, we have all gone to other programs for the bulk of our work, even though the programs are more expensive and much slower to use.  Noteworthy has lost a lot of money in ignoring this feature, and shaped note heads.

Ed Swanzey

Re: Drum Roll Notation

Reply #8 –
Actually....

The "slashy thingies" are tremolo signs, at least for string, wind, and keyboard players. They are rarely seen in any form but threes, and they simply mean to shake the bow or the hand, or flutter the tongue. Or, if they appear between two notes, to move back and forth between the two notes as rapidly as possible - similar to a trill, but usually covering an interval of a third or more. My understanding has always been that in percussion they mean a roll, not a measured count, but I'm not a percussion player and could be understanding the meaning of the sign wrong over there in the battery.

And as to Noteworthy being able to handle them: all you have to do is download Boxmarks or one of Lawrie's fonts. Then you can insert them as text objects and hide the playback on another staff. Works great. I don't miss not having them. The different-shaped note heads are another matter, and I'm happy to say that NWC2 contains most of those....although not square notes, shape-note shapes, or dammit  breves.

Cheers,

Bill