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Breve idea

The breve question hasn't really been resolved.  I have an idea, though. Would it be possible to take the capability for sixty-fourth notes, or hemidemisemiquavers and make it optional for breves?  After all, few pieces using breves would use the other. Or is there some manner of font manipulation possible for this? Someone some time ago suggested the 0 key as an option.

Re: Breve idea

Reply #2 –
Using the 0 for this purpose would be very logical. There is one function assigned to it (go to the middle of the staff), but I have never heard anything but complaints about this behaviour.

Vote 0 for breves!

Re: Breve idea

Reply #3 –
Doesn't 0 also reset the note duration and clear any buttons (accidentals, accents, ties etc) that are pressed?

So theoretically, it is a good key to start with any time you want to start a new series of key-presses - say if you were showing instructions on NWC2 forum.

But I've never used it (except by accident), and I think the <Escape> key is better suited to being a "reset" function.  We can still have it as an alternative to <F6> in playback.  Then that would be two functions I rarely use that key for!

[abbr=even though I've only ever needed it in one piece]I vote 0 for breve[/abbr]!

Re: Breve idea

Reply #4 –
I like the 0 idea, too.  It seems easy enough.

David: did you know there's a breve or two in Messiah? Can you name the part whence it's found? Also, (again to you, David) I did seminary in Waterloo, Ont and Saskatoon. I also live across the lake from Thunder Bay & listen to CBC (I & II) and Radio-Canada. Never been BC, though.

Re: Breve idea

Reply #5 –
Hej, Robin (as they say in Sweden),

I don't think I've ever seen a breve in real life so I can't answer about Messiah.  My musical background included baroque and renaissance music when I was in high school, but I don't recall playing parts that had breves.  I found it interesting to learn the basis for alla breve time when I looked up breve yesterday.

Across from Thunder Bay, eh?  I have relatives there, so I've been there a couple of times.  A good time to visit the west coast is February or March - usually spring has sprung by then, and it can make a nice break from midwest winter.  I've never been to Waterloo, but I was London for a couple of weeks when my job required a lot of travel (25 years ago).  I never made it to Saskatoon, unless I drove through it on the way back from Thunder Bay about 10 years ago.  Probably drove past your home too, since we drove from Minneapolis to Thunder Bay that trip.

Ewan and Robin, I have no objection to 0 for the breve.  I just didn't think of it!

Re: Breve idea

Reply #6 –
David,

I live in Michigan, on that small peninsula that sticks out into Lake Superior.  This is a very snowy place in winter, averaging over 500 cm of snow a year.  We are right now under a blizzard warning.

As you can tell from my name, my background is Norwegian--on my father's side, and my mother was born in Berlin.

The breves can be found at the very end of "And With These Stripes We Are Healed" though more as sort of a fermata.

I hope we can get the breve on 0.

I have to get out & do a few things before the weather gets bad.

Re: Breve idea

Reply #7 –
Without consulting my Novello edition, I can tell that on top of the page it reads: 'Alla breve. Moderato.'

Re: Breve idea

Reply #8 –
Well, Rob, to live in snow country, you and all your neighbours must alla be brave!

I saw the beginning of winter last week when I was in Ottawa, BRRRHHHH! and I'm glad to be back to fog, and hopefullytomorrow, rain.
 

Re: Breve idea

Reply #9 –
Hi guys,
I haven't piped up before in this discussion 'cos I wanted to think about it...

While I agree that using 0 for a breve could be useful, I'm not sure that it is more useful than having 0 centre the cursor in the staff.

I often input without looking at the screen and to be able to know exactly where the insertion point is (vertically) without looking at the screen is something I find useful.  I concede that it is not all the time, but for me it would be infinitely more often than the need to input a breve, as I have never needed a breve yet.

Please note this is a personal impact statement, not intended to suggest that breves are unnecessary.

Aside from older choral music, just how often are breves seen now?  Would a button on the tool bar similar to the current [abbr=64th note]hemidemisemiquaver[/abbr] be sufficient?

In any case, NWC are yet to implement breves so at this point the discussion is academic.

Lawries 2 cents worth.
I plays 'Bones, crumpets, coronets, floosgals, youfonymums 'n tubies.

Re: Breve idea

Reply #10 –
Hmmm... There are those in the newsgroup(s) who would love to see the current behaviour of the 0 go. Stuart, to name one.
But if you use 0 as you do, well, Noteworthy won't be so happy to change - you might not be the only one! A toggle would be nice... but that goes for the Home key as well. Sometimes when I want to hit PgUp, I hit Home. Now, where was I? Right in the middle of a 400 bar piece of one of Raff's symphonies. Help! I want to be able to say 'Home key, go home!' But I digress.

The other way, entering it as a whole and doubling its value using + is just as fine, but all of this has to wait until its implementation.

Re: Breve idea

Reply #11 –
Losing the zero as a home key has scripting issues. I don't use recorder macros anymore, but I remember using zero as a reference.

Can anyone post an example that can't be easily worked around by using text breves attached to white rests and a separate playing staff?
Registered user since 1996

Re: Breve idea

Reply #12 –
Lawrie's point is well taken: something like the key for the  hemidemisemiquaver would work, too, especially if the zero key  change would make scripting difficulties.  0 would be best, though, if possible. I think you'd use the breve more often than the  hemidemisemiquaver, but not so often as to be too painful.

What scripting problems would there be (using the 0 key)?

Dave: they've extended the blizzard warning....

Re: Breve idea

Reply #13 –
Dave doesn't care about blizzards, but I dread them.  On Feb 20 1983 I experienced one.  Never again, said I, and promptly took the opportunity to get deployed back to my home town...  Clear but cloudy day out west today...

We don't have agreement on the zero key.  Why not shift-zero or my earlier suggestion shift-one?

Re: Breve idea

Reply #14 –
I see the point of scripts using the zero. So it's either configurable keys (and the Noteworthy does not like the idea much, I'm afraid) or Shift-1.
I must agree that keys that do not yet have a function sound like a good choice. Shift-1 is more logical than Shift-zero - let's keep it on the left side of the keyboard.

Re: Breve idea

Reply #15 –
The number pad is on the right of my keyboard...