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Topic: Mezzo-staccato (Read 6997 times) previous topic - next topic

Mezzo-staccato

Is there any way to notate mezzo-staccato (portato) without resorting to text?
The tenuto dash and accent will notate together from the toolbar but the tenuto dash and staccato dot are mutually exclusive. Do we need to put on the wish-list to be able to have both together. Might need vertical adjustment in the programming of the dot to have them both display.

Re: Mezzo-staccato

Reply #1 –
Quote from: llucyy –
Is there any way to notate mezzo-staccato (portato) without resorting to text?
No.  You can simulate the sound with slurred staccato notes. Make sure that the slur extends past the last staccato note.

Quote
Do we need to put on the wish-list to be able to have both together.
This has been wished for, several times.
Registered user since 1996

Re: Mezzo-staccato

Reply #2 –
   I hope it will be worth adding the following general comments about note lengths.

   The default - no Performance Style at all at the start of a staff  - provides a long note chopped off just before the end.  You ought to get exactly the same note length when using any Performance Style except the ones that actually work - that is, legato and tenuto (which seem to be identical to my ears) and staccato.

   In order of "length", then:-

   The longest is legato/tenuto, which hold the note right up to the end (even with an instrument sounding a "continuous" note, such as a piccolo, you still get distinct notes, but that's because of the attack at the start of each).  Incidentally, the Performance Style "Help" files don't say that the Tenuto marking works, but it does.  Marking the note with the overhead line - the tenuto dash - gives, as expected, the same effect.  And not entirely unexpectedly, slurring a full length (tenuto etc) note doesn't make it any longer!  It might be nice if it automatically reduced the attack on the subsequent note, so as to enable the smoothing out of a run of notes, but it doesn't.

   Next in length, and a tad shorter, is the "No Style" default, or the effect given by any non-working Style (which you need if you've already set some working Style).  I tend to use Marcato, simply because that's what it sounds like.  Slurring such a note makes it effectively full-length (tenuto).

   Then, as Rick G says, there's the slurred staccato dot - the dot makes a staccato length, and the slur extends it a bit.  Interestingly, slurring a note that is staccato because of a Staccato marking does not have the same effect; instead, it provides what to me sounds exactly the same as a legato/tenuto note length.

   And shortest is the staccato note itself - made so either by a Staccato marking or by a staccato dot (dotting a Staccato note doesn't make it any more staccato).

   Voila.

   MusicJohn, 14/Apr/06

Re: Mezzo-staccato

Reply #3 –
NoteWorthy now supports this. Vertical placement departs somewhat from what major publishers use. Placement using text has also been improved. Here is a measure of each for comparison:
Code: (nwc) [Select · Download]
!NoteWorthyComposerClip(2.5,Single)
|Note|Dur:4th,Staccato,Tenuto|Pos:0
|Note|Dur:4th,Staccato,Tenuto|Pos:1
|Note|Dur:4th,Staccato,Tenuto|Pos:2
|Bar
|Text|Text:"C"|Font:StaffSymbols|Pos:5|Justify:Center|Placement:AtNextNote
|Text|Text:"z"|Font:StaffSymbols|Pos:3|Justify:Center|Placement:AtNextNote
|Note|Dur:4th|Pos:0
|Text|Text:"C"|Font:StaffSymbols|Pos:5|Justify:Center|Placement:AtNextNote
|Text|Text:"z"|Font:StaffSymbols|Pos:3|Justify:Center|Placement:AtNextNote
|Note|Dur:4th|Pos:1
|Text|Text:"C"|Font:StaffSymbols|Pos:6|Justify:Center|Placement:AtNextNote
|Text|Text:"z"|Font:StaffSymbols|Pos:5|Justify:Center|Placement:AtNextNote
|Note|Dur:4th|Pos:2
|Bar
!NoteWorthyComposerClip-End
Registered user since 1996