Skip to main content ↑ ↓
Topic: Dotted Ties (Read 5170 times) previous topic - next topic

Dotted Ties

In arranging some music for my church choir, I have run across a small problem with NWC. There is no way to insert a dotted (or broken) tie.  This is sometimes necessary when the words of a verse are not sung at the same time as the preceding verse. Any ideas on how to place a dotted (or broken) tie would be appreciated.

Re: Dotted Ties

Reply #1 –
Perhaps something with Digital whiteout is what you need since NWC can't generate a dotted slur.

The underscore character "_" can be used in the lyrics when a verse doesn't have a syllable on a specific note. 
Since 1998

Re: Dotted Ties

Reply #2 –
Digital whiteout probably will work, but it may be finicky.  I'd give that a try if you expect to print a whole bunch of copies, or if you want to preserve the song file for future printing.

However, sometimes the easiest thing to do is just print the music, hand-draw the features the program doesn't provide.  

Re: Dotted Ties

Reply #3 –
What I do is, if there are too many notes, as Warren says, use the undersore to space the lyrics. If there are too many words, just put a dot ( or an undersore) between the words without any spaces to put multiple words on a note. The singers will pick up on the timing.
 

Re: Dotted Ties

Reply #4 –
Digital whiteout has worked quite well for me.  I have a dings fonts consisting of various-sized rectangles, along with a few blank spaces that are narrower than the normal space.  I insert a string of characters and spaces ("yûyûyûyûyûyû" for example) highlighted white, justified right.  If the slur/tie is in the staff, the staff lines will also get "whiteouted."  Layering is one way to compensate for it, but I also have staff lines included in the font and add those as well.
Be nice if I didn't have to go through all that, though.

[edit - typo]

Re: Dotted Ties

Reply #5 –
MusiCruiser,

For my choral scores where there should be a dotted slur I place text brackets around the slur.  It's now our standard convention and the choristers soon learned what it means.

Use <Justify Left>, <At next note or bar> and don't preserve width.

It ain't elegant but it conveys the message.

Cheers,

Bill.

Re: Dotted Ties

Reply #6 –
Quote
...text brackets around the slur.
That's clever, and much easier than what I do.

Re: Dotted Ties

Reply #7 –
.
Quote from: K.A.T. –
...... much easier than what I do.

Thanks K.A.T.  It took my ancient brain a long time to wake up to the fact that bracketing is the standard procedure for notes that are not wanted in some verses, so why not slurs?

Bill

Re: Dotted Ties

Reply #8 –
I have had to deal with this problem too.  The problem with putting the brackets around the tie is that if you are also changing to a different note between bars you do not really want a tie/swipe between the two notes you just want to go from one note to the other without a break in the forward motion of the song.  If the song is exported to a MIDI file it is played as a tie.  My solution is to place a text note at the appropriate point.  I use NoBr or NB to indicate that there is no breath to be taken.