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Topic: Performance style question (Read 2288 times) previous topic - next topic

Performance style question

HI! Forgive me if I ramble a bit but I have a question about performance style options that is not covered much in the instructions.
I am a church organist and copy old hymns out of hymnals into Noteworthy and then export them as .mid files into my DAW and play them at church through a digital Allen via midi with my laptop. I add other virtual instruments in tracks to play along with the organ.
I'm trying to hone my skills at making the Noteworthy notation playback sound more natural. Since the congregation sings along with me, I have to add quite a bit of rubato so as to give them time to breath and to accentuate phrases. I am trying to get better at this. I am exploring the options in the performance style list. I understand that when adding notation "as is"; rests (which are invisible in the Noteworthy score) are automatically inserted after notes to make the playing sound natural note-to-note. When I export them as .mid files, I can see these rests in the score.
After adding "legato" to the track, I see that those rests seem to be eliminated. So I tried tenuto and that appears to be somewhere in between "as is" and legato. But I did not know how to get back to "as is" after adding legato. So I tried Solo from the list and this seems to bring me back to the "as is" sound. I also tried sotto voce and that seems to be similar to solo. Stacatto works as would be expected as well. Now I am wondering just how many of the performance styles actually change the score and how I can find out more about what each one actually does.
When I asked this question to "Noteworhty Support", I was told that the only performance styles that actually changed the score playback are legato and staccato. Is there any way to actually make these changes visible in the Noteworthy score ...or information that can help me with this subject?
Thanks!!!
Terry

Re: Performance style question

Reply #1 –
Unless my memory betrays me, "legato", "tenuto" and "staccato" are the only performance styles that actually modify the performance style. All the others, no matter what they indicate, simply restore the standard way of performing.

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Is there any way to actually make these changes visible in the Noteworthy score

Sorry, don't get it.
If you exclude the three I listed above, all the others are essentially only to be shown in the printed score.

Maybe you started your score with a hidden "performance style", then the "smart property insert" puts all the others hidden as well.
If this is the case, then you should highlight each of them, then open the "notation properties", then "visibility" and select "default".

Re: Performance style question

Reply #2 –
This is the current NWC 2.51 documentation of the Performance Style Command:
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Performance Style Command
This command is used to insert a predefined performance expression into the staff. You can select among many pre-existing styles, most of which are the standard Italian spellings for the styles. Currently, only two styles alter the way the score is played back:

Legato: This style causes all note events to be played to their fullest duration, as if all notes that follow the instruction were slurred to the following note.
Staccato: This style causes all the notes that follow it to be played with a more staccato feel than normal.
All other styles currently change the style back to the default play back handling.
(emphasis added) The list is wrong. Tenuto should be added to it.
Slurs and articulations also affect this. In combination with Performance Styles, a note may be affected in complex ways. IMO, the way to know for sure is to look at the MIDI output.
Registered user since 1996
 

Re: Performance style question

Reply #3 –
Thank you for your replies, they make sense. AH HA! That is why when I used the "SOLO" style it returned to the original and what I hear you guys saying is that any of the others would do the same. Got it!
The other question I had was more of an "I wish" that there was a way to have an option to actually visually see the rests that are being added with these performance styles on the Noteworthy scores. This instead of having to export them to .mid. And with that option, be able to make changes to them.
Slurs and actual rest additions are what I had been using in the past and certainly work fine. From what I have experienced, some of the Noteworthy additions (such as breath marks that are adjustable) are not recognized by my Studio One DAW and so cannot be used. (too bad because they are convenient).
Having Noteworthy, Kontakt 5, and Studio One 2 (plus the long list of virtual sampled instruments that each have their own users guide) I find myself going crazy at times trying to keep everything straight. But one of the reasons I have stuck with Noteworthy was and is, due to its intuitive simplicity.
Thanks for your help!!!
Terry