Making Different Notes in a Harmony Vary in Volume/Dynamic?
Hello.
I am writing a song (Piano/Clarinet) in which the clarinet has the melody. In the clarinet part, there are sometimes two- or three-part harmonies. However, in those times, especially when there is the three-part harmony, the main/melody note is covered up by the harmony note(s). Is there a way, using voices or not, to make some of the notes quieter or louder than the others so the melody shows through but the harmony is still present?
If something is missing, I can collect more information, screenshots, or anything else that is needed.
Thanks in advance,
RRyanJS67
Comments
https://musescore.org/en/handbook/dynamics ?
Via the Inspector you can set the range of a dynamic to span a single staff, all staves of an instrument (e.g. both staves of a piano), or the entire system. The default setting is to span the instrument.
In reply to https://musescore.org/en/hand by Shoichi
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6xjvMwEx0LccUNYZXRQbVdrVWM/view?usp=s… If the attachment doesn't work...
As you can see in the screenshot, I have all of the clarinet parts on the same staff, meaning that I can't use the Inspector to do the job I was hoping. Should I split them by note to do what I was hoping to, or is there a way to do it with multiple notes on a single staff? I didn't catch the latter in the post you shared. (Note: the middle note in the harmony is the melody)
In reply to https://drive.google.com/file by Rain Shinotsu
I am not aware that a clarinet can play chords, maybe (use copy/paste) you should use three instruments ;-)
In reply to I am not aware that a by Shoichi
Thanks for your help. I have done what I could to make this work, and I would say it turned out pretty well.
P.S. Interesting idea to send the mscz with that name. The actual title is "Quit While I'm Behind". ^^;
The way I would go about writing this is to put the melody on one instrument and the harmony on another instrument (do not simply add a staff or linked staff, it won't work right).
You can change the volume on a single note or multiple notes at a time in the inspector, So I would then go into the harmony instrument and adjust the velocities on groups of notes at a time.
Do not use dynamic marks, these will ruin the process.
So if I have 2 1/2 measures to play at mp (which defaults to 64) is too loud, I would lower the volume on all of the notes in those 2 1/2 measures (perhaps to 55 which is about half way between mp and p). To change something on multiple notes at a time, select the measures (or group of notes click the first, shift-click the last) then click notes in the inspector. You can then scroll down to the velocity and adjust it once. It will be applied to all selected notes.
Once the two instruments are properly blended, select the entire harmony instrument and exchange voices 1 and 2 so the notes are in voice 2. Use the filter selector (F6) to deselect voice 1, copy the line and paste the harmony into the instrument with the melody. You don't need to do anything special except select the first beat of the melody instrument.
You can now delete the harmony instrument since it is no longer needed and reselect voice 1 in the selection filter for when you need it later.
If you have different rhythms on the harmony, you will need to add new instruments for each line as needed. You will then exchange voice 1 and 3 for the third part as needed, and you only need to do this in the sections where the rhythms are different.
This has to do with the current limitation on volumes. You cannot apply them to voices, only parts, staffs, and systems. The default dynamic is applied to parts (a staff and all added staves), so it is easier to make these adjustments on parts. You also have the ability during testing to mute the extra instrument in the mixer if you want, you cannot do this with added staves.
I think I covered all the bases, let me know if I missed something.
In reply to The way I would go about by mike320
Thanks for taking the time anyway, but I followed the guide Shoichi posted and made the necessary tweaks. However, this meant that so much space was taken up in the score, because of only one line used per page. I had to split the clarinet to three parts, then two of those into two because some of the notes overlap, meaning I had to use voices at first, making five clarinet parts... I think it would be good to try to condense it a little bit. Is the post you made potentially helpful to condense the score at least a little bit? An attachment shows what I did about voicing. The first clarinet part is the upper harmony, the second and third the melody, and the fourth and fifth the lower harmony.
In reply to Thanks for taking the time by Rain Shinotsu
You can definitely use this to condense the score a bit. Not knowing which lines have the melody I'll talk generalities with examples.
If you want a singe line with the melody you can notate that line as normal. You can then use Shoichi's info to make it easier for the harmony. You now have 4 (or fewer) lines of harmony that you can now implode back to a single line by selecting the lines you want to condense and selecting implode. You can do this in sections as needed or the complete song at once if that's what you need. You can then adjust the volume on the other lines by a easier method since they are on a different line than the melody. You can use dynamic marks as you do now, but if mp at 64 is too loud you can select the mp and lower the volume. If every mp in the harmony needs to be 58 to make it sound right you can right click an mp move the mouse to Select > more... then check same subtype and same staff and every mp on that staff will be selected so you can adjust it in the inspector.
You as the scribe need to decide how you want the music to look. If it doesn't matter and playback is all that matters you can hide empty staves and at various places through the song have the clarinets on 1, 2 3 or however many lines you like to make the sound just right. If you want 5 clarinets to be able to play this from the score, you are going to want each part to be on the same line throughout so when you extract parts Clarinet 3 has all of its music on a single line, even if parts 2 and 4 are on the line with it. Every wind instrument player has played off of music with multiple parts on it.
(this paragraph may be confusing, give me some time to find a real world example and it will make sense)
On combined lines of music, if they play in unison, put the phrase a2 above where 2 instruments play unison, a3 above 3 and so forth. If all play in unison, then place unison or tutti above the sections where this starts. If it is still unclear who a2 refers to you can place the phrase "2&3 a2" above (or next to the first note if there are 3 lines) where this starts. Any time you change to everyone with a different note, you do not need this note, but any other change needs to be marked.
If you want each part to have its own line when extracted you may decide to display the single line you started with and hide 5 individual lines on the score. These 5 lines will have all of the dynamics set correctly. For the conductor's score you will hide these and mute the condensed line for playback. When you extract the parts, you will not extract a part for the combined line of music.
Not knowing you ultimate goal all I can do is give you options. Once you decide, feel free to ask if you need more help. Someone is almost always on the forums willing to help.
In reply to You can definitely use this by mike320
Basically, what I am wondering is whether it is safe to condense two lines if they are the same clarinet part, even though sometimes in one part, two rhythms overlap and clarinets can only play one note at a time. In the screenshot I shared, Clarinet lines 2 and 3 were melody (Part 2), 1 was upper harmony (Part 1), and 4 and 5 were lower harmony (Part 3).
By the way, I tried imploding the two lines for lower harmony and changing the voice for the ones where I was concerned about overlap, but nothing happened by simply imploding them. Maybe I need to copy-paste again...
In reply to Basically, what I am by Rain Shinotsu
For a test (which can be undone) select a measure on part lines 4 and 5, and implode them. If they have different rhythm you will not be happy with the results. You need voices for those measure. Imploding only works on voice 1, voice 2 will sit there unmoved and unchanged.
In reply to For a test (which can be by mike320
So I did what you suggested, with imploding the lines. However, with the way the lines I want to implode are structured, it didn't work too well. I'll probably just copy-paste, if this is even musically safe to do.
In reply to So I did what you suggested, by Rain Shinotsu
I guess the rhythms are different so you would have to use voices.
In reply to I guess the rhythms are by mike320
That I did. I have three different files for the song, with varying counts of clarinet staves. The regular and condensed do use voices, and the expanded version is written with two staves per part to eliminate voices. Thank you for your help.