Two more things I'm too stupid to figure out for myself - odd time signatures, and simple tempo indication
1. How do you enter odd time signatures like 11/4 time or 7/8?
2. Also there is a little "r" thing that indicates tempo to the MIDI playback player, but I have no idea how to enter that either.
Any help would b e greatly appreciated. Thank you.
Comments
1. When you create a new score (via File -> New) you can choose any arbitrary time signature for the whole score. If you need to an existing score (i.e. if the time signature changes at some point during the piece) then you can create a custom time signature and add it to the time signatures pallet.
2. I don't know what you mean by "a little 'r' thing", but you can set the tempo by adding tempo text.
In reply to 1. When you create a new by shoogle
The "r" think seems to be some sort of Tempo abbreviation. I tried to copy and paste it from a score, to the forum but it won't copy and paste, but it will copy and paste within a given score. I know how to add a standard full tempo marking, but I would like to be able to do the abbreviated style which seems more directed at the MIDI player than for a human performer who would make the tempo adjustments intuitively. I notice the "r" can but copied and pasted from a score to a score, and the inspector or whatever it is describes it as "Text" "Style" "Tempo." All there is in the score, is the little "r" and you read the tempo setting with the "Inspector." How do you go about adding the little "r" that is an indication of tempo?
In reply to The "r" think seems to be by gBouchard
A picture would help.
In reply to A picture would help. by LuuBluum
Here's a screen shot:
In reply to Here's a screen shot: by gBouchard
That looks like a normal typed 'r'.
Add a normal Tempo Text, then double click it (or select it and press Ctrl-E to text enter edit mode. Delete the text that is there and replace it with what you want it to show. In your case, type 'r'.
In the inspector, uncheck 'follow text' and set the tempo that should be used.
In reply to That looks like a normal by jeetee
This works. Now is there anyway to add this to the pallet? It would be very handy to have it immediately available for any score where you want to modify the tempo of the MIDI player to give more musical and less mechanical end results.
In reply to This works. Now is there by gBouchard
If you have a custom workspace you're probably able to Shift-drag it in there.
If you want it more italic like styled, use the inspector and change the text style to 'Technique'. I've also used that style in my TempoChanges plugin to implement rit/accel and it looks quite nice by default imo.
In reply to Here's a screen shot: by gBouchard
It looks like a typed 'r' to me too. I think you were right when you guessed it was some sort of tempo abbreviation - it's almost certainly short for rit or rall (which are themselves short for ritardando or rallentando respectively) meaning "slow down gradually". MuseScore doesn't allow gradual tempo changes, hence the author has used multiple abrupt tempo changes to simulate a gradual change, as instructed here.
If you really want an 'r' then jeetee's method will get you what you want. However, you should think carefully about whether that is really the best option. The point of sheet music is to tell a human performer how a piece should be played, and an 'r' by itself is not very helpful in this regard. You should always use the full name (e.g. "ritardando") or an accepted abbreviation (e.g. "rit.") if you want the score to be playable by a human. If you want an abrupt tempo change then use the proper name and consider adding an indicated BPM (beats per minute) in brackets (e.g. "allegro (♩ = 120)") and tick the inspector option to "follow tempo text". For gradual changes you won't want to show a BPM, but you could still write one in and then set it to be invisible.
In reply to The "r" think seems to be by gBouchard
Sounds like maybe this is a score created by someone else? They might have their own special reasons to have customzied a tempo amrking to just read "r" but to be clear - this is not some special MuseScore feature nor is it standard notation. It seems to be something someone did for reasons known only to them. Presumably they entered a regular tempo marking then edited it.
In reply to Sounds like maybe this is a by Marc Sabatella
It's to help the MIDI player play more musically. I found out I could change the "r" to a "t" although I would prefer the "t" to be in italics, but I don't know how to do that either. I'll try the suggestion above to edit a standard tempo entry and see if it works. This type of tempo marking is always not visible in in the printed score, so it doesn't affect a human at all. It does help to hear the music as it might actually be played when using the MIDI player.
In reply to It's to help the MIDI player by gBouchard
Oh, so just playback tempo changes. Well, if it's invisible, wouldn't it be more clear to just use the standard tempo marking so you can know at a glance what the tempo is at that part?
In reply to Oh, so just playback tempo by LuuBluum
Not really, because the standard Tempo markings take up too much space. This makes for very clean entry and a relatively uncluttered score. Also since it's very short code, it's rather obvious at least to me, that it is a "playback mark," but then again I'm actually too stupid to use Musescore, because I'm often confronted with simple Musescore tasks that become insurmountable for me.
In reply to It's to help the MIDI player by gBouchard
Like I said, the "r" is short for "rit". If you want a slowing down you can use "r" and if you want it to speed up you could use "a" for "accel" (accelerando). Whatever you use, you want the first one to be visible for the sake of a human reading the score. You can hide the later ones because they are only there for MuseScore and are not needed by a human.
In reply to Like I said, the "r" is short by shoogle
My view is the little "t" or "r" or "a" is simply for the MIDI player as these marks are always set to invisible. For humans I use the standard Tempo marking, and show it in the score.
But on another subject is there anyway to get the MIDI player to ignore all dynamics written into the score as the MIDI player tends to highly over exaggerate in a most annoying fashion?
In reply to My view is the little "t" or by gBouchard
You can tweak the actual velocity volume of each to make them less extreme.
In reply to My view is the little "t" or by gBouchard
"is there anyway to get the MIDI player to ignore all dynamics written into the score"
No.. but yes :)
1. Select a dynamic
2. Select all similar
3. Use the inspector to give them a specific velocity (around 80 would be approx a mezzoforte I think)
"the MIDI player tends to highly over exaggerate in a most annoying fashion"
If you're bothered enough, you could create a custom palette in a custom workspace in which you've dragged all dynamics from an existing score *after* you've set their velocities with the inspector.
In reply to "is there anyway to get the by jeetee
Thanks, I'll try the "all similar dynamics" option tomorrow. Musescore has brought me to my knees today. Somehow a measure got a strange number of beats in it, and I just had to close out and give up. If you want to end up in an asylum, Musescore is a great tool to accelerate your arrival.
In reply to "is there anyway to get the by jeetee
Yes, this technique worked great. Just set everything to velocity level 80 which is fine for checking the score auditorily.