changing note velocity to get a crescendo or diminuendo

• Jul 2, 2014 - 19:53

I know that how much to change the note velocity in a crescendo or diminuendo depends on these 3 variables:

1) how long it lasts
2) starting and ending dynamics
3) note duration

I am working on Beethoven's 5th symphony manually because of how this lets me put every single note and dynamic in to get the right feeling in it. If I didn't do it manually it might be too fast or too slow or too quiet or too loud. With it being done manually when I am done with it I know it will sound right.

With the sheet music here how can I calculate for each instrument what the note velocity of every note in the crescendo or diminuendo of interest is and thus not have a sudden p-f transition or whatever the dynamics are but a real crescendo or diminuendo because I am using version 1.3 which does not do a crescendo or diminuendo when you put it in unless you adjust the note velocity for every note and I want the crescendos and diminuendos to be there.

Also what if there are some crescendos and/or diminuendos that start and end in the same dynamic? How am I supposed to get that sort of a sound?

Comments

Shoichi

• Jul 2, 2014 - 20:01

If you have not already seen:
http://musescore.org/en/project/crescendo-diminuendo-playback

Caters

• Jul 2, 2014 - 20:31

I haven't had any success downloading musescore plugins, just the versions. That is why I am wondering how I could calculate the note velocity of each note based on the note duration, length of crescendo or diminuendo, and starting and ending dynamics.

Marc Sabatella

• Jul 3, 2014 - 00:24

Have you read the plugin installation instructions for your OS? Which OS? At which step does something go wrong, and what specifically goes wrong?

Anyhow, I don't understand the question. If you are doing it manually because you want to be in control to get exactly the eight sound, it's not about calculating - it's about trial and error. if you just want it calculated according to a simple formula, the plugin does that already.

BTW, a crescendo to and from the same dynamic makes no sense. Must be a typo by the engraver of whatever edition you are working from.

Caters

• Jul 3, 2014 - 00:37

It goes wrong in the installation. Specifically it does not upload to musescore. And yes I read the instructions for windows vista.

Also I beleive that some simple formula to calculate the note velocity of each note would be much easier than trial and error when there are multiple note durations in the crescendo or diminuendo and that both would be just as easy with a single note duration like 8ths from piano to forte for example.

Marc Sabatella

• Jul 3, 2014 - 01:22

By "specific", I mean, like saying which exact command you are trying to do and what the text of the errror message is. We can't help without that sort of detailed information. For instance, presumably you are clicking on the download link in your browser, whatever browser that is. And presumably it then asks you what folder to save ot to. And the presumably you open the file from that location and it opens in your favorite ZIP program, or else Windows offers to help you find an appropriate program. And then presumably you hit a button called "extract" or something like that. This is what I mean by *specific* information...

Caters

• Jul 3, 2014 - 01:40

I do that whole sequence and nothing happens once it gets to extraction and uploading.

Jm6stringer

• Jul 3, 2014 - 04:03

There is nothing to upload - only download, unzip, move to plugins folder.

Go to:
http://musescore.org/en/project/crescendo-diminuendo-playback
click on 'Download' and save (not open) the file to your desktop (so you can find it). The file is named:
Jojo-Schmitz-crescendo-diminuendo-playback-2f376be.zip

Unzip the contents and you should see three files:
crescendo or diminuendo.js
crescendo or diminuendo.qml
Readme.md
(The Readme can be opened in Notepad to view the instructions.)

Move the unzipped contents into the MuseScore plugins folder.
For Windows Vista, read:
http://musescore.org/node/10129#Windows

If you can't find the MuseScore plugins folder, you can search for it but be sure to verify the MuseScore plugin folder (in case you have plugin folders for other programs shown in the search results).

Basically, the plugin does what you want:
As an example, for a crescendo from piano to forte, it takes the starting velocity (p) along with the ending velocity (f) and increases the velocity from p to f based on the number of intervening notes.

Regards.

Caters

• Oct 2, 2014 - 20:32

But what about in the cases where you have a crescendo or diminuendo that start and end in the same dynamic(which I have actually seen in some pieces)?

Jojo-Schmitz

• Oct 2, 2014 - 20:38

Quite simple: the plugin fails it won't change any velocity. It doesn't see the hairpin, just the velocity of the first and last note and counts the number of notes in between and from that calculates the steps.

Jojo-Schmitz

• Oct 2, 2014 - 20:39

Quite simple: the plugin fails, it won't change any velocity. It doesn't see the hairpin, just the velocity of the first and last note and counts the number of notes in between and from that calculates the steps.

Marc Sabatella

• Oct 2, 2014 - 21:22

Human being s would have absolutely no idea what tyo do in those situations, either. Whaever editor put the marking in that way probably just made a mistake.

ChurchOrganist

• Oct 2, 2014 - 21:38

Actually such markings are quite common in choral music, where composers indicate how to shape the phrase.

Personally I prefer my choirs to watch me so I have control over the shaping :)

Marc Sabatella

• Oct 2, 2014 - 22:25

Oh yes, crescendo *and* diminuendo back to back. I was picturing just one or the other.