MusicXML import/export: combined dynamics not handled properly

• Aug 10, 2018 - 21:04
Type
Functional
Frequency
Many
Severity
S3 - Major
Reproducibility
Always
Status
active
Regression
No
Workaround
No
Project
MuseScore

MuseScore handles regular dynamics and custom dynamics correctly during MusicXML import/export, but not combined dynamics.

combined_dynamics.png

For example, the regular dynamic p is correctly exported to MusicXML as:

<dynamics>
  <p/>
</dynamics>

Whereas the mixed dynamic "sempre p" is exported to MusicXML as:

<dynamics>
  <other-dynamics>sempre &lt;sym&gt;dynamicPiano&lt;/sym&gt;</other-dynamics>
</dynamics>

This is far from ideal, and causes at least one MusicXML to Braille conversion tool to crash.

The MusicXML specification says:

> "Dynamics elements may also be combined to create marks not covered by a single element, such as sfmp."

This presumably means that the correct representation of "sempre p" would be:

<dynamics>
  <other-dynamics>sempre </other-dynamics>
  <p/>
</dynamics>

And similarly for other combined dynamics. These cases need to be handled on MusicXML import and export.

Attachment Size
combined_dynamics.mscz 4.93 KB

Comments

• Mar 7, 2019 - 16:39
Severity ⇒ S3 - Major
Reported version 2.3 ⇒  
Frequency ⇒ Many
Regression ⇒ No
Reproducibility ⇒ Always
Workaround ⇒ No

I just ran into this problem with the Lime notation editor (also used to create braille - I'm not sure what braille software the original poster uses). This must be a problem for any music XML import! I imported the sample file into Finale and Lime and neither of them could make sense of the dynamics. I'm adding this note to indicate this affects many people.

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