What is this particular musical nuiance?
Hi. I am working on writing a score taken from an adaptation of the Ode to Joy. I have been listening to a great, short rendition of it played by a Spanish symphony as a flash mob performance in 2012. It is about 5 minutes long.
During the performance, the strings folks, while playing smoothly, suddenly bring their playing to a stop, with a big bow movement and note accent ... then resume it a moment later. Either Beethoven wrote this into the score, or they did. I want to duplicate it in MuseScore, but I don't know if there is already an articulation for it, or what it is called. Can you help me?
It occurs in this YouTube video at precisely 1 minute 5 secs into the score.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbJcQYVtZMo
BTW, this is a beautiful adaptation of the song. Listen to it.
Thanks
Frank
Comments
Here is what the score looks like:
Three note slurred (MuseScore won't play this phrasing) down bow crescendo to an up bow. Which will automatically sound accented because of the jump to a higher note followed by a sudden p.
In reply to Here is what the score looks… by bobjp
Thanks for this. If I understand, MuseScore does not have an articulation for this, but if I manually boost the velocity of the 3 notes as a crescendo, then drop the velocity of the single F#, I may be able to come close to mimicking the effect? I'll give it a try.
In reply to Thanks for this. If I… by fsgregs
It's not so much an articulation as it is a method of playing. If playback is what you are after more than a score, I wouldn't bother with velocity. The three notes leading up to the F3 are played with one down bow. Hence the phrase mark. MuseScore doesn't play phrasing without a little note length trickery, except for the last note, which you wouldn't want longer. Even so, it might not be worth it. At the very least put a hairpin under them. Mark the first F3 with a forte. Then a p or softer under the tied F#. Maybe a hairpin to the second F#. Don't forget to do a lot of expression before that.
Or maybe the forte under the A and start the hairpin on the first F#. just depends on which works.
Or you can fiddle with velocity, but where's the sport in that.