Customize drum set for jazz templates

• Sep 13, 2014 - 02:30
Type
Functional
Severity
S4 - Minor
Status
closed
Project

Ubuntu Studio 14.04, GIT commit: e2a6fbd

I'm assuming the shortcuts added for the default drumset work for most people. In a jazz setting, though, it's pretty hard to live without pedal hi-hat. If we're comfortable with defaults, I'll probably change one of the toms, or the closed hi hat, to pedal hi hat (unless that was a mistake and pedal was meant in the first place?)

I'll probably also put in a slash mark like I had for 1.3


Comments

good catch for the pedal
I don't have strong feeling on the default
I tried to put some default and cover the instruments as much a possible

is slash mark related to drumset?

I figure it's not unlikely that the jazz drumset might need to differ from the default; I just want to make sure I keep the same shortcuts for the drums we both use.

For me, the drums I definitely need shortcuts for are bass drum, hi-hat pedal, and ride. Snare makes sense too but not necessarily more so than hi or low toms or than open or closed hi-hat or even crash symbol. It's a shame we only get 7.

As for slash, it's not that a slash mark means something special for drums - I'm just talking about creating slash notation. Normally, I'd create that by remove the stem from a normal note and changing is stem. Right now, though, there is no way to get that in a drum part without editing the drumset - each drum note seems "locked" to its predefined notehead. I can't change it by Inspector or by Palette. That's probably just a bug. I also need to add a silent note to he palette to it doesn't play an "open hi conga".

BTW, a very common style of drum notation in jazz charts is slashes everywhere to indicate "keeping play the basic groove, whatever that is" by with a few small notes above the staff not indicating any particular drum to hit but instead to show where the rest of the band might be playing some sort of accent that the drummer might need to know about (either to actually hit with the band, or just to help him keep his place):

http://www.finalemusic.com/usermanuals/finale2011win/content/finale/Per…

The drumset definition for my 1.X jazz templates actually included shortcuts for both the slash (placed in voice 2) and for the "accent" note (in voice 1). I'm considering doing that again, but am on the fence - now that I see shortcuts defined by default for more drums, I'm hesitant to take them away.

Since tablature now has H, J, and K for note input and those are thus not used elsewhere in note entry, I wonder if we could make those available in drum staves as well without too much effort? That would give us 10 shortcuts available instead of 7. And while I'm not a drummer, I'd propose they include:

Bass Drum
Pedal Hi-Hat
Snare Drum
Hi Tom
Low Tom
Ride Cymbal
Open Hi-Hat
Closed Hi-Hat
Crash Cymbal

leaving one more available. FWIW, I would also claim "I" doesn't really need to bring up the Instruments dialog while entering notes - I'll bet that's a source of potential bugs anyhow - and could possibly *also* be made available.

More customizations to consider for jazz templates - move staff text back above staff but have styles for text below, also right-aligned (useful for drum groove instructions).

Do the shortcuts have to be a letter? For instance, I don't think the "/" key is used as a shortcut for anything else, and that'd be a very intuitive keystroke for a slash notation (meaning slash note head, no stem, placed on the middle line of the staff). I actually tried typing this half expecting it to work!

Just a random thought :-)

Keep up the great work guys!!