playback on musescore 4 sounds jumpy and unsteady

hi! i just downloaded the new version of musescore on my laptop for my score writing class, and im working on a band arrangement currently. whenever i go to play the arrangement, the playback isnt smooth at all, its very staticky and unsteady, and whenever i pause it it keeps playing for around 3 seconds. also, whenever i touch a notehead to hear the pitch, it takes about 10 seconds for it to play. is there a way to help this run smoother?