Request of 'a tempo' with its function under Tempo Pallette.

• Jun 28, 2023 - 17:59

It is sometimes a bit long workaround just to come back the original tempo. Please, I request to add 'a tempo', rather than hiding metronome marks all the time. It does not look or feel good.

Comments

SteveBlower

• Jun 28, 2023 - 18:27

See https://musescore.org/en/node/339398

The way to do it currently is to add a Tempo Text and edit it to read "a tempo". You can add this to a pallet so that you can re-use it. After adding it to the score you can set the tempo in the Properties Panel. See https://musescore.org/en/handbook/4/tempo-markings#change-playback No need for hidden metronome marks or hidden anything else.

The difficulty with automating this is that it is often not clear which tempo should be returned to when an "a tempo" is encountered. This is a problem for real musicians no less than for "robotic" players such as Musesecore. It is not always the "original" tempo, or even the last tempo before a tempo change. However, there seems to be a growing number of requests for something to be added as an inbuilt feature - how the feature would be implement currently seems rather vague. Perhaps something will be added one day. Personally, I think the current method described above is as good as anything and apart from having a ready made item that reads "a tempo" there is little advantage to be gained from trying to automate things further than that.

DanielR

• Jun 29, 2023 - 10:35

There seems to be a lot of confusion about how to create an a tempo marking.

The advice to use a Tempo Text refers to the Tempo palette:

Use the Tempo palette to place the Tempo mark on the score (usually quarter-note=80)
In the Properties panel under the Tempo heading disable "Follow written tempo"
In the Properties panel adjust the bpm (beats per minute) to the required tempo
In the score, carefully edit the tempo mark: first replace the bpm (e.g. 80) with a tempo, then delete the duration symbol (quarter-note) and the equals sign (=). This step is tricky because the duration symbol seems to use a different font to the rest of the text.

This is complicated enough to encourage copying a modified tempo mark with a tempo text onto the Tempo palette, so that the only later adjustment needed is to reset the bpm to the required previous tempo. According to the MS4 Handbook, the action to copy an item to a palette is Ctrl+Shift+drag (Mac: Cmd+Shift+drag). In MS4 I cannot make this work on my laptop, although it works fine in MS3. Does anyone else have this "copy to palette" problem in MS4?

Handbook link:
https://musescore.org/en/handbook/4/palettes#Adding_elements_from_an_op…

HildeK

• Jun 29, 2023 - 11:15

Isn't it a bit easier?

yes, okay.
change the tempo value there, for example from the default 80 bpm to 120 bpm or whatever.
edit the symbol by adding "a tempo" after the number and then delete the unwanted part of the string. I found no need for your tricky step (in 3.6.2.). The 120 bpm (or whatever) still applies.

Your points 2. and 3. can be done, yes, but they are only necessary if you want to add a separate string 'a tempo' to the tempo palette and use it from there or change the value later.

But I assume the question refers to a marker that automatically restores the tempo that was before e.g. a ritardando.

DanielR

• Jun 29, 2023 - 13:12

"I found no need for your tricky step (in 3.6.2.)."
Correct! In MS3 it works easily to delete the entire text from a Tempo element, and then insert the required text "a tempo".

But if you follow the same steps in MS4, the result is an unholy mess as regards font and font-size.

" I assume the question refers to a marker that automatically restores the tempo that was before e.g. a ritardando"
Possibly, but that feature isn't available - and there doesn't seem to be general agreement even as to how it should work i.e. which previous tempo an a tempo should refer to. So my answer was limited to the "what is currently possible".

And I still would like an opinion from a user of MS4 as to why I can't add a modified Tempo mark to the Tempo palette. It works absolutely fine in MS3.