Expression text font

• Jan 14, 2024 - 13:13

More of a musical question than a Musescore question BUT...
I am aware of the guidance (see for example Elaine Gould's excellent book "Behind Bars") as to the italicising of expression marks i.e. they should be in italics, and not bold. Eg espressivo or con eleganza.
On the other hand, indications of tempo are in bold, not italics. eg Moderato or Allegro.
I often see borderline cases, where an instruction is really a mixture of expression and tempo
Eg "Hurried" can be used to act as a psychological prompt to singers - it doesn't just mean a slightly faster pace - it also is meant to affect the way they intone the notes.
Eg "Boldly" indicates some increase in loudness but also clear articulation of words and singing in a more declamatory fashion.
Eg Beethoven uses con amabilita clearly as an expression instruction - no confusion there - but leggieramente is a mixture of tempo and expression.
I apologise for my ignorance. Musescore has its expression text set to italics but I am working on a piece which requires frequent changes of tempo AND expression, and sometimes don't know which way to turn - use an italicized expression phrase or a tempo marking like Andante Cantabile.
Thanks to jojo for reminding me how to enter bold or italics in this forum.


Comments

Incidentally, I have forgotten how to enter italicized or bold text in this forum!!

**bold**: bold
__bold__: bold
*italic*: italic
_italic_: italic

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