Mandolin articulations
Hi,
When writing for (classical) mandolin I often want to specify pick direction (whether it should be a down-stroke or an up-stroke). The standard notation is using down-bow and up-bow symbols, respectively.
There are however specific articulations, known as "arpeggio techniques", that require special symbols :
- Strike down only one string: the down bow symbol, with a dot inside
- Strike up only one string: the up bow symbol, with a dot inside
- "string crossings", that is letting the pick "slide" from one string to the next one with a single stroke: The first strike is noted with the appropriate articulation, which is linked to an oblique line that goes over the next notes. It can end open, or with another articulation symbol.
I found suitable symbols for bullets 1. and 2. in the "all symbols" palette, named "Down bow, towards body" and "Up bow, towards body", but they are not available in the standard "Articulations" palette (plus they don't have the auto-placement).
I don't think there is an existing symbol for 3., let alone one that can merge with its neighbors.
| Attachment | Size |
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| mandolin_arpeggio_techniques.png | 7.98 KB |
| mandolin_circular_arpeggios.png | 26.79 KB |
Comments
For the two that you found the symbols, simply place them in a staff text field attached to the note in question.
I don't understand your description of the third symbol. Can you take a picture of the symbol from some printed score? Or make a measure or two that includes everything but the symbol and them draw it on? And take a picture of that?
In reply to For the two that you found… by TheHutch
There are exemples of the 3rd one in patterns A and C of attachement 1, and in attachement 2.
Is there no other solution than using staff text? This seems tedious if you use them a lot, when you can just click on bowing symbols in the main palette, and even bind them to keyboard shortcuts.
In reply to There are exemples of the… by CorentinL
You might want to look at https://musescore.org/en/handbook/4/palettes, particularly the section on "Customizing palette contents". You should be able to add the "staff text" symbols to a custom palette.
As for the others with the odd lines, I don't see a way to do them. Hopefully someone will chime in with a solution?
In reply to You might want to look at… by TheHutch
Thanks, I didn't know that you can create custom symbols like that, it works like a charm!
Regarding the line, i figured out I can mimic it with a glissando line between the first and last note, with text hidden and a vertical offset.
However, that way you don't get the ligature with the surrounding symbols (but I can live with it, I know it's too much of a niche usecase to expect this kind of feature). What bothers me more is that the vertical offset isn't saved with the symbol when you add it to a new palette, so you have to set it manually every time.