New user of MuseScore, and I'm feeling clueless
My first file for MuseScore (0.9.5, Windows Vista) is a song I'm learning to sing. Between the handbook and trial-and-error I was able to enter the notes, rests, and ties, but now I'm having trouble in three areas:
1) The notes all have the same duration of sound, whether the note is a quaver, crotchet, minim, or semibreve. The *timing* is correct for each note in this song, but the notes aren't sustained for their proper beats.
2) I found the Pedal line in the palatte with "Ped" in old script, but I'm not sure if I need to add that same line to every measure of the song. I thought I read in another post that a simpler line is now available, but I can't find the line.
3) When I try to bring over the Segno symbol from the Repeat palatte the symbol "smears" on the music sheet and fails to add.
Sustaining the notes is my greatest concern since I'm trying to sing along with the playback. I can work around the repeat problem (manually stop and reset the playback for each verse), but that makes MuseScore less useful than I had hoped. The pedal line is not a problem--I'll just leave the notation off rather than have it for all measures.
Thanks for any help you can give on my learning curve.
Comments
1 "The notes all have the same duration of sound, whether the note is a quaver, crotchet, minim, or semibreve. The *timing* is correct for each note in this song, but the notes aren't sustained for their proper beats."
Do you mean when you add the notes to the score or when you press play? Maybe you could attach a copy of the score to show what you mean.
2. "I found the Pedal line in the palatte with "Ped" in old script..."
That is the only pedal marking available for now.
3. "When I try to bring over the Segno symbol from the Repeat palatte the symbol "smears" on the music sheet and fails to add."
Don't worry about the smear. It goes away eventually (after you close and reopen for example) and doesn't print. To make sure the segno gets added look to see that the measure is highlighted when you release the mouse button. You have to drag and drop onto the actual staff.
In reply to Responses by David Bolton
I appreciate your reply.
I made up a short score comparing note lengths to hear the differences going up the scale and back down. Now I understand that the longer notes are being sustained in playback, but I only hear it clearly starting with note E above middle C. I guess the lower notes "die off" too quickly for my hearing (but I can make out their sustained sound when the notes are in isolation like in my made-up score).
Yes, I wasn't highlighting the proper measure for the segno to attach.
Thanks again.
In reply to Thanks, Mr. Bolton by lohaces
The current version 0.9.5 has only piano sound for playback, but the upcoming version 0.9.6 will have lots of instrument sounds. In the meantime you can set up a SoundFont for MuseScore to use and that way your flutes won't sound like dieing off pianos ;)
You may also be interested to know that the sustain pedal affects playback in the upcoming 0.9.6.