Adding Dynamics & Articulations
A variety of modifiers can be added to notes via this toolbar. Most of them are used by the playback routines.
These modifiers can be added to any note (with the exception of grace notes) but care must be taken to ensure that it makes sense to do so, taking the capability of the instrument(s) into account. For instance, it does not make sense to add staccato, rimshot, roll or slide marks if the score is written for the great highland bagpipe!
If in doubt about the meaning of a button, use the pop-up tooltips to find out its name. They are also described in more detail below:
The following buttons are for percussion and are applicable to Bodhran:
up stroke
upward rimshot
down stroke
double down stroke
downward rimshot
open strike In this case, make sure there is a tick beside the part(s) to be changed and press Apply.
These two are side drum-specific:
single drum roll.
double drum roll.
For any percussion instrument:
accent. Indicates a harder strike than normal.
Intended for Flute and Whistle:
Two alternative Roll symbols. These rolls are played identically.
slur adjacent notes.
NB: not currently supported by playback in this version.
staccato. Useful to indicate 'tonguing' - to some extent.
marcato.
Supported by playback as an accent in this version.
vibrato.
Note: For display only. Not currently supported by playback in this version.
Breath mark. Indicates when a breath should be taken; it's normal to use this for whistle or flute. Note: this is a graphical symbol only as the current version of the software does not handle it.
General:
Hold or Fermata. Prolongs a note by roughly doubling its duration (in
reality, the duration increase is left to a player's discretion.
Unfortunately, the software needs to be told something, so doubling it
is reasonable). This mark applies to any instrument.
slide up to the note. Common for flute & whistle but can also be used for smallpipes and even the great highland bagpipe.
The following dynamics will make any note it is applied to be played louder:
(a bit louder, louder still and very loud respectively).
The crescendo mark is applied to a range of adjacent notes:
this will make the volume increase gradually (if enough notes are selected) from first to last note. Select a group of (widely spaced) notes before pressing this button. To remove, select the same notes and press the same button again.
The following dynamics will make any note it is applied to be played quieter:
(a bit quieter, quieter still and very quiet respectively).
The diminuendo mark is applied to a range of adjacent notes:
this will make the volume decrease gradually (if enough notes are selected) from first to last note. Select a group of (widely spaced) notes before pressing this button. To remove, select the same notes and press the same button again.
Custom text may be attached to individual notes using the add text button:
a note must first be selected before this button is pressed. When the button is pressed, a text entry screen will appear allowing you to enter text which will appear above the note. The score does not need to be in Annotation Mode to add text to individual notes, only to add free text to bars. Note: attaching images to note is not currently supported (they can be attached but they probably will not be displayed).
This feature is useful for entering texual information such as guitar chords, drum solo marks etc. Extra carriage returns may be added after the text to increase the hight the text appears above the text.
To edit an existing annotation, select the note and press this button to bring up the edit screen with the text to be edited.