Can a particular line of the same notes, be changed in volume?
I am working on adapting Hans Zimmer's Chevaliers De Sangreal to be played on the piano in MuseScore by its built in synthesizer. The piece has a repetitive 24 note run per measure (see below). When playing, ALL the alternate D or C notes on the run (see below), are to be played MUCH softer than the upper notes ... like a "pp" dynamic. BUT, the upper notes are to be emphasized, because they carry the melody. So, a player (and MuseScore's Synth), must be instructed that those 24 notes are not to be played at the same volume. The D and C notes (every other note) are to be played softly.
How do I do that on sheet music, and how do I do that in MuseScore, so the lower notes are softer than the higher ones? I would hate to go through the entire score, manually clicking on every other note and changing its velocity in the Inspector. I will do so if that's the only way, but ... that only works for the synthesizer. It does not notate the score to do the right thing. Help!
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Comments
For notation, there are a few ways. Since they're specifically the melody, I would say it would be ideal to move that run of notes to the second voice, and then in the first voice put 8th notes on all of those upper notes. It makes it clear that the melody is that upper voice, and should be emphasized. Depending on desired emphasis you could mark them tenuto as well.
For playback, my general approach for something like this would be to do manual velocity adjustment once, and then copy-paste the run of notes and adjust the pitch on each paste. Or, if they're already placed, hold control and click them all (selects each one as you go), and then once they're all selected adjust the velocity- it'll adjust the velocity of each.
In reply to For notation, there are a… by LuuBluum
I understand your suggestion and it would work, but my wife who plays piano, says she would not want to have to whip her eyes around from the first piano voice (left and right hands), to take in a 2nd piano voice below it at the same time ... back and forth ... back and forth. We realize that the background notes are mostly D and C notes played by the thumb of the right hand that a player could get used to, but there are changes as the song plays that would force a player to notice those changes in two piano voice systems at the same time.
As an alternative, since this is simply asking about a way to communicate on the sheet music to play the filler notes more softly in each run, could that not just be said in a sentence ... (i.e. - "Play lower notes in each run softer"), or something like that at the beginning of the song? It would look like this:
In reply to I understand your suggestion… by fsgregs
I wouldn't recommend putting them on separate staves, but in separate voices on the same staff. Always easier to help if you attach actual scores rather than just pictures, but something like this:
However, it looks like you've messed up the timing in that measure, there are way more than 3 beats in that measure. Not clear what you are trying to do there, but it wo't make sense to anyone trying to read it.
In reply to I wouldn't recommend putting… by Marc Sabatella
To add to Marc's point, here's a score of my own that demonstrates this both in notation and playback (admittedly made in Musescore 2): https://musescore.com/luubluum/moments-musicaux-no-6-in-c-major-opus-16…
In reply to I wouldn't recommend putting… by Marc Sabatella
Sorry Marc, I failed to indicate that the song was written in 12/8 time. Sigh! Anyway, could you advise where in the manual are the directions for splitting one voice into two on the same stave? Also, if I do so, I can see the Synthesizer being able to play the notes at different volumes, but how do I notate the score so a player will know to play the lower notes at a quieter setting? Do I use a separate dynamic mark for the D and C notes?
In reply to Sorry Marc, I failed to… by fsgregs
There is no general command to split one voice into two - no one but you could possibly know which notes you want in the other voice. But once you identify what you want the two voices to look like, the section on "Voices" explains how to enter the music onto those two voices.
BTW, if the pieces is in 12/8, that would make some amount more sense, but then you need to fix the time signature, because that's not what it says, and the beaming is way off as a result (with lots more problems lurking as well).
In reply to There is no general command… by Marc Sabatella
Marc: Everything you see in all of these posts involving this song (Chevaliers), is due to conversion problems. All I have to work with is either a MIDI file, or a PDF sheet music file that I asked MuseScore to try to read and convert. The timing, notes, rests, voices, etc. in both files is screwed up, and I am just too ignorant yet to even recognize the problems, let alone fix them. For example, if I try to copy a staff measure from the pdf MS file and paste it into the MS Midi file, it pastes into a different voice, which screws up the rests and such. I am slowly working to fix the MS MIDI file, but since I am new to MuseScore, I will make many mistakes and ask the forum for help. Eventually, I hope to slack off and be able to do most of this myself. Thanks for your patience. Also, the guy who originally adapted Zimmer's song for the piano, and from who I both both the sheet music and MIDI file, has chosen his own way of writing the music. Some of your faults with the way its written, are from his input.
In reply to Marc: Everything you see in… by fsgregs
Then I definitely recommend simply entering the music yourself, it goes much faster in most cases. AI technology is just not sufficiently advanced to allow really good interpretation of inexact formats like PDF or especially MIDI. You have to be a really expert user of MuseScore to understand the advanced features needed to correct the problems that result, whereas entering the music yourself requires knowing only a few basics.
In reply to Then I definitely recommend… by Marc Sabatella
That is a bit daunting to consider. In the case of Chevaliers, there are over 900 notes in the song, with 16 notes per measure, and tons of wild timing issues. I realize that with the written sheet music in hand, I could slowly enter 900 notes, but I have no MIDI keyboard to use for note entry, and am yet most ignorant of the Piano roll editor or virtual keyboard to know yet how to enter notes and rest in proper timing, over a span of 900 notes.
Fortunately, I am learning MuseScore as I go, with your gracious help, so eventually, I will be able to quickly enter notes and rests and dynamics and articulations and pedal lines and ...
In addition, once all of the piano notes are done, I do intend to create new voices such as chimes and strings, and write an accompaniment to the piano voice. This will obviously be done note by note.
In reply to That is a bit daunting to… by fsgregs
Only 900 notes, really? Here's another way of looking at it: each note takes at most a few seconds to enter Let's be conservative and say you spend as long as 4 seconds per note (way way way conservative). 900 * 4 = 3600 seconds, which is by my count is an hour. I would claim that's much less than the amount of time it will take to try to find and fix all the problems inherent in other methods.
For the record, MIDI keyboard is not usually faster than typing. Piano roll editor isn't relevant at all here; that's only for tweaks to the playback that 99% of people would never need, and in any case. if you're part of the 1% who would want to use the piano roll editor, you'd want it just as surely whether the score was imported form PDF or entered directly.
I don't know what kind of "timing" problems you anticipate, but if you've got a PDF, you don't need to solve any timing problems, just type the notes as you see them left to right.
In reply to Only 900 notes, really? … by Marc Sabatella
Oh Boy. I realize the problem and just didn't convey it to you properly. I can't read MUSIC!!!!!! 900 notes would take me 5 x 8 hour days to input from PDF sheet music if I have to read then calculate each note using the "E G B D F" and "F A C E" mnemonics, plus the "G B D F A" on the bass clefs, plus figure out ALL of the timing, rests, whole, quarter and eighth notes, etc.. I can look at the PDF and just try to copy it into MuseScore one laborious note at a time, but I would get really dizzy. THAT IS WHY I AM STRUGGLING. However, give me time ... lots of time ... and in a few weeks to months, I will be able to input 900 notes from scratch (at least I hope so).
In reply to Oh Boy. I realize the… by fsgregs
If you're concerned about not knowing how to read sheet music, mouse entry is also an option.
In reply to If you're concerned about… by LuuBluum
Of course possible (I do that), but quite a bit slower.
Anyhow, it is a matter of practising, the first 100 notes will take longer than the next 100 ... and eventually you won't need a full working week fort those 900, but manages it in some 5 hours maybe.
Still quicker than correcting ther mess PDF converters often create