Articulation playback
So, articulations currently play back per the standard, classical interpretation. But for those of us working in jazz, it would be nice to have a settings toggle to switch to the jazz conventions for articulations. (i.e. quarters played short, tenuto meaning full length, hat accent meaning short accented, side accent meaning primary accent, staccato meaning staccatissimo, etc...)
Not that playback is the most important function, but since we do have to use these marks, it's a bit jarring to have them always sound different than intended. Or to need to use classical-style articulations to approximate it for playback and then go through the score changing them to the proper notation for export.
I can imagine this has the potential to be tricky to implement, but if it's possible, I can upload a good set of articulation descriptions from a jazz arranging textbook I have (Gary Lindsay).
Comments
You could (manually, using a plain text editor) tweak the Jazz templates for (most of) this
In reply to You could tweak the Jazz… by Jojo-Schmitz
Like the three templates under the startup options? That's interesting, I didn't realize you could do that. What's the procedure?
Of course, I often end up starting scores from scratch rather than using a template. I mean, if I just need a lead sheet that's one thing, but if I'm writing for small or large ensemble (especially as instrumentation isn't always the same) I usually just pick the instruments from a blank template.
In reply to Like the three templates… by abnyc
There's no procedure. Just open those mscx files with a text editor, search those articulations and modify their settings.
Quarters are not played short by default in jazz at all, nor does Lindsay suggest otherwise. In fact, Lindsay is clear that quarter notes should be given explicit articulations to remove any possible ambiguity. Lacking an explicit articulation, quarters are interpreted by the player according to context (particular sub-style, also where the note falls within the measure and within the line). In most jazz contexts, they are full length but tongued as opposed to slurred. A tenuto marking clarifies this but doesn't really change it, although in some cases it might call for a lighter tongue (Lindsay doesn't really discuss this, but most professional jazz wind players will tell you this).
As for staccato, Linsdsay specifically says half the value, which is exactly what MuseScore does, and no different from how most classical or other musicians would say they interpret it. although realistically, most people simply play all staccato notes about the same length - staccato eighth is not really much different from staccato quarter.
Really, the only articulation that is interpreted differently in jazz versus other styles is the marcato (the one Lindsay calls "tent"), but MuseScore already uses the jazz interpretation: accented and short. In classical music, this is more commonly seen as more like a regular accent but stronger. Since it's rare in classical music but common in jazz, MuseScore uses the jazz interpretation.
MuseScore 4 will apparently have some more sophisticated capabilities when it comes to articulations - see the various discussions in the Announcements forum.