fermata
I'm not an accomplished song writer, so I'm unfamiliar with some of the terms in music. The free download is more than I need because I do it as a hobby. I would like to add some fermatas. I hope this is the correct name. I can't seem to find them in the articulation pallet. They look like bird's eyes or semi-circles with a dot in them and are used to give emphasis to a note and go above or below a system. I hope I have described it correctly.
Thanks for your help and patience.
Comments
It's in the "Pauses & Breaths" palette. You may add (with the button on top of the palettes) it before you'll see it.
In reply to It's in the "Pauses &… by Pentatonus
Found it. Thanks a lot.
One thing to be aware of. A fermata does not "give emphasis to a note"; that would be the accento or marcato (both available in the Articulations palette). A fermata makes a note hold longer than it ordinarily should. For example, the last note of Section I might hold longer than normal, in order to increase the feeling of suspense before Section II begins.
Most--well, at least, "many"--of the articulations and other symbols do provide playback effects that are, at worst, similar to the way that a human musician would play them. You might want to experiment: write a short piece of music--for example, a scale--and apply an articulation or other symbol to one of the notes. Play it to see just what THAT symbol does.
Here's an example of what I mean:
20250218 132500 - articulations.mscz
The marcato and accento (m. 2 and 3) both hit the note with a bit of extra emphasis. The tenuto and staccato (m. 6 and 7) apply a different kind of emphasis: tenuto means hold the note explicitly for its full length, staccato, make it very short.
The fermata (m. 5) holds the note: click it to select, open the Properties dialog (upper left), and click the Playback button. You'll see that it is set to the default value of "200%". If you count with the playing music, you'll find that it holds for exactly twice the length that a whole note should; you can change this if you want.
The Thick caesura (m. 8) is a breath mark. Look at its Playback properties and you'll see it delays for "2s". You can also adjust this value.