Tempo notation and multiple tempos
Hi
I'm making my own arrangement of pre-existing music. I'm confused by the tempo notation. It's in 6/8, and at the beginning the tempo is (Dotted quarter) = 96. Later, it changes to (regular quarter) = 96. Are these both 96BPM? I'm confused.
Comments
BPM stands for "beats per minute", but "beats" is a relative term, meaning different things in different contexts. Normally one wouldn't use quarter note as the beat in 6/8 time, but if there is no time signature change to 4/4 or something else accompanying the second tempo mark, then I guess that is what they are implying. Seeing a picture of the original might help us understand the context better.
In reply to BPM stands for "beats per by Marc Sabatella
I've attached images of both tempos. I just realized the second one does in fact switch to 4/4, so it makes a bit more sense, but I'm still confused on the first. I guess you could count in 2, which would be dotted quarter note, but how does that translate to BPM?
In reply to I've attached images of both by arib510
96 dotted quarters per minute is equal to 288 eighth notes per minute, which is equal to 144 quarter notes per minute—if that's what you're asking. MuseScore uses quarter notes per minute internally.
In reply to I've attached images of both by arib510
Indeed, when it comes to computer software, BPM would normally be measured in quarter notes, so dottedn quarter = 96 means 144 BPM as far as computer software is concerned,. Not that you would normally need to know this - MuseScore calculates it for you automatically when you enter the tempo marking. That is, if you enter a tempo marking of dotted quarter = 96, it is automatically turned into 144 internally without your needing to do anything. You can see this by clicking the tempo marking and looking at the Inspector - you will see it has automatically calculated the correct tempo value of 144.
So at no time should you actually need to think about this calculation. Just enter the tempo marking the way you see it and all should be well. And it's still 96 BPM in terms of how you would actually count it in real life - the dotted quarter would be one beat, and there would be 96 of them per minute. The fact that MuseScore is internally thinking about 144 quarter notes per minute should not affect your life at all.
In reply to BPM stands for "beats per by Marc Sabatella
in MuseScore (and MIDI) BPM is quarter noted per minute