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Dynamics

    Dynamics of a piece is the variation in loudness and timbre between notes or phrases. This chapter covers Dynamics Text that can change note playback loudness inside the program. Hairpin and Articulations (eg Accent >, Marcato ^) score objects also affect dynamics. Overriding setting can be assigned to note directly.

    Adding a dynamic to the score

    Dynamics palette (Advanced)

    Dynamics symbols can be found in Dynamics palette. Additional symbols are available in the Master Palette (Shift+F9). To apply a dynamic to the score, either,

    NOTE:

    Creating a custom dynamic

    Editing text

    Does not affect playback.

    Double-click a score item to edit text content. See also the Text editing chapter.

    Professional glyphs for engraving

    Musescore is shipped with professional glyphs eg the florin sign (the curvy hooked f, ƒ), which is different from an italic plain character f. Add them in Text editing mode using the special characters palette, or one of the following shortcuts ( MacOS use Cmd in place of Ctrl ),

    Properties and global settings

    Selected score items can be edited with Inspector,

    Under the "Text" section,

    Under the "Dynamic" section,

    Global settings are covered in the Layout and formatting chapter.

    Reusing custom symbol

    To save and reuse a custom symbol, see Add an existing score element to a palette.

    Loudness of a note

    IMPORTANT: When a dynamics symbol is added to the score, it affects playback from the parent note onward until the next dynamic symbol. Final barlines or rests do not reset the loudness to default.

    The Synthesizer creates audio for each note based on its assigned MIDI velocity value, ranging from 0 (softest) to 127 (loudest). The possible range of actual loudness is determined by the soundfont creator. A dynamics symbol uses its Velocity property (table of default values) to assign a basic MIDI velocity to the current note and all following notes til another symbol is encountered. Hairpin and Articulations (eg Accent >, Marcato ^) score objects may modify MIDI velocity then. User can also assign velocity to notes directly in the Inspector.

    Not specifing any dynamics symbols in a score is similar to using a mf (mezzoforte) through out. This is because Musescore assigns MIDI velocity 80 to notes that are not affected by any dynamics symbol, which is equal to the default Velocity of mf.

    There is no interface to adjust individual voice volume. However, the Voice Velocity plugin can batch adjust existing note's Velocity properties based on their voice. Notes added after plugin execution will not be automatically adjusted, the user need to run the plugin again.

    The following sliders adjust volume broadly but have nothing to do with MIDI velocity,

    Lastly, using reverb effect in Synthesizer may boost volume.

    Single Note Dynamics (SND)

    (After Musescore 3.1)

    A dynamic symbol with a non-zero Velocity change property can simulate Attack envelope effect (wikipedia) if the Instrument, Synthesizer and Soundfont is setup correctly, such symbol is called Single Note Dynamics (SND), SND also has several different meanings due to continuous software development. SNDs also use Change speed property.

    sfz (sforzando) and fp (fortepiano) are designed to work on certain instruments only; e.g. sfz symbol's effect on the violin does not exist on piano.

    For more information, see How to setup Musescore for correct playback for all dynamics and hairpins.

    See Also