Percussion Sustain Notation

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maestrorogues
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Post by maestrorogues » Thu Mar 28, 2019 12:55 pm

Greetings,

I've been scouring the internet and the manual for how to do a "let sustain" articulation on my percussion parts. I'm using 2014/Windows and for years I've just been adding a tie to the sustained note and use the Special Tools -> Tie to adjust the tie so it looks like a sustain. There's got to be an easier way! Plus, the fact that it doesn't just sustain the note and it will try to tie the note to the following note doesn't help in playback.

Any thoughts or suggestions? Any plug-ins or hidden feature I'm missing that would make my life easier?


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gogreen
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Post by gogreen » Thu Mar 28, 2019 1:15 pm

I do this one of two ways in my scores and parts.

First, for suspended cymbal and crash cymbals, as part of the instrument names in the score and parts, I just call them "Crash Cymbals (let ring)," and "Suspended Cymbal (let ring)." These indications assume that the "let ring" applies to all places where these instruments appear.

Second, as you've indicated, in scores and parts I name these instruments "Suspended Cymbal" and "Crash Cymbals," and in places where the tone is sustained, I add a tie to the sustained note. Depending on the layout and the music itself, I adjust the length of the tie.

The main concerns with these items are clarity for the conductor and players, and consistency within the score and parts.

For a suspended cymbal sound, in GPO5 I choose "suspended cymbal roll (mute release)." I think it's midi note #93--not sure about this. It's the closest sound I've found to what I'm looking for in a suspended cymbal sound that is let to ring.

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zuill
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Post by zuill » Thu Mar 28, 2019 2:59 pm

There are several ways to create the look. You can use a slur instead of a tie. You can also create an articulation or expression as a Shape, and apply that. If you create a Shape Expression, if you adjust the length in one place, it will adjust it in all. To avoid that, create a metatool for that expression. When applied with a metatool, each occurrence is adjustable independently.

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Peter Thomsen
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Post by Peter Thomsen » Thu Mar 28, 2019 6:15 pm

There are {tie} characters in the font Engraver Font Set.
You can add them as expressions or articulations.

Also, there are ready made {notehead with tie} characters in Engraver Font Set and in Engraver Font Extras.
Mac OS X 12.6.9 (Monterey), Finale user since 1996

bkshepard
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Post by bkshepard » Thu Mar 28, 2019 6:29 pm

I have to echo Zuill's suggestion of creating it as a shape expression and then assigning it as a metatool. I've done that in my default and template files and it works like a charm. I just created a tapered slur that begins at the 0, 0 position in the shape designer window and extends a little bit to the right. By assigning it with a metatool, I can alter the length, angle, curvature individually as I put them in.

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