View Single Post
  #1  
Old 03-07-2014, 02:49 PM
rrayner rrayner is offline
Moderator
 
Join Date: Jul 2009
Posts: 897
Default Ritards and Resumption of Play at Tempo

There is a problem in Notation Composer dealing with ritards and resumption of play. If your score includes one or more ritards and you start and stop the playing of the piece, play resumes at the lowest tempo setting of the ritard.

For example, in the Sentimental Journey Duet at:

http://www.notation.com/vb-forum/showthread.php?t=32208

If you open the song file and press the Space Bar to hear the piece played, the duet plays at the correct tempo. If you let it play all the way to the end, it ends properly and the ritard works as intended. However, if you try to start play anywhere other than the beginning of the piece, the tempo fails in measure 21. There are a number of different ways to see this problem -- this is just one example.

As an arranger, this is a major problem for me when I am notating the ritard, as I have to play the piece from the beginning to hear the effect of the ritard. This is very time-consuming and unproductive. I have developed a workaround to reduce the amount of time it takes to test the ritard.

I created a short test file (see Ritard Test.not below) that includes the area of the ritard and several measures in front of it, so when I play it, I can hear the established tempo before the ritard. Using this test file, I can try a number of variations on the ritard, and I only have to play four measures to hear the effect.

After I have finalized my ritard in my test file, I can change the ritard notation in the full piece to match the ritard notation in the test file.

Ralph Rayner
Attached Files
File Type: not Ritard Test.not (7.5 KB, 2 views)
Reply With Quote