Changing the time signature |
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Changing the rhythmic content of a measure [Light] [Beginner] [Professional] [Notation] [Composition Light] [Composition Pro] [Drums and Percussion] [Guitar] [Choir] [Keyboard] [Soloist] Create a new document and open the Main Palette.
Select the time signature tool Click on the first measure. The following dialog box appears: This dialog box lets you specify the rhythmic content of a
measure. The first text box indicates the numerator of the
measure. It is the number of beats included in that measure.
Except for Pizzicato Light, Beginner and Composition
Light, this box may have a succession of numbers with the
"+" sign between them to create composite measures (3+2
for example). The following text box (denominator of the measure) indicates
the duration of each beat. The most current value is
"4" which means that each beat equals to a quarter
note. "8" indicates that the beat is equal to an eighth
note. "2" is for the half note and "1" is for
the whole note. "16" is used for the sixteenth note,
"32" for the thirty-second note and "64" for
the 64th note. The most common values will be 4, 8 and 2. Any
other value will not be correctly interpreted by Pizzicato when
playing the score. Pizzicato automatically assigned the same time signature to
both staves. It is indeed very rare to simultaneously have
different time signature. When it is the case (experimental music
for example), you can change the time signature of only one staff
by checking the box Only this staff in the dialog box
(this option is only available in Pizzicato Pro, Notation
and Composition Pro). In such a case, Pizzicato
will fit the content of the various measures so that each measure
will be played with the same duration. This is the same as
changing the tempo for each track so as to have the same total
duration. On the other hand, it is rather common to change the time
signature during a piece of music. Let us see for example how to
go to 4/4 in the second measure. There are two very widespread conventions to represent (4/4)
and (2/2) time signatures. The first is written with a
"C" and the second with a crossed "C". By
default, Pizzicato uses these conventions. To disable them,
uncheck the corresponding checkbox in the dialog box. The 4/4 is represented with C for the 2 staves. In the time signature dialog box, a multiple choice (radio
buttons) specifies up to which measure the change must be done.
The default choice is Up to the next change, which means
that the new time signature is valid up to the next time
signature introduced. The first choice fixes the new time
signature up to the end of the score, while the second specifies
it for a fixed number of measures that you can determine using
the text box. Exercises Starting each time with a new document, realize the two
following scores (the second one can not be created with all
versions): Up beat and incomplete measures [Beginner] [Professional] [Notation] [Composition Light] [Composition Pro] [Drums and Percussion] [Guitar] [Choir] [Keyboard] [Soloist] Often, the first measure of a score contains less beats than
the others. The music starts for instance on the last beat of the
first measure and this is called an Upbeat. This measure
is usually written as such, without filling the measure with
rests. A 4/4 measure that would only contain one quarter note
should be played and displayed as a one beat measure. There are
other cases, for instance when repeat signs are crossing a
measure boundery, where a measure should be displayed and played
with a different number of beats than the natural content of that
measure. Pizzicato Professional gives a full control over the measure
parameters, but with Pizzicato Beginner and Professional, an easy
function can be used to handle that situation. Here is how to
create an incomplete measure: This measure will then be played correctly. If you go again in the above menu for that measure, you will
see that the Incomplete measure or upbeat menu item is
now checked, which means that this measure has an incomplete
duration. To reset the measure to its real duration, just use
that menu again.