Music notation question

[DeepEnd]

Hi, I don't normally post here but I figure this is a good place to get an answer to my question. My wife passed along a sheet of music our church's Music Director had hand written, and asked me to do it up pretty in MuseScore. While I was working on it, I saw something that was confusing. In a couple of places there was a 1/8 note tied to a 1/16 note. The two notes represented one syllable. Here's my question: Why not just use a dotted 1/8 note? Is there a convention of some kind I'm unaware of? Is there a difference? Thanks in advance.

[1001gear]

Lotta choir music is that way. I theorize that held notes are seldom static and the ties could indicate nuance/phrasing/intonation/whatever singers do etc. For instance do the chords change while the tied notes sound?

Might be purely rhythmic thing as well where a note started or ended off the beat might be easier to place if it's subdivided rather than dotted.

[Mikeo]

Hi' date=' I don't normally post here but I figure this is a good place to get an answer to my question. My wife passed along a sheet of music our church's Music Director had hand written, and asked me to do it up pretty in MuseScore. While I was working on it, I saw something that was confusing. In a couple of places there was a 1/8 note tied to a 1/16 note. The two notes represented one syllable. Here's my question: Why not just use a dotted 1/8 note? Is there a convention of some kind I'm unaware of? Is there a difference? Thanks in advance. [/quote']

 

A 1/8 note tied to a 1/16th note is the same 1/8 note doted with a 1/16. It's just different notation that works out to be the same thing. No standard convention, that I am aware of.

 

 

Sometimes you feel like a dot and sometimes you don't.

 

How's Muse Score working for ya. I have never tried it, but wouldn't mind trying it out.

 

 

 

 

[DeepEnd]

. . . Might be purely rhythmic thing as well where a note started or ended off the beat might be easier to place if it's subdivided rather than dotted.

I suspect you've hit it. Probably a matter of wanting a note for each beat where possible. Sounds good to me, anyway.

[DeepEnd]

. . . Sometimes you feel like a dot and sometimes you don't.

 

How's Muse Score working for ya. I have never tried it, but wouldn't mind trying it out.

"Sometimes you feel like a dot . . ." Groan! Now I'm hungry for a candy bar with coconut.

 

I like MuseScore. It's very robust and the basics are easy, just drag and drop notes. I haven't used it much, mostly to transcribe a couple of originals for folks who were playing along. As with most things I'd be better at it if I got more practice. It's free and there's an active support forum. Bear in mind, it's a huge download, 76 MB or so (a new version was released a few weeks ago so I got a chance to download and install it). It took 4 or 5 minutes on a cable modem but it was worth it.