reference.book Page 84 Monday, August 31, 2009 2:47 PM
2. Notations
Always above: most articulations go below most notes which have stems up, but some
(including bowing marks) go above notes regardless of their stem direction. In some kinds of scores (e.g. jazz or commercial music) it may be preferable to show all articulations above the staff – see Articulations above the staff above. Allowed in staff: most publishers draw staccatos and tenutos in the staff, some draw harmonics, a few draw accents. Putting other articulations in the staff is not recommended as, depending on the music font used, they wouldn’t fit between two staff lines and so would be illegible. ...inside start or end slur: there are different conventions for whether the end point of a slur or certain articulations should appear closer to the notehead. Sibelius follows the most common convention by default, which is that staccato and tenuto articulations should go inside the slur, and other articulations should go outside the slur. ...inside middle of slur: conventionally, most articulations are allowed to appear within the arc of the slur, but some articulations, including bowing marks and fermatas (pauses), should be positioned outside the slur. These options only take effect when Magnetic Layout is switched on. ...inside tuplet: as with slurs, there are different conventions for whether the tuplet bracket or certain articulations should appear closer to the notehead. By default, Sibelius only positions bowing marks and fermatas (pauses) outside tuplet brackets. If a tuplet bracket and a slur coincide, the ...inside tuplet options take precedence over the slur options, because tuplet brackets typically lie naturally closer to the notes than slurs do.
The Position of articulation when near the stem options are:
Center staccatos on stem: this, the default choice, positions any articulations that are at the
stem end of the note automatically: it centers articulations on the stem if the nearest articulation is a staccato, staccatissimo or wedge. If any articulations are at the notehead end, they are positioned as normal.
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