different types of pause symbols

[adrianallan]

Not sure if this is the place for it (is there a notation discussion section ?)

But I wanted to know what the difference is between different pause symbols that I've seen on a few members' pieces recently.

Apart from the common pause symbol, there is one with a pointed "hat" and one with a square hat that I've seen used.

Is there any difference bewteen these pause symbols; is one longer than the others ?

[michaelm]

Hi Adrian...I'm still learning as I go along here, but it's my understanding that the fermata with the pointed hat is a shorter pause than your normal fermata and the square one represents a longer pause. In Sibelius you can test this for yourself by placing 4 quarter notes in a measure, leave the first one with no pause, place the pointed fermata on the second note, a regular fermata on the third and the square fermata on the fourth note. Watch the tempo in the playback bar and you'll see the difference.
Does anyone know how to control the length of a fermata in Sibelius other than putting in a tempo marking?

[steve]

That's my understanding - longer and shorter pauses. It's only strictly formulaic in a software program like Sibelius [E.G. duration of regular fermata is 1.5 X regular], for people just a guide as to just how much longer to hold a note - just a bit on the end, hold it long, never let it go, etc!

As for altering the playback in Sibelius, check their tech forum at Sibelius.com -> Support -> Forum. The length of any note (with or without fermata) can be adjusted independently of the tempo, but I don't recall how just now. If I get into the program this weekend (going to bed now) I'll look and see what I can find.

[adrianallan]

So are people using unusual pause symbols to alter playback ?

Since it is so rare to find anything but the regular pause symbol in printed music, I'm not sure if that practice is really jutified.

What I would do is put in extra tempo markings of a very low tempo to pause the music, and they hide those tempo symbols so they are greyed out.

That's just my opinion, for what it's worth.

[Kevin]

It is just an example of there being one thing for a computer performance and one for live!