Where can I find instructions, videos or something on how to use the notation imput screen. I am trying to imput the melody from a Jazz Waltz and having terrible time. I thought it would be pretty strait forward in 3/4 time with one exception (bar 8). Perhaps, no one uses BIAB for notation. If so, please tell me. I think I may export the song in XML and use Musescore. Is that a better way?

Thanks....JD

Hi JD,

While the below video uses an older version of BIAB, the principle of entering notes is still the same.



I'm a big fan ob BIAB notation editor. Once you get used it, it's quite speedy to work with.

Regards,
Noel

Thanks, but I found that video and it didn't help. I cannot get dotted quarter notes in 3/4 time.

It is not really a notation program. It is serviceable but you are right in that the XML export and doing it in a real notation program might be your best bet. Plenty of people use the notation features in BIAB, but it is just not that great.

Thanks Noel. I found that video before and it was not a great help. I think the issue is 3/4 time. I was able to create a dotted quarter and I was able to get the next note section to tie.

I started thinking that a tied eight and quarter not is really the same as a dotted quarter note? Maybe I can't replicate the sheet music the way I want. Maybe BIAB will not support this notation in 3/4. I may have to try 6/8.

But thanks for the help. JD

First a general comment. I’ve used most notation software and served as a beta tester for two (three if you count BIAB). I love the notation entry of BIAB. prefer to enter new parts in BIAB rather than any of the others, but then I export the part as MIDI or Music XML to a dedicated notation software. MuseScore is surprisingly good for a free product.

What style are you using, and is it Even or a Swing style?

Agree 100% Joe.

I tried importing into Musescore and it DID import easily. However, it came in as 4/4 time and I could not change time to 3/4. I only imported the melody staff.

I will keep playing with it and then see if I can eventually import back into BIAB. BIAB is so much quicker inputting chords than Musescore, but not so much with notation.

The song I'm working on is called Nola's Waltz and it won the Young Jazz Composer's Award of 2005. It's by Bob Borgstede and he used to be my instructor. I just upgraded to Ultra and they have some great styles for the song so I wanted to give it a try in BIAB. I may VST the outline in BIAB and add my own melody to the DAW.....JD

It has three dashed lines per beat, so triplets, which I believe indicates it's a swing style. I think that's the root of the problem. Going to even time allows more the notation the OP expects.

However, I note that it can also be done in swing time by putting the second note in the bar on the third dashed vertical of the bar, not on the middle line as the OP is doing.

I'm not though that familiar with the notation editor in BiaB, so please correct me if I'm mistaken.

Someone told me I had the resolution set to swing and recommended to turn off swing. I did, but I could still not do what I want. Gave me same results.

I think you are right. I changed resolution, but results were same. I don't think I can replicate the sheet music...JD

To me the bars excluding bar 8 look OK, though the second half of each bar is in 8th+quarter style, not dotted quarter note (I too prefer dotted-quarters in this situation).

I'm not sure if bar 8 is resolvable into the quadruplet, that's beyond my experience. There is an option, by right-clicking in the beat, to change beat resolution, but in my limited experiments, the notes were not displayed as a quadruplet. There's no mention of quadruplets in the manual, but that's hardly surprising as BiaB is really rater 4/4 oriented. It may be worth experimenting further about triplets in the manual to see if there's a reverse-engineer solution.

The other option is the one you suggested of doing the notation in a package like MuseScore and transferring across in XML. At least that will give a better idea whether BiaB is actually able to handle it as you expected.

In Musescore make sure that the pallets window is opened, i.e. view/pallets or F9

Click on the down arrow on the left of Time signatures in the pallets window.

Click on 3/4 and drag and drop it on a new blank score right over the 4/4.

Bring over your track.

I hope this helps.

Don,

Thanks for posting the music. That helps a lot.

The notation that uses two beats in a bar is a compound duple time. That is, a 2-beat rhythm where the beats are based on two dotted quarter notes. Notation in 3/4 is a simple triple time and when 3/4 is notated, it uses ties to help identify the the 1/4-note beats. (I'd imagine that you know this. I'm mentioning it in case others who read this post haven't come across this terminology before.)

This arrangement (or song) looks like it might be one of those songs that is a crossover where 3/4 and 6/8 are inter-mingled.

Whether it's right or wrong, I don't know, but I remember hearing once that "jota" songs do this and that they often have 6/8 melodies playing against 3/4 rhythms. This is the classic "two against three" feel. Another song that springs to mind is Benrstein's and Sondheim's "America" from "Westside Story". In "America", bars alternate between 6/8 and 3/4.

I haven't tried it, but I'm pretty sure that BIAB can be organised to give you the display you want in 6/8. I doubt that it will be possible in a 3/4 time signature, though, because the notation you want is not standard 3/4 notation, and BIAB follows basic notation principles when creating lead sheets.

Regards,
Noel

Thanks Noel,

Great explanation. I had considered putting the song in 6/8 to see what happens.

When Bob Borgstede put the album together, containing NOLA's Waltz, I think it was part of his Jazz Performance thesis. All the songs contained very sophisticated techniques and that particular one won a national award. The players on the album were all "top call" and I think he wrote songs to showcase each player's special skills. He had an exceptional drummer and this song may have tried to highlight his special skills. That's why he wrote the the rhythmic variation.

I will play around some more to see what I can do. On another forum someone recommended:

"4 bar...four equal quarter notes in a one bar.Each note must have a value of three 16's.
I can put it in BB, but poor notation simplifies it and automatically makes a mistake - although it sounds good."

Bar resolution may be the answer. Thanks... JD

Thanks Mario. That got it into 3/4 time. Been a while since I input melody into MuseScore, I have a little learning curve to get the melody into it. I'm still trying to get BIAB to work, but I don't think I can replicate the sheet music in it although the sounds are very close.

Just to follow up.

I had many great suggestions from this site and Jazz Guitar Online. Thanks for all the help.

I was able to create quadruplets in MuseScore and export to BIAB in xml, but the extra quarter note would not carry through in BIAB. Since I like the BIAB styles for the song, I will just stay within the 3/4 time and change note values.

Here is the likk to JGO if you are looking for more info.

https://www.jazzguitar.be/forum/recording-music-software/91504-notation-function-biab.html#post1207151

JD