@Planet Bonezone asked:
"are we trying to make it sound like an actual performance, or just providing the notation?"
As explained in the guidelines (
https://musescore.com/score/3434266) we prioritise notation over playback, but playback should be as good as it can be, while keeping the notation accurate.
Invisible markingsYou shouldn't add any markings that are not in the score. However, you CAN add invisible markings IF they are implied or hinted at by something in the score, even if the marking itself is not explicitly mentioned.
For example, let's say there is a section of music that is played staccato in every recording, even though there are no staccato dots at that point in the score. If the score has text that says "staccato" then you should add the text AND you should also add INVISIBLE staccato dots so that playback is correct. However, if the score does not say "staccato" AND does not have staccato dots, then you shouldn't add text or dots (not even invisible ones).
There may be some cases where we will allow invisible markings even when there is nothing hinted in the score. If in doubt about a particular case, please ask below.
BalanceYou are allowed to adjust the overall balance for each instrument via the Mixer, so feel free to do this for your own movement. However, when the movements are all completed and they will get joined into one score. This means they will all share the same Mixer settings, so we will need to discuss this later to decide on the ideal settings for the piece as a whole.
DynamicsYou are allowed to add invisible dynamics between hairpins to control the change in volume of the hairpin, but otherwise you cannot add dynamic markings (
p,
f,
mp,
ff, etc) that were not in the original score, unless they were hinted at in the score.