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6.6 Interpretation of your score

Rit. and accel.
Sibelius plays rits. and accels. using special lines ( 4.6 Lines).
Rit./accel. lines allow you to specify the amount of rit./accel. and where the rit./accel. ends, namely
at the end of the line. The line can be either a visible dashed line or an invisible one which merely
tells Sibelius how long to rit./accel. for (visible as a continuous gray line when View  Invisibles 
Hidden Objects is switched on). You can also specify the final tempo of the rit./accel. from the
Playback panel of the Inspector ( 2.11 Inspector):
 Final tempo: specified either as an absolute tempo in beats per minute, or a percentage of the
initial tempo (by default it is 75% for any rit. line, and 133% for any accel. line)
 You can also specify how the tempo changes during the accel. or rit.:
 Early: changes the tempo most rapidly at the start of the line
 Late: changes the tempo most rapidly towards the end of the line
 Linear: changes the tempo at a constant rate along the duration of the line.

If you want to return to the original tempo after an accel. or rit., you should write some Tempo text,
such as A tempo in Tempo text, at this point. However, Sibelius doesn’t automatically interpret
A tempo (because it’s often unclear which tempo it should return to), so you will also need to
create a hidden metronome mark (see Tempo on page 413).
You can also adjust the playback of rit. and accel. instructions by recording a Live Tempo
performance –  6.4 Live Tempo.

Play
Fermatas (pauses)
Sibelius plays fermatas (pauses) using articulations added from the fourth (F10) Keypad layout
( 4.22 Articulations).
When you want to specify a pause, make sure to create a fermata on every staff, particularly if the
rhythms differ between staves; Sibelius can only work out how best to play the pause if a fermata is
present on all staves that have notes. If a fermata is absent from one or more staves, Sibelius will
simply play the rhythm on those staves as written, and then hold the last note that coincides with
the fermata(s) on the other staff or staves.
The length of a fermata is determined either by the default setting on the Articulations page of
Play  Interpretation  Dictionary ( 6.8 Playback dictionary), or by the settings on the
Playback panel of the Inspector, which override the defaults if present. To adjust the playback of
an individual pause:
 If each staff has a different rhythm, select the note with a fermata that ends last (not the fermata
itself) and switch on the Fermata checkbox in the Playback panel of the Inspector
 Set Extend duration to the desired percentage of the duration of the written note value (e.g. to
make a fermata on a whole note (semibreve) last for eight quarter note beats, type 200)
 If you want the fermata to be followed by a gap before the next note, set Add gap to the
percentage of the duration of the written note value (e.g. for a one quarter note gap following a
fermata on a whole note, type 25).
You can also adjust the playback of fermatas by recording a Live Tempo performance –
 6.4 Live Tempo.

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Gliss. and port.
Gliss. and port. lines ( 4.6 Lines) play back, defaulting to an appropriate kind of glissando for
the instrument to which they apply, e.g. passing through chromatic steps for wind instruments,
but a continuous slide for strings. If you want to change the way a line plays back, select it and use
the Playback panel of the Inspector:
 Glissando type provides different kinds of glissando. Normally you can leave this set to
Instrument default.
 For the Continuous glissando type (a smooth slide), the way the gliss. is played is specified as
follows:
 Early: plays the gliss. quickest at the start of the line
 Late: plays the gliss. quickest towards the end of the line
 Linear: plays the gliss. at a constant speed from beginning to end.

Harmonics
Although Sibelius does not play back harmonics automatically, you can easily make them play
back using the Play  Plug-ins  Harmonics playback plug-in ( 1.22 Working with plug-
ins), or by using hidden notes and silent noteheads.
Natural harmonics (e.g. on brass instruments) are normally denoted by an “o” symbol above the
note. To make the harmonic play back, make the printed pitch use a silent notehead, and add the
sounding pitch of the harmonic using a hidden note in another voice – for more details,
 2.10 Hiding objects and 4.12 Noteheads
Artificial harmonics (e.g. on stringed instruments) are denoted by a diamond notehead a perfect
fourth or fifth above the written pitch. Use a silent notehead for the written pitch, and a diamond
notehead for the harmonic. You will probably want to make the diamond notehead silent, too –
 4.14 Edit Noteheads. As before, add the sounding pitch of the harmonic using a hidden note
in another voice.

Pedaling
Pedaling plays back, as long as it’s written using lines (not symbols or text). It will apply to both
staves of the instrument, provided Use same slot for all staves of keyboard instruments is
switched on, which it is by default, on the Playback page of File  Preferences.

Instruments with multiple staves

If an instrument normally uses two staves, such as a piano or harp, you need only create dynamics
attached to the top staff, and they will apply to both staves on playback if they are in between the
staves. Beware that this also applies to any instrument you create with two staves (e.g. if you create
a flute with two staves, dynamics between the two staves will apply to both).
In the rare case where you don’t want a dynamic to apply to both staves of a keyboard instrument,
position it close to one staff, or outside the staves (i.e. above the right-hand staff or below the left-
hand staff). If you don’t want dynamics to apply to both staves anywhere, switch off the Affect
adjacent staff option in the Play  Interpretation  Performance dialog. In this dialog you can
also adjust the threshold for how far away from the staff a dynamic has to be in order for Sibelius to
make it apply to the adjacent staff. For more details,  6.7 Performance.

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Where the number of staves used for an instrument changes, such as where an instrument divides
into staves for separate players or later rejoins, you may need to put a hidden dynamic and/or
playing technique (e.g. pizz., mute) at the start of the next system to match the dynamic/technique
prevailing just before the staves changed. This is because playback effects are tracked along each
staff – Sibelius doesn’t know if a player moves from one staff to another.

Silent notes and ignoring text/lines

You can make any object (e.g. dynamics, notes) be ignored during playback by switching off all of
its Play on pass checkboxes on the Playback panel of the Inspector –  6.9 Repeats.
Alternatively, you can prevent particular noteheads playing by using the silent notehead type
(shortcut Shift+Alt+9 or 9) –  4.12 Noteheads.
You can also specify that all text in a certain text style should have no effect on playback by
switching off Interpret during playback on the General page of Edit Text Style –  5.6 Edit
Text Styles.

Play

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6.7 Performance
 6.1 Working with playback.

Sibelius contains such advanced features to improve the playback of your scores that we prefer to
think that it doesn’t just play back – it performs!
Options controlling the style of performance are all available from the Play  Interpretation 
Performance dialog, and are described below. These also affect the results you get when export-
ing a MIDI file ( 1.13 Exporting MIDI files), an audio file ( 1.11 Exporting audio
files), or a Scorch web page ( 1.16 Exporting Scorch web pages).

Espressivo™
Espressivo (Italian for “expressively”) is a unique feature that enables Sibelius to play back scores
adding its own expression, like a human performer. Sibelius still obeys the dynamics and articula-
tions you write in the score, but adds a whole lot of further phrasing and interpretation over and
above these. If you play back a score that uses several instruments – or even a full orchestra –
Espressivo produces independent expression for every single instrument.
In Play  Interpretation  Performance, the Espressivo drop-down menu gives five different
degrees of expression for different styles of music:
 Meccanico (“mechanically”) plays the score absolutely literally, with no dynamics or
articulations except where marked
 Senza espress. (“without expression”) adds only tiny fluctuations of volume and slight accents
at the start of bars and note-groups as a human performer will naturally do even when trying to
play with no expression
 Poco espress. (“slightly expressively”) has slight dynamics following the contour of the music,
suitable for a fast, fairly mechanical style (such as Baroque music)
 Espressivo is the default option, with more dynamics added
 Molto espress. (“very expressively”) produces lots of expression, which can be too over the top
for some kinds of music. It works well for large groups of instruments, as it helps to separate the
different lines.

Rubato™
Rubato is the rhythmic counterpart to Espressivo. Sibelius can subtly vary the tempo of your score
to add greater expression, in much the same way as a human performer would.
In Play  Interpretation  Performance, you can choose six different degrees of Rubato from the
menu, which are suitable for different styles of music:
 Meccanico: the default option, this plays the score absolutely literally, with no gradations of
tempo except where marked by Tempo text, metronome marks, or rit./accel. lines
 Senza Rubato: plays the score like a real performer trying to keep the tempo absolutely strict,
so there are some barely perceptible tempo fluctuations

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 Poco Rubato: adds a small amount of rubato, so the tempo of your score will vary a little over
the course of a phrase
 Rubato: produces moderate gradations of tempo
 Più Rubato: adds quite a lot of rubato
 Molto Rubato: adds the maximum amount of rubato, so Sibelius will exaggerate the rhythmic
phrasing. This can sound over the top for some kinds of music.
The recommended setting for rubato in your score is Rubato (the middle setting). Higher settings
than this can produce an extreme effect in which playback may “lurch” in particularly busy passages.
Rubato may only be slight in music that is repetitive or uniform, as Sibelius bases it on the shapes
of phrases. The effect of rubato is also lessened the greater the number of instruments in your
score, as heavy rubato is less appropriate (and unlikely to be conductable!) for large ensembles.
An alternative to Sibelius’s automatic Rubato feature is to record your own interpretation of the
nuances of tempo in your score, using Live Tempo –  6.4 Live Tempo.

Rhythmic feel™
Sibelius can play back with a wide range of “rhythmic feels” suitable for different styles of music,
from jazz to Viennese waltz. Some rhythmic feels involve adjusting the notated rhythm, some
adjust the beat stresses, and some do both.
The Rhythmic Feel options in Play  Interpretation  Performance are as follows:
 Straight – the default setting

Play
 Light / Regular / Heavy swing – a jazz convention in which two notated eighth notes (quavers)
are performed approximately as a triplet quarter note plus eighth note (triplet crotchet plus quaver)
 Triplet swing – swings two eighth notes (quavers) as an exact triplet quarter note plus eighth
note (crotchet plus quaver)
 Shuffle – a light sixteenth note (semiquaver) swing
 Swung sixteenths – as for Regular swing but swings sixteenth notes (semiquavers) rather
than eighth notes (quavers)
 Dotted eighths (quavers) – effectively a very extreme swing; we’re not quite sure why you’d
want this, but here it is anyway
 Notes Inégales – triplet quarter note plus eighth note (triplet crotchet plus quaver), similar to
Triplet swing, for an effect used in some early music (although the conventions required for
really authentic notes inègales are more complex than this)
 Light / Viennese waltz – shortens the first beat of the bar (to a lesser and greater degree
respectively), for a characteristic waltz feel
 Samba – a sixteenth note (semiquaver) feel, stressing the first and fourth beats
 Rock / Pop – stresses the first and third beats of a 4/4 bar, lightens the stress on the second and
fourth, and lightens further still on off-beats, Rock more so than Pop
 Reggae – a sixteenth note (semiquaver) pattern with a strong emphasis on the 3rd and 4th
sixteenths
 Funk – similar to Pop, but makes the second beat of the bar (in 4/4) slightly early.

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You can switch rhythmic feel on or off, or even change from one rhythmic feel to another, for
different parts of your score by adding text indications such as “Swing” or “Straight” in Tempo text
(which you can hide if necessary) –  Playback dictionary.
You might think that you need an option to swing both eighth notes (quavers) and sixteenth notes
(semiquavers) at the same time, but if you think about it, they can’t be swung simultaneously –
since if you have sixteenths against eighths, the sixteenths would have to be extra-long in an on-
quaver and short in an off-quaver. What you probably want instead is that in places where the
fastest notes are eighths, playback should swing eighths, and where the fastest notes are sixteenths,
it should swing sixteenths. To do this, put suitable hidden text markings where the music changes
between passages of eighths and sixteenths –  Playback dictionary.
Incidentally, the option Only change beats on the Play  Performance dialog should be
ignored, since each of the preset rhythmic feels switches it on or off as appropriate. It controls
whether the rhythmic feel only changes the stress or rhythm of notes that fall on the beat; e.g.
Viennese waltz turns this option on, but the swing options turn it off. There’s no reason to change
this, but feel free to experiment if you’re particularly bored.

Reverb
Reverb, short for reverberation, means echo – strictly speaking, the spread-out echo you hear in a
room, rather than the delayed one you hear in the Swiss Alps. Sound reaches our ears via many
routes, some (e.g. a direct path from a performer to your ear) more direct than others (e.g.
bouncing off the wall before arriving at your ear). Sounds that take a longer route to our ears are
attenuated more than those that take a direct route, but the time and volume differences involved
are so small that we don’t perceive each reflected sound as a copy of the original; rather, we per-
ceive the effect of the entire series of reflections as a single sound. The most realistic simulations of
reverb are produced by convolution, which take a recorded “impulse response” (a recording of the
reverberation of a space, such as a concert hall, in response to an ideal sound, or “impulse”) and
combines it with the audio input, producing an output signal that simulates playing your input
sound in a specific room or environment. Convolution reverb is much more complex than other
kinds of digital reverb, which typically use multiple feedback delay circuits to produce a large,
decaying series of copies of the original signal.
The built-in Sibelius Player has two reverbs: a high-quality convolution reverb, which produces the
best sound quality but uses more processing power; and a standard stereo reverb, which doesn’t
sound quite as good, but is more conservative in its demands on your computer. By default,
convolution reverb is used for playback; to use the standard reverb, go to the Playback page of
File  Preferences and switch off Use convolution reverb.
Adding reverb can have a dramatic effect on making your scores sound lifelike, as the human ear is
almost as sensitive to the acoustics of a room as it is to the sound within it. Music for small
ensembles may benefit from a small amount of reverb, characteristic of playing in a medium-sized
room, whereas large orchestral works can be given extra depth by greater reverb settings.
Sibelius’s Play  Interpretation  Performance dialog gives seven preset degrees of reverb from Dry
to Cathedral. Each preset produces sound of a different character in the Sibelius Player, so it’s worth
trying out a couple of the presets with each score. You can adjust the mix of reverb against the so-

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called dry signal, i.e. that which has not been passed through the reverb effect, using the Reverb fader
on the Sibelius Player’s strip in the Mixer – see Virtual instrument strips on page 521.
For the benefit of other playback devices, Sibelius’s seven presets are also mapped onto different
values for the standard MIDI reverb controller (91): Dry sends no reverb, and Cathedral sends
almost maximum reverb. Most soundcards and sound modules, and some MIDI keyboards, can
add reverb, though different devices may react differently to the reverb settings.
Some MIDI devices can do a range of other reverb effects, such as plate reverb, hall reverb, etc.,
though Sibelius’s presets cannot map onto these settings: see your MIDI device’s manual for details.

Note durations
You can adjust the length of notes on playback by setting Unslurred notes. By default, Sibelius
plays unslurred notes at full length, so the playback effect is always smooth (legato). If you
lengthen notes beyond 100% so they overlap, this produces enhanced legato on some MIDI devices
but may cause problems on others where a pitch is repeated – the overlap can cause the second
note to play very short, or you might find that some notes “hang” (continue playing indefinitely).
You can adjust the length of notes under slurs using the Staff Lines page of Play 
Interpretation  Dictionary –  6.8 Playback dictionary.
The Play ties between different voices option (switched on by default) tells Sibelius not to
replay the second note of a tied pair if the second note is in a different voice from the first note,
which happens frequently in music for keyboard instruments.

Play
Dynamics between keyboard staves
Sibelius automatically plays back dynamics between the two staves of keyboard instruments (or
other instruments with multiple staves, e.g. a flute with two staves) – see Instruments with
multiple staves on page 542.
Play  Interpretation  Performance allows you to set the minimum distance away from the staff
that a dynamic must be before it will apply to the adjacent staff (i.e. the staff below if it is attached
to the upper staff, or the staff above if it is attached to the lower staff).
If you don’t want dynamics to apply to both staves of keyboard instruments, switch off the Affect
adjacent staff option.

Gap after final barlines

The Gap after final barlines option determines how long Sibelius should pause after each final
double barline in a score that contains multiple songs, pieces or movements.
If a song, movement or piece ends with a barline other than a final barline (e.g. a double barline, or
an end repeat barline), Sibelius will recognize this as the last bar of the score, provided you switch
on the Section end property in the Bars panel of the Inspector, and provided Also play gaps
after section ends is switched on (as it is by default).

ReWire
The ReWire options are explained in Fixed tempo and Tempo track mode on page 595.

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6.8 Playback dictionary

 6.1 Working with playback, 6.18 MIDI messages, 6.19 SoundWorld.

Sibelius reads and interprets not only text (such as mf, pizz. and legato) when playing back, but
also many other markings in your score, including lines (e.g. octave lines, slurs, trills, pedal
markings), articulations (e.g. staccato, tenuto, accent), and symbols.
Though you won’t normally need to do so, you can modify exactly what effect these markings have
on playback using Sibelius’s Play  Interpretation  Dictionary dialog, and even add your own
markings to the dictionary. The dialog has six pages, each dealing with a different kind of item that
can affect playback:
 Staff Text, for playing instructions that apply only to a single staff, e.g. ff, legato
 System Text, for instructions that apply to all instruments, e.g. Fast, Swing, Adagio
 Staff Lines, for lines that apply to a single staff, e.g. trills, octave (8va) lines, slurs, hairpins
 Articulations, e.g. staccato, tenuto. Note that one-note tremolos and buzz rolls are also handled
on this page.
 Noteheads, for effects produced by noteheads, e.g. harmonics, ghost notes
 Symbols, e.g. scoops, falls, mallets and beaters for percussion.

Each of these pages is described in detail below.

Staff Text page

The words are listed at the left-hand side of the dialog. You can change the order of words in the list
by clicking the Up and Down buttons; though this has no effect on how Sibelius handles them in
playback, it is useful to be able to add words in alphabetical order, and in any case you may be able
to derive some limited amusement from clicking these buttons.

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To edit a word, click Rename, which shows a simple dialog in which you can change the text. To
add a new word, select a word that has a similar effect to the one you wish to create, and click New,
which shows a simple dialog in which you can specify the new word. To make a copy of an existing
word, click Duplicate. To remove a word altogether, click Delete.
Each word can also have a combination of the following options set:
 Case sensitive: in most cases, you will not want your word to be treated as case sensitive (i.e.
you want “swing,” “Swing” and “SWING” to be equivalent), so this should normally be switched
off
 Whole word means that the word is not an abbreviation. However, most musical terms can be
abbreviated, so it is common to switch this option off. For example, Sibelius will change to a piz-
zicato string sound when confronted with any word beginning with the letters “pizz,” so that
“pizz,” “pizz.” (with a period) and “pizzicato” will all produce the same effect. (“pizza” will also
work, but is unlikely to occur in your score.) Don’t put a period (full stop) at the end of your word
in this dialog if it’s an abbreviation. If your word is not an abbreviation, switch this on instead.
 Regular expressions allow sophisticated matching of patterns inside text strings, but aren’t for
the faint of heart. You’ll normally never need to switch on Regular expression – but if you’re
curious, see Regular expressions below.
To determine the playback effect of a particular word, select it, then choose the type of Effect from
the list on the right. The Effect Values group below updates to show what you can change for each
type of Effect:

Play
 Control change sets a MIDI controller to a certain value:
 MIDI controller specifies the number of the MIDI controller to change (e.g. controller 1 is
modulation, controller 64 is sustain pedal, controller 91 is reverb, etc.)
 Controller value specifies the value to set the chosen MIDI controller to; 0 is the minimum
and 127 is the maximum.
 Dynamic allows you to change the prevailing dynamic; this is the effect used for text such as mf,
ff and loud:
 Dynamic specifies the volume at which the following music should be played, using a range
between 0 and 127. Depending on the playback device, this may be played using note
velocity, or MIDI expression (controller 11), or modulation (controller 1), or something else.
 Attack specifies the sharpness of the attack of notes at this dynamic, using a range between 0
and 127. Depending on the playback device, this may or may not have an audible effect.
 Sound ID change allows you to specify an optional sound ID change in addition to the
change in dynamic; see Sound ID changes below
 Dynamic change allows you to change the dynamic for one note or for the following music,
relative to the current dynamic (rather than setting it to an absolute level, as Dynamic does):
 Dynamic n% of current dynamic allows you to specify the change in dynamic in terms of a
percentage of the prevailing dynamic
 Attack n% of current attack allows you to specify the change in attack in terms of a
percentage of the prevailing attack

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 Sound ID change allows you to specify an optional sound ID change in addition to the
change in dynamic; see Sound ID changes below.
 Change for is a list containing two choices, either one note only (meaning the dynamic
only affects the note to which the text instruction is attached) or all subsequent notes
(meaning that the change “sticks” until the next dynamic is encountered)
 Dynamic envelope is for effects where the dynamic increases and decreases over time, e.g. sfz
or fp:
 Initial dynamic specifies the dynamic at the start of the note
 Decay determines the length of time over which the dynamic returns either to its original
level or to the optional End dynamic, expressed as a percentage of the length of the note
 End dynamic optionally specifies the dynamic at the end of the note.
 Program change allows you to change MIDI program number, in order to change the sound
used by a staff. In general you shouldn’t use this mechanism: either use instrument changes
( 2.4 Instruments) or a sound ID change (see below). But should you have a good reason to
use it:
 Program specifies the program number, using a range between 0 and 127
 Send bank change allows you to choose whether or not a MIDI bank change message
should be sent in addition to the program change. If you switch this on, Bank High and
Bank Low are then enabled.
 Bank High and Bank Low allow you to set the most significant (“high”) and least significant
(“low”) bits required to effect a MIDI bank change message.
 Sound ID change allows you to add or remove techniques from the present sound. You can
choose one or more sound ID elements from the menu – see Sound ID changes below.

System Text page

The System Text page has similar controls to the Staff Text page (see Staff Text page above),
but the types of Effect are different:

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 Metronome is used to specify the meaning of the characters to the left of the equals sign in a
metronome mark. For example, in the metronome mark “q = 120”, the quarter note (crotchet)
character is actually a letter “q” in Sibelius’s music fonts, so q = is defined to use the
Metronome effect and is set to 1 beats (quarters). Similarly, in “e = 160” the eighth note
(quaver) is a letter “e”, so e = is defined to mean 0.5 beats (quarters). However, because all the
standard note durations (including dotted notes) are defined for you, you’ll never need to set up
any more Metronome words – unless you invent some new note durations, of course.
 Repeat is used to specify the kind of effect a word should have on the playback of repeated
sections in the score. For example, a word defined to have the Repeat effect D.C. al Coda will
tell Sibelius to jump to the start of the score and keep playing until it finds a word defined to
have the Repeat effect To Coda, which in turn causes Sibelius to jump to the place in the score
where it finds a word defined to have the Repeat effect Coda, signifying the start of the coda
itself. Repeat words are the only predefined ones to use the Regular expression option – see
Regular expressions below. As with Metronome words, you won’t need to set up any
Repeat words, because all the common ones are already set up for you. For more information
about how Sibelius plays back repeats,  6.9 Repeats.
 Rhythmic Feel words change the rhythmic feel setting of the score at the specific point at which
the word is encountered. For example, the word “Swing” is defined to set rhythmic feel to
Regular Swing. For more information about rhythmic feel,  6.7 Performance.
 Rit./Accel. words allow you to specify a rit. or accel., though it is recommended that you use the
lines provided for this purpose instead, as they provide greater control – see Rit. and accel. on

Play
page 541. Should you decide you do want to define a Rit./Accel. word, set Scale tempo to n%
of current tempo to an appropriate value, and set Over n beats (quarters) to the length of
time following the text that you want the change of tempo to occur.
 Tempo words allow you to set a specific tempo. For example, “Allegro” is defined to Set tempo
to 120 quarters/min, while “Lento” is defined to Set tempo to 60 quarters/min.
 Tempo Scale words allow you to scale the current tempo by a specified percentage. For
example, “Slower” is defined to scale the tempo to 90% of the original tempo, while “Faster” sets
the tempo to 110% of the original tempo.

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Staff Lines page

The Staff Lines page allows you to specify a Sound ID change for each type of line that exists in
your score. For example, you might specify a sound ID change of +legato for a slur, which would
automatically choose a special, smooth violin sound on your playback device if you then put a slur
on a violin staff in your score, and a different smooth trumpet sound if you then put a slur on a
trumpet staff, and so on – see Sound ID changes below
Failing that, if Sibelius is unable to find a suitable sound to play the specified sound ID change, or
if no sound ID change is specified, it will do whichever of the default effects is specified under If
no matching sound ID is available. The choices are as follows:
 Adjust durations of notes under line is useful for slurs, which typically lengthen the notes
under them to make them legato, with the exception of the last note under the slur, which is
shortened (so that it is separated from the next note). To change these options:
 If you want to change the lengths of the notes under the line, switch on Adjust durations by
n%; durations greater than 100% increase the duration, and less than 100% reduce it
 To shorten the last note under the line, switch on Adjust last note by n%.
 Transpose up/down 1/2 octaves is used by octave (8va, 15mb, etc.) lines. Simply set whether
you want the notes under the line to be transposed up or down, and by one or two octaves.
 Spread chord up/down for n milliseconds is for arpeggio (spread chord) lines, or lines you
want to behave like arpeggio lines.
 Play crescendo or diminuendo is for hairpins. You can determine the precise playback effect
of an individual hairpin by selecting it in the score and using the options on the Playback panel
of the Inspector (see Hairpins on page 539).
 Play trill is for trills. You can specify the playback speed and interval of an individual trill by
selecting it in the score and using the options on the Playback panel of the Inspector (see Trills
on page 540).
 Play sustain pedal is for pedal lines.

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 Play glissando/portamento is for gliss. and port. lines. You can specify the playback speed
and interval of an individual line by selecting it in the score and using the options on the Play-
back panel of the Inspector (see Gliss. and port. on page 542).
 Play guitar bend is for bend lines (see Bend on page 222).
 No playback effect means that Sibelius will simply ignore the line during playback.

Any one of these options can be applied to any line, so you can make a slur behave like an octave
line, or a guitar bend behave like an arpeggio line, if you really like.
Note, however, that those lines that have individually adjustable playback via the Playback panel
of the Inspector – i.e. hairpins, trills, gliss. and port. lines – can only be adjusted there if they are
based on the appropriate type of line. In other words, although you can tell Sibelius to make, say, a
Box line play back as a hairpin, it will always play back in the default way, and you won’t be able to
adjust its effect on playback in the Inspector.

Articulations page

Play

The Articulations page allows you to specify a Sound ID change for each type of articulation or
tremolo. For example, you may specify upbow and downbow articulations to give rise to +upbow
and +downbow sound ID changes, which would automatically choose special upbow and
downbow sounds from your playback device, if available – see Sound ID changes below.
Failing that, if Sibelius is unable to find a suitable sound to play the specified sound ID change, or
if no sound ID change is specified, it will do whichever of the default effects is specified under If
no matching sound ID is available. The choices are as follows:
 Play repeated notes is for tremolos and buzz rolls (z on stem). You can determine whether it
should be played measured – in which case choose Subdivide and set n times to the
appropriate value – or Unmeasured, which means to play the note repeatedly as fast as possi-
ble.

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 Adjust dynamic, attack and/or duration is for most other articulations. For example, by
default, staccatos shorten a note by 50%, accents boost the dynamic by 50%, and downbows
both boost the dynamic by 10% and shorten the note a little, too.
 To change the dynamic of the note on which the articulation occurs, switch on Adjust
dynamic to n% of current dynamic and set the value appropriately.
 To change the attack of the note on which the articulation occurs, switch on Adjust attack to
n% of current attack and set the value appropriately.
 To change the duration of the note, switch on Adjust duration to n% of the written
duration. This isn’t intended to be used for fermatas (pauses) – they have their own special
options.
 Extend duration by n times written duration is for fermatas. By default, a regular fermata is
set to 1.5 times written duration, a long (square) fermata is set to 1.75 times written duration,
and a short (triangular) fermata is set to 1.25 written duration, but you can change these settings
if you like. You can also optionally Add gap of n% of written duration, which will add the
specified amount of silence following the fermata before the next note.
 No playback effect means that Sibelius will simply ignore the articulation during playback.

As with staff lines, you can apply any one of these options to any articulation, so you can make a
staccato behave like a fermata if you like.

Noteheads page

The Noteheads page allows you to specify a Sound ID change for each type of notehead in your
score. For example, you might define a diamond notehead to give rise to the sound ID change
+harmonic, which would automatically choose a harmonic sound on your playback device if one
is available – see Sound ID changes below.
Failing that, you can define each notehead to have a default playback effect. In the case of
noteheads, you can only specify a given notehead to adjust the current dynamic; this is useful for

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6.8 Playback dictionary

so-called “ghost” notes in guitar music, which are normally written with a cross notehead and
sound much quieter than normal notes.

Symbols page

The Symbols page allows you to specify a Sound ID change for each type of symbol in your
score. For example, a fall symbol can give rise to a sound ID change +fall, which will automatically

Play
trigger (say) a trumpet fall sound in your playback device, if one is available – see Sound ID
changes below. No other playback effects are available for symbols.

Sound ID changes
For an introduction to sound IDs,  6.19 SoundWorld.
Sound ID changes allow you to add or remove one or more play-
ing techniques from the current sound on a staff at any point.
For example, the word “pizz” may be defined to produce a sound
ID change of +pizzicato, while “arco” may be -pizzicato. You
can also define something in the dictionary to add one element
and subtract another simultaneously, such as -mute +sul
ponticello.
To define a sound ID change, you can either type the sound ID
elements you want to add or remove into the box, or choose
them from the menu of common sound ID elements provided.
To add an element, put + directly before it, with no space
between; to remove an element, put - directly before it, with
no space between. To remove all current elements, type
[reset] (include the square brackets).
On the Staff Text and Symbols pages, you can specify whether the sound ID change should take
effect Until the next sound ID change, Until the start of the next note, or Until the end of

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6. Play tab
the next note. Normally a sound ID change takes effect until another instruction to the contrary
(e.g. the instruction “mute,” or a symbol denoting “snares on” for side drum), but occasionally you
may want a sound ID change to take effect for a single note (e.g. scoop or fall symbols, or a text
indication above a single note on an unpitched percussion staff).
Similarly, on the Staff Lines page you can specify whether the sound ID change should take effect
Until end of line (which is suitable for e.g. trill lines) or Until end of last note under line
(which is suitable for e.g. slurs, octave lines, hairpins, and so on).
Note that simply defining a new sound ID change in Play  Interpretation  Dictionary does not
guarantee that it will be played back – Sibelius can only play those effects that are available in the
devices in your current playback configuration – but the beauty of sound IDs is that they are
device-independent, so the sound may be available on another computer or using a different
configuration later, at which point Sibelius will play it back automatically.

When dictionary items take effect

When you insert words from the playback dictionary in your score using text, be aware that
Sibelius treats words from the Staff Text and System Text pages differently.
Words entered in system text (e.g. tempo markings or rhythmic feel) take effect at the start of the
bar to which they are attached.
Words entered in staff text (e.g. dynamics and words such as pizz.) take effect on the note to which
they are attached; staff lines similarly affect playback from the point at which they are attached to
the point at which they end.

Regular expressions
Regular expressions define, using symbols that have special meanings, patterns to match within a
text string. Sibelius uses regular expressions to match terms used for playing back repeat
structures such as D.C. al Fine and D.S. al Coda ( 6.9 Repeats).
You can use regular expressions in the playback dictionary yourself, but you should exercise
extreme caution in doing so – it’s all too easy to create one that breaks playback of every other
word in your score (e.g. the regular expression a matches any string that has an “a” in it, and ^. or
$ will match anything at all).
 ^ means the match must occur at the start of the string, e.g. ^In the beginning; see below
 $ means the match must occur at the end of the string, e.g. Amen$; see below
 . means match any single character, e.g. c.t (which would match cat, cbt, cct, cdt and so on!); to
search for a literal period (full stop), use \.
 * matches any number of occurrences of the previous character (or choice of characters
surrounded by square brackets [ ]). This can also include no occurrences, so the regular
expression a* is matched by the string b, in addition to a, aaaaa, and so on. A useful regular
expression is .*, which means “match anything”, so you can do ^begin.*end$, which matches
anything that is surrounded by begin and end
 + matches one or more occurrences of the previous character, so the regular expression a+ is
matched by the strings a, aaaaa and baaa, but not b or an empty string

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6.8 Playback dictionary

 [ ] are the grouping operators, meaning “match any character in the group,” so you can find digits
with [0-9]. Punctuation characters lose their special meaning when within these brackets, so
you can write things like D[.$S]* al Coda
 \xNN matches the hexadecimal character NN
 (x)|(y) are exclusive choice operators, where the string must match either x or y. You can use
these to match whole words, e.g. (apple)|(banana)
Regular expressions match any part of the string, so a matches (say) a long string and cat. To
explicitly match a alone, you need to add the start and end anchors: ^a$
Many punctuation characters (. $ ^ [ ] ( ) * + \) have special meaning in regular expressions, and
to match them literally (i.e. to match a string containing one of these characters), they need to be
preceded by \

Copying playback dictionary entries to other scores

Once you’ve edited entries in the playback dictionary, you can transfer your updated dictionary
into other scores. Simply export the house style from the score in which you edited the dictionary,
then import it into the new score –  8.2 House Style for more details – or save your score as a
manuscript paper –  1.18 Exporting manuscript paper.

Play

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6.9 Repeats
 4.5 Barlines, 4.6 Lines, 4.10 Symbols, 5.1 Working with text, 6.1 Working with
playback, 6.8 Playback dictionary, 2.11 Inspector.

Like other kinds of playback, Sibelius understands repeat markings in your score and plays them
back automatically. Sibelius can also play very complicated repeat structures.
Various kinds of object can affect the playback of repeats: barlines; lines such as 1st- and 2nd-end-
ings; text such as D.C. al Coda or 1st time mf; and symbols for codas and segnos. MIDI files saved
from Sibelius also incorporate repeats in exactly the same way as playback.

Repeats dialog
Repeats playback is controlled by the Play  Interpretation  Repeats dialog, which looks like this:

 Don’t play repeats tells Sibelius to ignore all repeat barlines, ending lines etc. in the score.
 Automatic repeats playback is the default setting, and tells Sibelius to play back repeats in the
score according to its own automatic interpretation of repeat barlines, ending lines, and jump
instructions such as D.C. al Coda.
 Manual repeats playback allows you to specify the order in which the bars in the score should
be played back – see Manual repeats playback below.

Repeat barlines
To create a start or end repeat barline, select the barline where you want the repeat to go, and
choose Start Repeat or End Repeat from the Notations  Common  Barline gallery. For more
details,  4.5 Barlines.
By default, repeat barlines only repeat once (i.e. any passage with an end repeat barline at the end
of it will be played twice). If you want a repeated section to play back more than twice, select the
end repeat barline and switch on more of the Play on pass checkboxes in the Playback panel of
the Inspector (see below); if you switch on, say, checkboxes 1, 2 and 3, that section will repeat
three times and hence be played back four times in total. However, if an ending line (see below) is
also present at the same bar, its playback properties take precedence, so the barline will only repeat
as many times as dictated by the ending line.

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You can also write a text instruction like Play 3 times or Repeat 2 times in a system text style
(e.g. Tempo) above a repeat barline, which overrides the Play on pass checkboxes.

1st and 2nd ending lines

For information on creating these lines,  4.6 Lines.
Ending lines with brackets that are open at the right-hand end automatically set the Last time
ending option; this tells Sibelius that it has finished playing all of the ending lines preceding that
one. If you have multiple sets of ending lines in your score, for correct playback you are
recommended to ensure that the last ending of each repeated section has an open right-hand end:

  
Incorrect 1. 2. 1. 2.

       

  
Correct 1. 2. 1. 2.

       

Sibelius sets the playback properties of these lines automatically when you create them; it reads the
numbers under the bracket and sets the Play on pass checkboxes (see Properties below)
appropriately. For example, an ending line with the text 1.–3. will set checkboxes 1, 2, and 3
automatically; a line with the text 1, 3, 5 will set checkboxes 1, 3 and 5; and so on.

Codas

Play
Codas – music that comes at the very end of a song with a repeating structure – are normally
separated from the preceding music by a gap. To create a coda:
 Create the bars where the coda music will go
 Select the barline just before the coda
 Choose Double from Notations  Common  Barline (because codas are normally preceded by
double barlines, to show the end of the previous section)
 You would also normally add a text direction here informing the player what to do when they get
to this double barline the first time through – see Dal segno (D.S.) and da capo (D.C.) below
 Choose Layout  Break  Split System. This creates a gap after the selected barline. You can
drag the barline at the start of the second half of the system in order to increase or decrease the
gap (to remove the gap entirely, select the barline after the gap and choose Appearance 
Design and Position  Reset Position). To control whether the clef, key signature etc. are
repeated after the gap, select the barline at the end of the first bar after the gap and open the
Bars panel of the Inspector ( 2.11 Inspector).
 To write the word CODA above the start of the coda, hit Esc to make sure nothing is selected.
Then choose Tempo from Text  Styles  Style (shortcut Ctrl+Alt+T or T) and click above
the start of the coda. Right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Mac) to see the word menu, which
includes the coda symbol, then type the word CODA in the normal way.

Dal segno (D.S.) and da capo (D.C.)

The Italian term “dal segno” literally means “from the sign.” In most music you will see either D.S.
al Fine (which means “go back to the $ sign and play the music again until you come to the bar

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6. Play tab
marked Fine, then stop”) or D.S. al Coda (which means “go back to the $ sign and play the music
again until you come to the bar marked To Coda, then jump to the coda”).
Similarly, “da capo” literally means “from the head,” i.e. the start of the song or piece. Just as with
D.S., in most music you will either see D.C. al Fine or D.C. al Coda.
You may also see simply D.C. or D.S. in the final bar of a score, which means to repeat from the
start of the score or the $ sign respectively, then stop at the end.
In music, these instructions always appear at the end of the bar from which you have to jump back
(either to the $ sign or to the start of the piece). To input these instructions:
 Select the barline where the player has to jump back in the song
 Choose Repeat (D.C./D.S./To Coda) from the Tempo category in Text  Styles  Style. (It’s
important to use this text style rather than Tempo because it automatically attaches to the end of
the bar.)
 A flashing caret appears. Now right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Mac) to see the word
menu, which includes the text you need – enter it in the score simply by clicking it in the menu.
If you type the words yourself, be sure to use the correct case (i.e. type “Fine”, not “fine”, as the
latter won’t play back correctly).

Creating a segno
If the player has to jump back to a segno, you do of course need to put the segno symbol in the
right place. To do this:
 Select the note at the start of the bar to which the player has to jump back
 Choose Notations  Symbols  Symbol (shortcut Z for “zymbol”)
 The segno symbol ($) is right at the top of the list, in the Common category. Click the segno,
and the segno is created in your score.

Fine and To Coda

The final special pieces of text used in repeat structures are Fine (which shows where the player
should stop playing the song if they’ve previously jumped back from a D.S. or D.C. instruction),
and To Coda (which shows where the player should jump forward to the coda, if they’ve
previously jumped back from a D.S. al Coda or D.C. al Coda instruction).
Both of these instructions occur at the end of bars, and are entered the same way as D.S. and D.C.
– see Dal segno (D.S.) and da capo (D.C.) above.

Repeat bars
To create a repeat bar,  4.25 Repeat bars. Sibelius plays back repeat bars automatically.

Properties
The Playback panel of the Inspector contains the main controls for
adjusting the playback effect of lines, text and even notes.
 Play on pass: these checkboxes control whether the selected object
will be played on a given pass through the score, up to a total of eight
repeats. For repeat barlines and 1st and 2nd ending lines, Sibelius sets these properties automat-

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6.9 Repeats
ically (see Repeat barlines and 1st and 2nd ending lines above). For text, you can set this
option yourself (see When to play back text and lines below).
 Last time ending applies only to ending lines with open right-hand ends (i.e. no hook at the
right-hand end) – see 1st and 2nd ending lines above.
 Jump at bar end tells Sibelius whether to obey a jump (e.g. from a text instruction such as D.C.
al Coda) at the precise point in the bar the text is attached to, or at the end of the bar (the default
option). You only need to switch off this option if you need a repeat instruction to be obeyed in
the middle of a bar.

When to play back text and lines

The Play on pass checkboxes can be used to tell Sibelius when staff text that affects playback
(typically Expression and Technique) should play back. For example, you could create some
Expression text “1st, 3rd, 5th times: mf ” (switching on Play on pass checkboxes 1, 3, and 5) and
another object “2nd, 4th times: pp ” (switching on checkboxes 2 and 4) at the start of a repeated
section, and Sibelius will obey the dynamics appropriately. In a similar vein, you could create a
staff line (such as a hairpin or glissando) and set it to play back only on a single pass through the
score.
System text (typically in the Tempo or Repeat (D.C./D.S./To Coda) text styles) is unaffected by the
state of the Play on pass checkboxes: Sibelius decides intelligently when to take notice of these
instructions. Similarly, system lines other than repeat endings, e.g. rit./accel., always play back on
every pass through the score.

Play
When to play back notes
The Play on pass checkboxes also apply to notes, which opens up some exciting possibilities: for
songs which have, say, different rhythmic underlay in the vocal line in different verses, you could
create cue-sized notes that follow the rhythm of the verse 2 lyrics, and set them to play on the
second pass only; for jazz, you could create a little solo passage in the horns that should only play
back on the repeat; and so on.
You can even make a note totally silent by switching off all of the Play on pass checkboxes! (If you
need to make just one notehead of a chord silent, you can use a silent notehead instead –
 4.12 Noteheads.)

Skipping bars
In some circumstances, you may not want a particular bar to play back at all. For example, your
score may start with a prefatory staff (such as a “handbells used” chart), or you may have a guitar
fill box on one page of your score, and you would prefer these bars not to play back.
This is easy to arrange, using system text to form a pair of “markers” – one text object to set the
place you want to jump from, and another to set the place you want to jump to:
 Decide on a name for your pair of markers; it doesn’t matter what it is. For the sake of argument,
let’s use the word “cat”.
 At the end of the bar immediately preceding the bar(s) you don’t want to play, create a new
Repeat (D.C./D.S./To Coda) text object, consisting of the words “jump to” and the name of your
marker, e.g. jump to cat

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