"Initial tempo" for rit. in properties panel

Dorico
1

I’m using a “molt rit poco a poco” at the end of a piece in 9/8 (actually switches between 9/8 and 6/8 several times near the end).

When I pull up the properties panel for the rit, it’s set to an initial tempo of 65, which is what my previous tempo was. But playback is waaay too slow. When the molto rit starts in playback, it’s like someone slammed on the brakes. I set it to 85 and it seemed to work better.

It almost seems like the value of 65 was set to quarter notes. Shouldn’t the initial tempo field for the molto rit be the same value and unit of measurement as the section that precedes it?

2

The ‘Initial tempo’ property is always initialised to the same default value (120 quarters per minute) so if it’s set to 65, it’s because you’ve changed it. It would be nice if properties could determine their initial value from the current musical context, but that is quite complex to achieve (and would in any case have to be implemented for each property type independently) so for the time being I’m afraid we put that load back on you, the lowly user.

3

No problem. As long as I know to expect it, it’s east to adjust. Thanks.