7-string bass viola da gamba--Tablature staff missing

• May 21, 2016 - 16:45
Reported version
2.1
Type
Functional
Severity
S5 - Suggestion
Status
closed
Project
MuseScore

I play viol very badly, at the beginner level, and do not have all the fingerings memorised for all the different viols. That said, using linked tablature staffs to check the fingering of viol parts is an invaluable aid to me when writing or arranging for viol consorts. It's quicker and neater by far than referring to the smudged Post-it Notes stuck to my computer screen, on which I have scribbled a fretboard diagram for each of the viols. ;o)

In a current piece intended for mid-level intermediate players, the bass viol part calls for a 7-string French gamba, but in MuseScore 2.0.1 there is no 7-string tab staff available on the drop-down list. Linking the '6-string full' tab staff to a standard staff written for a 7-string viol results in notes below the D2 string not showing on the tab staff. While this is better than nothing, it isn't ideal.

I am hesitant to call this a bug as it hasn't caused any crashes or corruption in the score (so far, anyway). It's really more of a feature request for something that appears to have just been forgotten.

Can this be added to the current list of tablature staves? The instrument exists in the instruments list; string tuning is A1, D2, G2, C3, E3, A3, D4.

Comments

• May 21, 2016 - 17:26

You have just to go to Staff Properties -> Add a line for the Tab staff -> And to Edit the "String Data" for add a seventh string (A1).
So, you get this Template that you can reuse as you want (I have added the first notes in open strings, for the example, but after their removal, you get a template available immediatly):
Template Viola da Gamba 7 st..mscz

Reply

• May 21, 2016 - 18:42

@Cadiz--Thanks, I found the control to add the line in the staff properties, and it works. But I was unable to name the template or add the newly-defined 7-string tab as a new template. The controls are greyed out.

TAB template illus.png

Problem is, now when I open the Instruments dialogue and look at that linked tab staff, it shows up listed as a 'standard' staff, not a tablature one.

The instrument itself ALREADY was listed as a 7-string viol, and the string data in the dialogue is correct.

This was discussed in the issue posted last year which Jojo just referenced. I had forgotten Maurizio mentioned that gamba tablature is always six lines maximum and notes played on the seventh line are indicated otherwise. I am sure he's correct, but I am not intending to publish the music in tablature form; I'm using the tab staff as a 'cheat-sheet' to help me avoid asking the players for fingerings too complex for their playing level.

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