Playing scores without modifying them?

• Nov 3, 2016 - 19:15

Hi,

I'm teaching some young children to play piano. It is very useful for them to see musescore as it plays two handed parts. I discovered the loop option and now have an idea of how I could encourage them to use musescore on their own computers to facilitate practice. However, I'm afraid they might modify a score inadvertently when trying to set and playback loops. Is there some way to "lock" a score so that all one can do with it is access it via the Play Panel?

Thanks,

--b


Comments

No, at least not yet. But teach use one copy of the score and preserve the original?
__edit___
Or upload your score on MuseScore.com (Save Online) and they can listen and download it

Most operating systems (OSes) have some feature to “lock” a file, making it “read-only.”

This is part of a more-general “file permissions” system ... which varies from OS to OS, which allow you to specify just who can do what (if anything) with any file.   You could give your students access to a file that “belongs to” you, but give them only read-access to it.   They would be able to save a copy of the file but they would be powerless to modify the original (no matter how they tried to do it).   This is not a MuseScore feature, but a fundamental OS feature.

In reply to by mrobinson

I suspect that Belinda wants more than that: not only that the file on disk is kept untouched, but that in Musescore itself the score is unchanged during the exercices by the young students.
In fact that would require a Musescore "viewer" application.
Question to dev:
Would it be difficult to compile a "viewer" from the current code removing access to modifier functions? (just blocking the note input mode would probably do the job for the current purpose, even if it doesn't fully set the score in read only, it would already largely prevent accidental changes)

In reply to by frfancha

Now that I have a Windows tablet, I'm curious about the feasibility of a making something like the current mobile app work on Windows. Not Windows phone, not Windows RT (is that even still a thing?) but regular Windows. From my own perspective, this is now more interesting to me than the idea of a score editor for iOS or Android, although I suspect that would not be the majority view.

But assuming there is a lot involved in actually making the mobile app work on Windows (?), the idea of a "lock" mode for scores seems sound and comes up reasonably often. There is more to it than just disabling note input mode - lots of key presses can modify the score (arrow keys, delete button, F2 key, etc). As I recall, there was an attempt at implementing a locked mode, but it had some unforeseen side effect like also disabling some action that you would really want to keep. But I suspect it's a solvable problem.

Perhaps this might be a solution to your need: There is a function on the MuseScore.com website which allows you to upload a video score to your YouTube channel (if you have one; if not, you'd have to create one). Upload the score to musescore.com (File>Save online from the main menu), and then look at the toolbar on the right of the page.

musescore.com toolbar.png

Click on 'new' in that outlined area to be guided through the process of turning your score into a YouTube scrolling video-score.

Your students could then see the score on YouTube and hear it played back while the cursor scrolls through it, but they won't be able to modify it in any way.

I think the OP would like to be able to use Musescore in two different modes... one for Editing, and one for Playback.

The idea of his/her pupils purchase the app may be a problem. The parents may not wish their children to have that app on an android/ios operating system.

Out of interest, can the app play modified scores (taking into account that chilsdren's scores are modified sizes, or has two/three line staves, colours atc.. I will post some examples soon)

If it were me as a teacher, then I would invest in purchasing theapp for the pupils I taught - this may seem ridiculous, and costly, but would prevent the headaches... believe me, I've been there, and it isn't worth the hasstle :) )

The OP probably wants to prevent 'little fingers' from fiddling...

:)

In reply to by stupot101

<< I think the OP would like to be able to use Musescore in two different modes... one for Editing, and one for Playback. >>

Yes we have all understood that.

<< I would invest in purchasing theapp for the pupils I taught - this may seem ridiculous, and costly >>

?? The app is free.

In reply to by frfancha

The Player app is free (as in free beer, not as in free speach), but works only online with scores from MuseScore.com, so needs some kine of Network Access (WLAN, G4 or G3, the latter come with their own price tag)
The Songbook app is not free, but works with local files too.
Either require (the purchase of) a separate device, running Android or iOS, they don't run on Windows, Mac, Linux

The 'free app' needs access to oline scores only. The OP may not wish to put his/her material online. Therefore s/he may wish to use the 'songalbum' app.

Can the 'songalbum' app play modified scores?

:)

Thanks for clearing things up. It means that any 'song' I create in Musescore (including modified scores) can be played back, as desired in the 'purchased' Musescore App. I absolutely agree that it is worth every penny, and an excellent tool. :)

It just means that the OP now has to persuade his/her pupils to purchase it! :)

Another thread perhaps )

Thanks

EDIT: Is it going to be availible for Windows Surface Pro - that would be extremely useful :)

Do you still have an unanswered question? Please log in first to post your question.