Voices?
OK, I lied. Just one more.
I even bought the book: the essential beginner's guide, and I can't find the answer to this one.
I have a measure where I need to add a half note to a chord that has two quarter notes. So I created the cord with the two quarter notes, then selected "2" for voices, and when I added it, the quarter notes vanished! Now what?
Obviously I am having a great deal of trouble learning how to enter notation. I don't have a midi keyboard. I've watched the tutorials and read the documentation, but I'm having a LOT of TROUBLE with this. I also bought the $27 book, and no help there either. What am I missing here?
Comments
Try to read Voices carefully again and maybe watch this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_BA-hjjJ0g
In reply to Try to read Voices carefully by [DELETED] 5
I searched and searched for a video like this without success! I wasn't using terms like "how to write two parts on one stave". I was looking for "chords" or "chords with notes of different duration." I haven't studied music for over 40 years, so I'm rusty on the terminology.
In the meantime I figured out that notes have to be added in order, which the video demonstrates, but doesn't explain the reason for. Once I understood what the program was trying to do, I realized what I was doing wrong. For instance, if I was adding in quarter notes, I was trying to enter all the quarter notes by putting them where they go, and then they would go to the wrong place, because a half note was supposed to go first.
In reply to Thank you! by cmwilson
Well, there's just no sich thing as "chords with notes of different duration", chords, by definition, are notes of same length (and at the same time)
And yes, inside a measure you'd have to add the notes in the right order, left to right. Just like in a workd you have to add characters in the right order.
When you say you selected "2", I assume you mean, you pressed the "2" icon in the toolbar? You need to already be in note entry when you do that - otherwise when you enter note entry mode, it resets to 1. That's probably the most common mistake when using voices.
If that isn't it, maybe you could create a screenshot video using something like screenr.com to show us what you are trying, and we can help see what you are doing wrong.
I think what I was missing is that the program enforces correct form (sorry, don't know the technical term). I just figured out that when i'm adding a note in voice 2, I have to put in the rests, otherwise it will put the note at the beginning of the measure I'm editing. This clutters up the score with rests which, even if I make them invisible, I can still see until I print out the score.
And another thing. I printed out one score ten times (ten times!!!!!) before I was able to chase down and make invisible all those rests. I did the, select all of this type, thing, and it selected all of the rests, but when it made some invisible it made others visible. So I guess I have to go through one at a time and make each one individually invisible. Unless someone has a better idea.
In reply to reply to replies by cmwilson
You can completely hide invisible elements in Display -> Hide invisible elements (it saves trees)
In reply to You can completely hide by [DELETED] 5
(it saves trees)
Yes, one of the reasons I'm doing this is so that I can put the scores on my iPad.
In reply to reply to replies by cmwilson
You should also be aware that in most situations, you are *supposed* to display and print the rests. Otherwise, if a voice enters on some beat other than the first beat of the measure, a musician reading the part won't be able to tell what beat it enters on. There are specific musical situations in which it is safe to hide the rests - situations in which the context makes it obvious what beat the voice enters on - but these are the exception, not the rule. Unless you understand the rules governing this - the reasons why it is occasionally OK to hide rests for specific reasons - you really shouldn't be hiding these rests at all.
In reply to You should also be aware that by Marc Sabatella
> you are *supposed* to display and print the rests.
I realize that I am trying to use the program differently from most people. I am not making scores for anyone to read but myself.
What I was complaining about is that when I used voice 2 to add a half note to a quarter-note chord I had to put rests in for the first two quarter note chords in that measure to get the half note in the right place. For instance, you have four quarter note chords in 4/4 time, and you want to add a half note to the third chord. You have to put rests in first, or the half note will go on the first chord, not the third one. So those rests go kind of behind and/or right next to the notes from voice 1 that are already there. So when there are two "voices" on one staff, even when the rests are set to "invisible" they clutter the score and make it difficult to see the notes clearly. Add to this that a big part of the reason I'm doing this is to create scores that I can read EASILY with old, wonky eyes. So that clutter has to go! And again, I'm the only person who will be using the score.
In reply to > you are *supposed* to by cmwilson2
You can delete those rests from voices 2-4 afterwards.
You can't delete reste from voice 1 though and yes you always have to enter leading rests.
But I don't quite see how invisible rests clutter the score? Not in the printout for sure, and on screen you can also disable the visibillity of hidden elements completly (so that not even those weak gray elements are visible).
In reply to > you are *supposed* to by cmwilson2
Yes, it is true that you need leading rests to tell MuseScore what beat that half note falls on. How else would expect MuseScore to know? Music in each voice reads left to right, just like text does. Not just because of some arbitrary limitation of MuseScore; this is standard music notation practice and has been for centuries. So since music is normally *read* left to right,. that's how MuseScore wants you to enter it as well. Any other method would it more difficult to enter music - you'd constantly have to tell MuseScore where you wanted each note to appear. Imagine a word processor that didn't lay out each letter one after another as you typed, but required you to manually position each and every character!
It is true that in the current version, the rests overlap notes in other voices by default, and that this is not ideal at all. This is already fixed for 2.0 - rests in multivoice contexts will adjust up or down manually. Meanwhile, though, you can move the rests up or down yourself in order to create standard results. Or, in the occasional cases where hiding the rests makes musical sense, you can do that.
You mention "clutter", but as mentioned, invisible rests won't print, so there should really be no worry about clutter when reading the music. Same if you generate a PDF to read on a screen. Or, if you wish to read directly from MuseScore for some reason, simply turn off the display of invisible objects (see Display menu)..