Transposition - Lead Sheets
Here is my scenario. I create lots of lead sheets. I enter them in Concert Key and then recreate them for Bb and Eb instruments by doing a Save As, change the file name by appending Bb or Eb, then I select the entire piece and transpose the piece to the proper key. This works for the chord changes as long as I've entered changes recognized by Musescore.
What I want to know is there a better way to do this. I've tried creating parts with an instrument such as Bb Trumpet, but when I copy/paste the Concert Key version into the Bb trumpet part, no transposition is done. I'm ok with the way I have been doing it but it is time consuming. Also, is there a plugin or function that can be used to take a directory's worth of .mscz files and transpose them in a batch fashion. This would greatly improve my productivity by doing what I've been doing manually, one file at a time and accomplish it with one action. This might be similar to the plugin Batch Export, which is very helpful.
Thanks,
bones12
Comments
I think what you're already doing is about as good as it gets. I do essentially the same, except instead of changing filenames, I save to different folders. Like keeping the version sepaate this way, and i figure if there ever is a plugin to help, I'll need things separated this way anyhow. I did try to write a plugin to do this all for me once, but transposition was just not available in the framework, amd while I could transpose notes one by one within a plugin, there was no way to access the chords. I suppose maybe 2.0 will make this more feasible, but as you say, it's just not that time consuming as it is, and I usually find I want to adjust enharmonic spelling here and there, so I need some manual intervention anyhow.
As for the copy/paste - I suspect what you'd find is that while it might appear at first no transposition was done, that's nly because you were still in Concert Pitch mode. Turn that off and you shoud should see it transpose automatically. But I don't see how that helps. Way too much info is lost when you do copy/paste. Ad besides, I don't see how that's less work than the way you're dong it already. Transposing takes only a few clicks as it is, and the "save as" is at least as fast as creating a new score and copying ito it. You coukd change the instrument to trumpet or saxophone (via staff properties) and then turn off concert pitch to accomplish the transposition, but that's at least as many clicks as actually transposing. It does help to have a keyboard shortcut defined (edit / preferences / shortcuts) for the transpose command.
I too use the method you describe. I am quite a long time user of MuseScore, and have not found a better way.
I also need to produce lead sheets for many instruments (as you : C, Bb, and Eb), to distribute as a pdf. I haven't found a perfect solution. With MuseScore 3 I use "staff/part properties" (right-click staff in score) and change transposition to :
Bb instruments : "0 octave(s) + 2 - Major Second" and "Down"
Eb instruments : "0 octave(s) + 3 - Minor Third" and "Up"
I use the "Concert Pitch" switch to toggle between C and the other key; now bottom right of screen in MuseScore 4.
https://musescore.org/en/node/338307
It's not perfect but it means transposing only once rather than twice when printing all three parts.