notes with stems in both directions

• Jan 12, 2016 - 14:28

I cannot find how to set a note which has a stem pointing up on the right of it and a stem pointing down to the left (I set choir music, and when two voices which are set in the same system sing the same note, this is what you need to do). I am sure this can be done, but I have not found out how.


Comments

In reply to by robert leleu

Thanks, this link has a "shared notehead" link which shows that it is actually possible to have noteheads with two stems. However, when I set a second voice and hit on a note that already exists in the first voice, it simply puts another note with no stem next to it, instead of adding a downward pointing stem to that note (see attachment). What can I do to realize what I should?

Attachment Size
shared notehead.png 13.71 KB

In reply to by Jojo-Schmitz

That problem has actually been solved, by erasing the content of the entire measure, and rewriting it from scratch, then it worked.

But I still have some problems to solve. One is that I should separate the bars for four 1/8th notes, which works for voice 1, but not for voice 2 (see attachment "linked notes"). Why?

I have solved a number of other problems, by playing around and trying, but the above two I could not solve. I attach the .mscz file to this comment (if you wonder: the text is a particular Swiss german dialect from the region where I live :-)

Attachment Size
linked-notes.png 15.66 KB
I_ha_de_Frueelig_gschpuert.mscz 35.53 KB

In reply to by ballyt

Not sure why you want those beams broken. If it's becasue for some reason you are breaking beams every beam throughout the piece, then you can make that happen directly by editing the Time Signature Properties 9right click time signature to display). If you are just trying to break one beam, the trick will be to make sure you have the correct voice selected when you apply the beam icon, and that's tricky when they overlap. One solution is to change the itch with arrow keys, apply the beam, then restore the pitch. Another is to select a different voice 2 note then use the left / right arrows to navigate to the desired location.

In reply to by Marc Sabatella

yes, that last trick worked! Now the beams look the same in both voices.

Here is another problem: I set another piece, and when I added the lyrics, everyting went well for the first two lines, but in the last two lines, the text of the lyrics runs into the notes. If I increase the margin below the lyrics so they do not run into the notes in lines 3 and 4, the distances in the first two lines become absurdely large. I attach the .mscz-file so you can see what I mean.

Also, how can I end a score in the middle of a line (see last line)?

I am beginning to become more and more familar, but I keep running into problems...

Attachment Size
C'est_Toi.mscz 28.79 KB

In reply to by ballyt

The problem with the lyrics is that you entered them in voice 2 only for certain measures, and there is a bug where the automatic spacing does not kick in if there are no lyrics in voice 1 for an entire system. Really, all of these lyrics should have been entered in voice 1.

Also, FWIW, the measures with the repeat bars in the middle should have been split using Edit / Measure / Split Measure rather than keeping them 4/4 and using hidden rests. The layout and playback would both be more correct if you did it that way. Or use Measure Propertiers to set the lengths to 2/4 manually, but that's what Split Measure does for you more easily.

To control the length of the last line, best method is usually to append a horizontal frame from the Frames palette, and size it as you wish. You can also play with the last system fill threshold in Style / General / Pagage to suppress the auto-fill (set the threshold to 100%, for example), but it's all or nothing - you might not like the look with no fill at all. BTW< here also you would be better off setting the actual duration of the last measure 2/4 rather than relying on invisible measures and manually placed barlines - that trick will fail you here when the layout changes.

In reply to by Marc Sabatella

Dear Marc, I am very, very thankful for your detailed explanations, which have allowed me to correct almost all the problems, and I learned a lot in the process.

What I could not figure out is how to use the "horizontal frame". When I click on the last measure and add a horizontal frame, then it separates that last measure from the second to last and inserts the frame between the two (see attached screenshot). What I need to to is insert a frame at the end, so it can cover up the lines that are not needed in the last line. How do I have to do that?

Finally, I have another problem: sometimes I need to insert spaces in the lyrics (for example if two words belong to one note, but the words need to be separated by a space, so one can recognize them. Each time I press the spacebar I move to the next note. How can I introduce a space in the lyrics without moving to the next note?

Once again, many thanks!

Attachment Size
Horizontal frame.png 35.87 KB

In reply to by Jojo-Schmitz

Dear Jojo,
actually I just discovered that you fixed the old version of my score where there was (and still is) the problem with the lyrics running into the notes in lines 3 and 4. As it took me quite a while to fix that, I would be very grateful if you could fix the actual version of the score which I will append to this message

Attachment Size
C'est_Toi.mscz 33.12 KB

In reply to by Jojo-Schmitz

Dear Jojo,

what you did is stretch some of the measures so the last line would be better filled.

That is not really a solution to the problem of how one can end a line in the middle, if there are no more measures to add. In the previous version of that score which you corrected ("C'est _Toi_0.mscz") , you managed to put in a horizontal frame, which looks very good.

As I don't know how to handle these horizontal frames, could you do the same with the copy of the score that I attached in my second message (I attach it once more). All I need to do is cover up the lines that are unused at the bottom of the page.

Attachment Size
C'est_Toi.mscz 33.12 KB

In reply to by Jojo-Schmitz

Dear Jojo,

you have made some interesting corrections to my score (e.g. the underlines which indicate that a word is spread over two notes, thanks!).

However, the problem with the last line persists. I have decreased the stretch in the measures on the second line so all the measures look as I want them. Then the last line has only two measures, plus the horizontal frame that you inserted (see attachment). But if I increase the width of this frame, it just pushes the measures on the last line together, but it does not cover the unused lines (the "left gap" and the "right gap" variables have no influence on the shape of the frame).

Is there no way to make a last line end in the middle (or cover up the unused parts of the lines)?

Attachment Size
C'est_Toi_5.mscz 33.65 KB

For forum posts, to avoid confusion, it's usually best practice to number attached scores with different names, e.g. C'est_Toi_1; C'est_Toi_2, etc.

Having said that, maybe you prefer something like this score attachment where the second system is more compressed, like in your earlier post.

See:
https://musescore.org/en/handbook/layout-and-formatting-0#layout-stretch
and
https://musescore.org/en/handbook/breaks-and-spacers

Also, referring to the lyrics running into the notes you wrote: '...it took me quite a while to fix that...'
For a quick fix, instead of re-writing the lyrics into voice 1, you could try:

Staff spacer.png :

Regards.

Attachment Size
C'est_Toi_6.mscz 28.09 KB

In reply to by Jm6stringer

dear jm6stringer, thanks very much for the hint with the staff spacer, I had not known that. It worked very well in the example you gave me, but when I tried to raise the upper part of the system with such an arrow, it did not work (probably there are some limiting conditions which may have prevented this from working, I will have to investigate that).

For the moment I think I have everything more or less under control, but I am sure that new problems will arise as I continue to work

In reply to by ballyt

Yes, I have found it's easy to add space above the lower staff, between it and the lyrics, but seemingly no easy way to add space below the upper staff, between it and the lyrics. The first line of lyrics always seem to me to be too close to the bottom of the upper staff, especially with notes that extend below the staff.

It would be nice if the spacer added to the upper staff worked on the space between that staff and the lyrics, or if you could simply select all the lyrics for a particular staff and drag to offset them, similar to what you can do with chord symbols.

In reply to by dpbrick

Thre "Lyrics upper margin" setting is in Style / General / Page. Or you can change the position of the lyrics themselves via the vertical offset Text Style (right click a lyric, Text Style). These two settings combine to determine the distance of the lyrics below the staff.

Spacers are meant for an entirely different purpose - to change the distance between staves, not to change the distances *within* a staff 9eg, betwee the staff lines and the lyrics).

As for moving lyrics manually, that is easy just as it is for chord symbols. Simply select the elements you wish to move, then use the Inspector to change the vertical and/or horizontal offsets. You can also drag them if you press Ctrl first to prevent the drag operation from being misinterpreted as a click that starts a new selection, and then let go of Ctrl to prevent it from constraining the motion to horizontal only. But this is much less precise than the Inspector, which is itself more work than simply changing the default in the Style setting if you truly want it done throughout the score.

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