Number after natural sign not interpreted as extension in chord symbol

• Dec 4, 2019 - 21:58
Reported version
3.3
Type
Functional
Frequency
Few
Severity
S4 - Minor
Reproducibility
Always
Status
active
Regression
No
Workaround
No
Project

Style - Chord Symbols
Extension scaling: 0.60
Extension vertical offset: -3.00
Modifier scaling 0.80
Modifier vertical scaling -1.00

seventh chords: b7 / bb7 / b#7 - ok
the "7" is scaling 0.6 and

but bnatural7 - the "7" is not scaling 0.6 - but 0.8

Attachment Size
Chord_Extension.mscz 4.66 KB

Comments

This is because natural signs are not normally ever used in chords symbols in this fashion, so the 7 isn't seen as an extension - it's seen not a "Bnatural 7" but as "B natural7", not that this makes sense either. But the natural sign isn't part of the B, as you'll discover if you try to transpose it - we just don't support natural signs in roots. Someday we may, and if that happens I think the 7 will fix itself.

I am probably not being clear enough, especially for the translation, but let try again.

I am not saying you need to add a space - I was just using a space to try to explain how MuseScore understands that chord. As I said, natural signs are not normally used in chord symbols, so they are confusing to both MuseScore and to human musicians. If a human musician saw this, they wouldn't think you were saying "B natural chord, with a seventh", but instead they would think you were trying to say "B chord, with a natural seventh" - which doesn't make sense either. Natural signs simply do not have meaning in chord symbols, so MuseScore doesn't understand what you mean. If you want to tell someone to play "B natural chord, with a seventh" you either write "B7" for most of the world, or "H7" for people in Germany and elsewhere in Eastern Europe.

Now, I could imagine that some people in Germany who are writing for non-Germans might try to use "Bnatural" as a way of making it clear to readers that they do mean the note Americans call B, and not the notes that Germans call H. Unfortunately, while there might might be some in Germany who do that, others won't understand that any better. So it's best not to use the natural sign at all.

If there are enough requests to support this usage, we could add that feature, but for now, just know what using natural signs causes a chord symbol to unrecognized, just as much as if you had written "B&" or "Belephant".

I came across this in several transcriptions, so this notation is seen 'in the wild' and needed for accurate transcriptions.
Since 3.5 and and its chord symbol playback this is becoming even more important.
It seems that it does transpose BTW, although it leaves that natural in place even when that doesn't make any sense anymore, like Cnatural to C#natural. Or Celefant to C#elefant for that matter ;-)