Please fix whole rest alignment

• Oct 18, 2020 - 17:51

If you delete notes from a measure, then change the rests to a whole rest, that whole rest is left-aligned. This also happens if you add a whole rest via right-clicking in note input mode. As far as I know, a whole rest should always be center aligned in an empty measure. It would be appropriate if this were default in MuseScore, rather than having to manually fix it with ctrl+shift+del.

2nd image excerpted from Behind Bars by Elaine Gould, pg. 159.


Comments

In reply to by Jer Roque

The user has the flexibility to decide that for themselves. Even in a 4/4 song, there are times, like candenzas (e.g. cello plays while piano is tacet in a cello sonata), when there are not 4 beats to the measure so a whole and measure rest are two different things.

I guess you could just delete the contents of that measure, using delete rather than backspace, and you clear the meaure and get the centered rest. Having both options like it's currently set up just gives you options. :-)

So to be clear: a "whole rest" is a rest whose length is exactly the same as a whole note (or four quarter notes) and as such is always left-aligned. A measure rest is a rest that takes up the full length of the measure regardless of what that length is and is always centered. MuseScore supports both. if you explicitly enter a whole rest, it is correctly rendered as a whole rest - left-aligned. If however you explicitly enter a measure rest, simply delete the contents of a measure, it is correctly rendered as a measure rest - centered.

Normally measures rests happen automatically - the measure starts that way, and it reutnes to that state when you delete the contents of a measure. But to convert a whole rest or any other sequences of rests that fills a measure into a measure rest explicitly, use Ctrl+Shift+Delete.

So to be clear: everything is exactly as it should be.

In reply to by Marc Sabatella

Ah, that makes sense. I didn't consider how whole rests need to be left-aligned for certain time sigs and other uses.
I still sometimes have the problem of deciding to remove the notes from a measure while keeping other elements, though it's not too much of a hassle to fix it with ctrl+sh+del.

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