Locking a completed score
I use Musescore as a practice aid. I imagine many people do. one problem i encounter is accidentally bumping notes out of position when I'm doing things like setting up repeats. i have made a few handbook searches but there doesn't seem to be an obvious method set down. Is there, perhaps, a way of saving a version of a piece that sets it in stone, as it were. Naturally one would also keep a editable version for further work.
I suspect that uploading the piece to Musescore and downloading that version in another platform may do what I'm looking for but I could then run into copyright problems.
I'm surprised that this doesn't appear to be a feature of the Musescore program. Mind, I am relying on the free version.
Good on you all.
Peter
Comments
There is no such thing as a nonfree version. You can save to a (different) folder and burn a CD (with scores in various exportable formats).
See also, for some ideas: https://musescore.org/en/node/278248
Uploads to musescore.com would never create copyright issues if you keep it private.
Locking scores has been discussed time and time again, it hasn't been implemented yet though. For local files just remove the write permissions using whatever your OS has to offer for this, usually via right click, file properties, permissions
Yes I agree I keep changing things by mistake. Especially if I am scrolling through to a different page.
In reply to Yes I agree I keep changing… by citizenz
Are you perhaps not actually scrolling but dragging the page? This would indeed be dangerous, as well as extremely inefficient. But if you use the actual scroll wheel on your mouse (or equivalent touch gesture - eg, two-finger swipe), you shouldn't find yourself accidentally making changes often, plus it's much easier and faster.
In reply to Are you perhaps not actually… by Marc Sabatella
There are times when the score suddenly jumps to an inconvenient spot on the screen. the scrollong wheel will move it back up and down but to move sideways the only way I know is to click on the page and drag it around. Yes, most problematic. Which is why I'd like to lock the score.
Good on you
Peter
In reply to There are times when the… by AnniesPete
Shift+scroll wheel scrolls horizontally, in MuseScore as in most other apps that have horizontal scrolling. There is also View / Navigator, plus the PgDn keys. Dragging the canvas should never be needed for ordinary scrolling around,
In reply to Are you perhaps not actually… by Marc Sabatella
Hi Marc,
Scrolling with the fingers on the touch pad is slower than dragging, not faster.
In reply to Hi Marc, Scrolling with the… by frfancha
??? I can get from one end of a 20 page score to the other in a matter of seconds. I can't imagine accomplishing the same in much under a minute.
In reply to ??? I can get from one end… by Marc Sabatella
With trackpad or mouse wheel?
In reply to With trackpad or mouse wheel? by frfancha
With a single key stroke, End and back with Home
In reply to With a single key stroke,… by Jojo-Schmitz
?? I know that, that is not the subject.
The subject is that using trackpad doesn't work very well and that's why users without mouse (like Peter or I) use drag movement.
See also: https://musescore.org/en/comment/818016#comment-818016
In reply to ?? I know that, that is not… by frfancha
I fail to understand the sense in which dragging the score could ever work better then a touchpad or mosue wheel. Is your hardware faulty?
In reply to With trackpad or mouse wheel? by frfancha
Touchpad (same as trackpad?). It's trivially easy to scroll as fast or as far as you want, compared to laboriously clicking someone on the score (being careful not to click an element!), dragging it a screen width, moving the mouse to the other side side of the screen, repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat, twenty times - of course you'd be quite likely to accidentally move something.
I suspect you are talking about something else entirely - not dragging the score, but using actual scroll bars, which of course we don't have. That's not what this was about, though. I was simply comparing dragging the score using MuseScore as is against scrolling it with a mouse wheel / touchpad.
In reply to Are you perhaps not actually… by Marc Sabatella
That’s assuming one has a scroll wheel or multi-touch touchpad.
My laptop only has the Thinkpad nipple; I actively chose the model to NOT have a touchpad because I make accidental things with those far too often.
So I have to mostly rely on dragging. Home/End only works half of the time, and Ctrl-F only works when I remember an approximate measure number to jump to.
In reply to That’s assuming one has a… by mirabilos
Indeed, the old-style Thinkpad pointing device is the only one I can think of that doesn't provide a scroll wheel mechanism. I suspect it has around 0.1% market share, which is probably why OS vendors haven't bothered to design a scroll gesture for it even though it seems it should be perfectly possible in theory.
Still, PgUp/PgDn/Home/End should work just fine, not sure what you mean about only working half the time. Maybe you are Home when you should really be using Ctrl+Home? If you attach a sample score and steps to reproduce, we can investigate. Also, for Ctrl+F, remember you can also just to rehearsal marks and page numbers. And there is also the Navigator. So overall, while dragging the score might be slightly more useful for the small percentage of devices without a built-in scroll gesture, it's far from the only option in most cases.
In any case, if the concern is the danger of accidentally changing things, the advice stands. It's a bit ironic to have chosen the one type of device that lacks a scroll gesture if the concern was the danger of accidental change, but anyhow, the other methods suggested above are definitely still the solution.
Could you explain what you mean about setting up repeats, that often results in accidentally bumping notes out of position?
Also, instead of using the Msuescore editor program for practice purposes, maybe it would be better to use the actual app designed more for that purpose (the mobile apps for iOS and Android).
In reply to Could you explain what you… by Marc Sabatella
Hello Marc. I do use Musescore for my own bit of writing but my main use for it is as a practice aid. I am not a very talented musician so by inputting a work it helps me familiarise myself with it, I can hear the tune and, importantly for me, hear the timing. When I practice I can start by setting the playback speed very slow and follow the cursor as it moves across the screen. The biggest advantage of this, for me, is that when I stumble across difficult notes I am not allowed to stop and correct myself. I found in the past that stopping for the stumble merely helped me to learn the mistake,
when I need to give a particular passage special attention I set up the "loop playback" of the play panel. (this is what I meant by "setting up a repeat")
There may well be other practice apps but musescore does it for me. Recently I was invited to join a small guitar ensemble. With musescore I can enter all the parts so that I can hear what the full piece sounds like or separate out individual parts to work with. when one isn't a great sight reader it is an invaluable tool to have.
However it would be handy if I could set a lock on a score so it doesn't get modified accidentally.
Good on you
Peter
In reply to Hello Marc. I do use… by AnniesPete
Regarding musescore as a practice aid; I set up my scales on it. Two octaves goes nicely into seven measures. Set up the loop playback properly and It is relentless.
"one problem i encounter is accidentally bumping notes out of position when I'm doing things like setting up repeats." - Some remedies:
create a copy and practice on that one - accidental changes won't hurt: just create a new copy from the original
close + discard changes - so your file remains as it was
become a little bit more aware of what your fingers are doing :)
Best, Michael
Hi Peter,
In Windows (I don't know if the possibilities for Mac or Linux), you can right click your file and select the check box 'read only'.
It won't prevent you from accidentally change the file in MuseScore, but at least saving your change and loosing the original will be stopped.
In reply to Hi Peter, In Windows (I don… by frfancha
Which is what I proposed in the very 1st reply ;-)
In reply to Which is what I proposed in… by Jojo-Schmitz
True.
Except that you were speaking of permissions while the simple read only flag is easier to use.
In reply to True. Except that you were… by frfancha
Ah, yes, very true. It is a Windows only thing though, permissions work across all platforms
A solution would be to have a lock that cannot be made immutable. That way, anyone would always be able to unlock the score (perhaps at their own peril), but it would at least prevent those annoying accidental note drags when practicing! We are harmony singers who use MuseScore to practice our parts. MuseScore is fabulous for that purpose!
In reply to A solution would be to have… by DaleJS
MuseScore has a lock feature that is only usable with a shortcut. I'm not sure if it's predefined or not, my highly edited shorcuts don't include one. There is an issue about dragging the mouse unlocking scores at #311604: Locked score unlocks by mouse interactions. The MuseScore lock mechanism was designed to prevent accidental edits as you suggest.
In reply to MuseScore has a lock feature… by mike320
The shortcut lock was good to learn about, thanks for the post.
However, when I engage it, it disables playback. I'm not sure if that's the intended behavior, or if my configuration needs more work. Like the OP, I use the program as a practice aid, and it would be great to be able to quickly lock down the notes and practice, and just as quick hop back into edit mode if I want to change the tempo or I discover a mistake in my work, etc.