Is there a way to implement different preferences for hiding empty staves within first system for different sections/movements of a piece?
I'm working on a four-movement SATB work in one file with movements split up by section breaks in MuseScore. The first movement is a solo for alto, while all other movements are for full SATB choir, but no movement begins with all four voices in the first system. Ideally, I would like for the first movement to show only the alto staff for all systems, including the first. I would also like for the subsequent movements to show all four SATB staves in the first system, and to hide empty staves afterwards. Toggling the "Hide empty staves within systems" and "Don't hide empty staves in first system" checkboxes in the Style dialogue doesn't seem to yield an option that provides what I want for all sections of the piece. Does anybody have a clever workaround?
Comments
Use text that is either white (the color of the paper) or has the alpha (I think it's called opacity on Mac) in the color selector set to 0. Put this in a measure on the system you do not want hidden and the staff will no longer be hidden. I have this in a palette with the staff drawn on the item so it won't be a blank cell. You can then apply the text to several staves at once as with other palette items.
In reply to Use text that is either… by mike320
This did the trick, thank you!
Open question: should this happen automatically? I'm inclined to say yes, except then there would be no way to disable it. So maybe, it should be a new option you can add to a section break, like whether to restart measure number or use long instrument names?
In reply to Open question: should this… by Marc Sabatella
I think the issue is that sections or movements may have different instruments. In the current score structure you must have all instruments in all sections. The best way to make only certain instruments visible is currently to put non invisible (i.e. white or transparent text) on a measure to prevent the system from being hidden. Perhaps when the new album feature is added, hopefully in 4.0, this will change and only the instruments for the movement/section will be shown on the first system.
There is a request at #313596: New Item: Part Visibility Toggler for an item to be included in the palettes. It's presence there would make it far more discoverable than the current workaround.