How do I change playback "voices"?

• Apr 1, 2021 - 09:31

A friend has sent me a piece exported from Sibelius as a *.musicxml file. I can open it in MuseScore ok, but the two "voices" have changed. The tenor voice seems to be an octave lower and the bass voice is playing back as a piano part. How can I edit the file so they both play back as sung voices?

Comments

• Apr 1, 2021 - 13:40

Tenor, on top of (correctly) being notated on an ottava bassa G clef is additionaly transposed down an octave.
It should be one or the other, but not both.
The musixcml file has

    <clef number="1" color="#000000">
     <sign>G</sign>
     <line>2</line>
     <clef-octave-change>-1</clef-octave-change>
    </clef>
 

and

    <transpose>
     <diatonic>0</diatonic>
     <chromatic>0</chromatic>
     <octave-change>-1</octave-change>
    </transpose>
 

so MuseScore is just doing what it's been told, here Sibelius is to blame for creating nonsense.

As far as Bass and it's sound is concerned: the musicxml has

    <instrument-name>Bass (2)</instrument-name>

Changing that to

    <instrument-name>Bass</instrument-name>

and MuseScore gets it right. Not knowing what instrument a "Bass (2)" might be, it just defaults to Piano.
MuseScoe might be more clever here, but Sibelius should not export such things in the first place.

Try the 'fixed' musicxml

Attachment Size
Josquin Agnus Dei 2 voices.musicxml 144.99 KB

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