Two different time signatures that alternate every other measure

• Aug 22, 2021 - 01:40

The ENTIRE score of a song is written in two alternating time signatures every other measure; a section of the score is attached. Is there a proper way to have Musescore change every other measure to one of two different time signatures, i.e., every other measure has a time signature of 6/8 and the other measures have a 3/4 time signature. Please note that I want only to play this piece as solo piano, omitting the vocal.

Also, what is the benefit of playing the entire song in alternating time signatures (just as this score is originally written) as opposed to playing the entire song in either 6/8 OR 3/4?

Thank you.

Attachment Size
Alernating time signature.pdf 433.5 KB

Comments

"Also, what is the benefit of playing the entire song in alternating time signatures (just as this score is originally written) as opposed to playing the entire song in either 6/8 OR 3/4?"

Well, if you play it in either single time signature, you get the rhythm wrong. It's written like that to make this obvious: the rhythmic pattern of each two bars is an irregular five beats, two further apart and three closer together.

That's when you discover that you can't copy paste time signature in MuseScore and have to introduce all of them manually and wonder : are we really in 2021 or in back in 1983 before the first Mac made copy/paste popular?

In reply to by Jojo-Schmitz

Thank you, all, for your replies. I am sorry but I still do not understand. If I start the entire score in Musescore in 6/8, must I manually and individually change every other measure to 3/4 time or is there a Musescore command to change, for example, every odd numbered measure in one time signature and every even numbered measure in the other time signature? The latter is just an example, I am thinking Musescore would/could do it differently. Thanks again.

In reply to by cadiz1

Well there is a "way".
Create an empty score with 2 measures, one in 6/8 one in 3/4.
Save as "Uncompressed MuseScore 3 File" and close the file.
Open the saved file with any text editor.
Select the two measures (starting from <Measure> up to </Measure>) and happily copy/paste them as many times as you want.
Save
Reopen it from MuseScore and copy/paste your music from the other file in there.
Worth it _ or not _ depending on the number of measures and the number of elements (repeat, lines, ...) that won't be copied in the last step.

If too many elements are not copied in the last step, there is another way ...

Save your 6/8 file in "Uncompressed MuseScore 3 File", open it in any text editor, and add TimeSig elements after the voice elements (alternating between 3/4 & 6/8)

In all these, saving as "Uncompressed" is just done to avoid unzipping the saved file, once you have finished playing with the text editor you can save in normal format again.

In reply to by Megan R

The unorthodox workaround method I described above worked for my purposes. If someone later discovers a command within Musescore to correctly alternate and make visible, throughout a score, time signatures (other than manually) I'd be interested in knowing how!

Thanks again to all!

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