Chord symbol display style vs. font
In writing large jazz ensemble scores, I generally want to avoid the leadsheet-style "handwritten" look, but also need to include chord symbols for the rhythm section.
I have to format the chords with the superscript, slashes, etc. of the "Jazz" style, but it looks a little odd to have the chord symbols "handwritten" when nothing else is.
Is there any way to display the parsed chord symbol styling using one of the other 3 fonts, or is it tied specifically to those glyphs?
Comments
The Jazz chord symbol style is tied to the MuseJazz font
Read the discussion here:
https://musescore.org/en/node/298614
and get a downloadable chord symbols file here:
https://musescore.org/en/node/298614#comment-1071408
In reply to Read the discussion here:… by Jm6stringer
Cool, thanks! Do you know if it handles non-superscript scenarios (like slash bass)?
In reply to Cool, thanks! Do you know if… by abnyc
Looks like slash bass is slightly subscripted:
![chord.png]( "chord.png")
You don't need any special custom XMl file for this - just go to Format / Style / Chord Symbols and set the superscript options there. You have independent control for offset and size of extensions and modifiers.
In reply to You don't need any special… by Marc Sabatella
Even better, Marc, thanks!
In this post that I referenced earlier:
https://musescore.org/en/node/298614
snarke does mention the Format..-->Style-->Chord Symbols, with the "Extension scaling/vertical offset" and "Modifier scaling/vertical offset" settings. Use that if it meets your needs.
He also wrote:
Actually, I would be [happy] too if only the Jazz style didn't have the faux handwritten look.
Similarly, you wrote:
...it looks a little odd to have the chord symbols "handwritten" when nothing else is.
OK, so basically the same request, and what follows is about personal preferences...
Snarke contrasts his chords_sup.xml to using the built-in Format..-->Style-->Chord Symbols scaling and offset settings. The differences mainly have to do with his preference(s) regarding scaling and superscripting compared to MuseScore's (limited) formatting controls:
![chord_display_style.png]( "chord_display_style.png")
To observe first hand, experiment with applying scaling and offset in Format..-->Style-->Chord Symbols to, for instance, a sus4 chord.
Again, this is about personal preferences, so choose what works for you.
In reply to In his post that I… by Jm6stringer
Indeed, there are multiple approaches possible. I just wanted to emphasize that the approach of using custom XML files shouldn't be considered the first thing to try, as seemed to have been assumed -0 it's kind of a last resort if you can't the results you want using the supported methods, and you're OK with the greater technical skills required to make use of the XML approach, and you're OK with the fact that it may well break in future releases as we revamp how chord symbol rendering works. So I do think it important to first exhaust the normal possibilities first.