Ties span selections

• Nov 28, 2022 - 13:30

When I select a group of notes, say a half measure with 2 voices, and select the 'tie' button, ties are made note only within the notes in the selection but they continue on to notes in following measures outside the selection. It seems like the ties should be constrained to the selected range.


Comments

The tie command will generate a tie for each note in the selection to the next note in the same staff with the same pitch. The latter is indeed not restricted to the selection range.

In reply to by johnllacroix

It's a great feature for creating things like, an arpeggio where each note then ties to the corresponding note in a following chord (common in piano and guitar music).

Meanwhile, since selecting a single note is easier than selecting, it's a win for both cases. Normal ties can be entered more easily than if you needed to select a range; the special ties are also simple.

Note also that normally you'd enter ties right away as part of note input. Entering both notes first then adding the tie separately is extra work that is rarely necessary. Basically, only for special cases like that arpeggio example, or ties between different voices or into tuplets.

In reply to by johnllacroix

I'm confused though - why are you not simply entering the ties while entering notes? Entering the notes and then going b ack and adding ties is twice as much work as you need to do. Entering notes, adding more ties than you need, then deleting the ones you don't need, is three times as much work. Somehow, I thin there is a misunderstanding here about how ties work in MuseScore. If you attach your score and describe in more detail how you are getting into this situation, we can show you how it's supposed to work. Do be sure to read to the Handbook section on ties, though - maybe that will prove enlightening.

In reply to by Marc Sabatella

Well...I'm kind of new at this composing thing. So, for example I'm working on theme and variations. So as I start working forward with variations, I might be developing the base as I go starting from a couple of measures that cut and pasted from what I previously wrote. I might have to add ties after adding a second voice (say for the base), or I might find a previous mistake where say I substitute a rest for a note and tie it to a previous note.
I have been hitting the google regularly as questions come up :) Attached is my current project.

Attachment Size
Em - Opus 3.mscz 40.37 KB

In reply to by johnllacroix

I definitely see a lot of ties here, although the majority of them really should just dots - a quarter tied to an eighth should not be needed in 3/4 time. And I think your piece is actually in 6/8, not 3/4, based on how it sounds, which would definitely mean, dotted quarters, no ties needed at all really. Anyhow, even if you do decide to keep all these ties, it's still why you'd add the notes then first then go back and add the tie. Have you read the Handbook section on ties yet to understand how easily they can be added while still in note mode?

In reply to by Marc Sabatella

"I definitely see a lot of ties here, although the majority of them really should just dots"
In guitar music, you often see ties in the bass like this instead of dotted notes. When the thumb is playing bass notes the tie sort of indicates the ringing duration better than a dot. I have been working on my composing with my guitar teacher, so he has been giving me tips on conventions.

I'm going to be putting the whole piece in 4/4. I had the first 2 measures in 3/4 because it 'sounded right' when played, but everything else could just be 4/4, so I'm going to go that route.

" it's still why you'd add the notes then first then go back and add the tie"

Like I said, I'm new at this and not completely fluent with the software, and second, I don't always express in the score what I want during the first pass so I have to go back and edit.

I have not read the handbook, though I might. I just read enough to get started. My main goals are compositions and musicianship and not becoming a musecore expert.

In reply to by johnllacroix

I think you might be misunderstanding why you are seeing ties in the music you have seen. There really are not any exceptions to the normal rules of notation of rhythm that apply only to guitar bass notes. But, maybe this is a special convention used by some particular publishers that I am not familiar with. Can you attach an excerpt?

First measures are definitely 6/8 when you listen. It will sound the same as 3/4 when played by a computer, yes, but it doesn't read right - the breaks in the beams are in the wrong places to indicate the actual phrasing of the music. [ EDIT: and learning about the correct way to represent meter and rhythms is definitely an important part of learning about composition and musicianship - whether writing by hand or using MsueScore or any other program ]

Anyhow, definitely understood that in the beginning you might find yourself needing to add ties later from time to time. But nothing about these particular cases seem like that should have been the case, which is why I was wondering if you had learned how to enter ties during note input yet. It's as simple as pressing the tie button instead of enter the second note. So if you managed to enter the second note - by clicking or typing - that exactly the point at which you could have simply hit the tie button instead, which would have added the note and tied it in one operation.

In reply to by bobjp

"My main goals are compositions and musicianship and not becoming a musecore expert."
Except that to compose anything, you need to learn the most that you can about the tools you are using. Would you try to build a house using just a hammer? MuseScore has all the tools you need to build that "house".

In reply to by bobjp

"...to compose anything, you need to learn the most that you can about the tools you are using"

I'm pretty sure the art of composition predates the tools we have now by many centuries. The real tools hear are knowledge of harmony, counterpoint, etc. Software programs are the pencil and paper part, and if there are fancy software programs that are helping with the actual 'composition' I would start to wonder who the real composer is, the user of the tool or the person who wrote it?

I also build classical guitars. I use mostly 17th century methods to do so, and I know many luthiers that do the same. CNC tools could also be used - but would they actually make a better instrument? Maybe, maybe not. Automation provides the ability to produce both good and bad stuff faster.

If I was aiming to be a professional composer, it would be worth it to become fluent in the tool. But for me as an amateur, that would be a detraction. I'm only learning the bear minimum to do the part that I enjoy. I probably could have this same discussion with the folks at PreSonus, but with that only only learn what I have to be able to record and mix tracks.

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