Removing unnecessary Accidentals
Hi, I have a score in Bb Major that has somehow ended up with all the bb & Eb's having accidentals on them as well as the key signature. How can I easily remove all of these. I have tried transposing in unison, removing the key signature to C Major and putting it back again, re-spelling notes (that made it worse) to no avail. I saw something in a post about right clickcing on one and selecting more, but more did not come up in that list when I used the application key. please keep in mind with any responses that i am a blind user who can't use the mouse, keyboard only.
I'd also love to know how this happened so i can avoid it happening again?
Comments
Please share the score
In reply to Please share the score by Jojo-Schmitz
OK, here it is
In reply to OK, here it is by jeaniewillis
Have you tried the “Remove courtesy accidentals” plugin? This works for me (using MuseScore 4).
In reply to Have you tried the “Remove… by Malte_M
Hi, I'm not sure how to use the plug-ins. When I went to that menu it just said manage. I think I have searched for the right one "remove courtesy accidentals" and enabled it. Now under the plug-in menu I have composition tools and it opens to that name, but how do I use it?
In reply to Hi, I'm not sure how to use… by jeaniewillis
Oh, actually i think it has done it. I forgot it still reads as Eb of course because it is in the key signature, but the word accidental is no longer being spoken after each, so I think they have gone! thanks for your help.
In reply to OK, here it is by jeaniewillis
I've transposed to C-Major, relobad all naturals (right click one, More, Same subtype, OK, Del) and transposed back to B-Major
In reply to I've transposed to C-Major,… by Jojo-Schmitz
Be careful!
Have a look on measure 6. The original has Db/E - Eb - Db/E.
In your correction the middle Eb is now an E!
But I found no solution for the problem.
In reply to Be careful! Have a look on… by HildeK
> But I found no solution for the problem.
I have found a way:
In reply to > But I found no solution… by HildeK
Remember the OP can't use a mouse.
In reply to Remember the OP can't use a… by bobjp
Oh, thank you, @bobjp! Obviously I didn't read to the end. My apologies, @jeaniewillis.
Fortunately, I found a much simpler solution:
Press Ctrl-A to select all. Then arrow key up and down (or down and up). That's all.
In reply to Oh, thank you, @bobjp!… by HildeK
Thanks, I will play around more in the future with how to select notes with the keyboard. But that select all and moving all up and down 1 is simple genius. There had to be an easy way to make it rethink about this taking the key sig into account. In this instance the plug-in for removing courtesy accidentals had already worked. But this is great info for quicker future use. Appreciate everyone's time and help with this.
In reply to Thanks, I will play around… by jeaniewillis
The downside of the up/down method is that it will also respell any "real" accidentals - ones that aren't just duplicating the key signature - as flats. Down/up will respell any accidentals as sharps. Neither will be correct. The F# you have in bar 4 actually should be Gb harmonically speaking, but the one in bar 5 really is supposed to F#, and so on.
But I too I am wondering how the score got into this state to begin with, though. Did you enter the notes myself? My guess is maybe you typed "minus B" to enter the B flats, when really you have simply typed "B". MuseScore applies the key signature automatically when entering pitches, but if you do give it an explicit command to add a flat, it will take you literally - so you can enter courtesy accidentals when you want.
In reply to The downside of the up/down… by Marc Sabatella
Thanks Mark, I used the plug-in to remove courtesy accidentals, so hopefully it didn't do this. I appreciate the heads up to go check them all though as I had just played it and it sounded correct, so will add this to my check list before giving to students. This is in G minor, so I would definitely want to see F#'s not Gb, however, these junior students don't know about double flats yet, so would respell those.
This file and thousands like it have come from 25 plus years of teaching resources I have created first on Encore, then some on Finale & Sibelius. Many have had multiple import/exports to get them through to something that could save an xml, so many may have strange errors like this. But at least I have access to the notes and will soon once I've re-entered fingering, pedal marks, etc have a lovely score I can print for my students as my old copies in my files are getting rather tatty and then I can export to Braille and start a new folder with those.
In reply to Thanks Mark, I used the plug… by jeaniewillis
Understood about the import/export process being a likely cause.
As for the F#, yes, in general you do indeed want F# in G minor since normally it's functioning as the leading tone. But in bar 4, it's not functioning as a leading tone at all - it's a third of the Eb minor chord. Thus it needs to be spelled Gb in order to be understood properly and more easily read. The spelling definitely matters for sighted musicians because it is important a triad look like a triad in terms of the spacing of the notes (line-line-line or space-space-space when in root position, etc). As it is, the spelling makes it look like a second instead of a third and will be harder to recognize and hence read as a result.
In reply to Understood about the import… by Marc Sabatella
smile, we could debate the theory on that one for days! But I agree for a young student this would look better as a 3rd. Another thing I am not picking up listening to notes read out. It is quite hard shifting from seeing the score to hearing it read. Just practice I guess and learning to visualise the print, the live Braille may show this up also as it would have said 2nd not 3rd. I'll check back over this note by note.
In reply to smile, we could debate the… by jeaniewillis
There is not really any debate here.
Writting a Eb chord using F# instead of Gb makes it difficult to read/feel/play for no reason, not only for a young student but for any musician.
In reply to Understood about the import… by Marc Sabatella
Yes, you are right, I had not paid attention to that.
As far as I understood my music teacher, strictly speaking, the pitch of a Gb and an F# is also slightly different. However, this is not feasible for a piano player, but it is for a good wind musician with a very good ear. I have heard that with high-quality electric pianos it is possible to set whether I want to play in a sharp or a flat key and then this difference is present.