Add a bracket which spans two staves

• Apr 24, 2024 - 20:13

I want to add a bracket which spans two staves.

I am following the instructions at:
https://musescore.org/en/handbook/4/brackets

But a single-staff bracket is applied to every staff, and I cannot extend the bracket to the next staff below -- the bracket just snaps back to the single staff it was added to.

These are the two methods I am trying to use, from the above instructions link:

"Adding bracketsTo add a bracket or brace to all systems:

Click on the first measure of the staff where you want the bracket/brace to start, hold Shift and click on the measure where you want the bracket/brace to end. Click the desired bracket icon in the "Brackets" palette.

Alternatively:

Select the start measure, and click the bracket into place from the "Brackets" palette. Select the bracket, click on the adjustment handle and drag it down to the desired position. It will snap into place."

I have just updated my MuseScore to the latest v4.2.1... Can anybody tell me why these methods are not working?


Comments

It is difficult to tell what us going on without seeing the score (the .mscz file) that you are having difficulties with. However, here is a guess:

I suspect you have only one instrument and are trying to make a brace connect two systems. Braces are used to connect multiple staves of one instrumen (e.g. a piano) or of a group of instruments (e.g. 2 x violins, viola and cello in string section) within a system. See https://musescore.org/en/handbook/4/page-layout-concepts for an explanation of what constitutes a system.

If I have guessed incorrectly, come back and attach the score.

In reply to by SteveBlower

Thanks for your help.

I looked at what constitutes a system, and you are correct. I am trying to add a bracket or brace to connect two systems.

These two systems are two lines of 4 measures each and represent an 8-bar section of the music. Is there any way I can bracket these together?

In reply to by rdhtci

Create a score that has two DIFFERENT instruments, for example a trumpet and a violin. Now you will have two staves on each system. The "system" is the two staves that play simultaneously (one note from a violin, another from a trumpet). Each staff is one instrument playing one (or multiple, in some cases) note. You can join the two staves (violin to trumpet), but you cannot (and don't want to) join two systems (measure 4 to measure 16).

If you think you have an exception, attach your score so we can see what you're doing.

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