A Practice Panel / Study Guide concept (hopefully appearing in a Play Panel revision)
Like many others: I'd like to see the MuseScore's Play Panel, revised, debugged and revived in MuseScore4 ... without regressions.
That said, I'm also hoping it will include a robust, versatile, well-designed practicing environment.
Today I scratched out an interface mockup that combines the Play Panel controls with other often requested features, plus some concepts that would prove useful to practicing musicians, students, and music teachers who want to design study guides for students.
Please let me know what you think!
Please see the UPDATED Practice Panel mockup design below!
Request appended to a previous and very similar request on Github
Related posts:
https://musescore.org/en/node/329781
https://musescore.org/en/node/318909
https://musescore.org/en/node/326255
https://musescore.org/en/node/358860
scorster
Comments
I like it !
All this makes a lot of sense to me !
I've revised my mockup of a Practice Panel for MuseScore. It has all the features of MuseScore 3's Play Panel—which is currently hobbled in MuseScore Studio 4.3's Playback Pane.
It would be wonderful to see MuseScore Studio take strides in the direction of music education by adding a tool like this for students and practicing musicians to use for self-guided study, and so students and music teachers can design study guides for particular scores.
Please post feedback on:
a) your level of interest regarding such a tool
b) the overall concept, as illustrated in the attached image
c) the various features
d) the layout of the controls
e) any features you'd want added
Maybe we'll see such an advancement someday!
In reply to I've revised my mockup of a… by scorster
This is the same image but with documentation added.
In reply to This is the same image but… by scorster
Here's another revision of the Practice Panel's upper sections. Reorganized, and with new label terminology like PrePlay ... and a couple of new features like:
• Shift loop (forward or backwards) by loop length
• the option to invoke PrePlay before automatic tempo changes
In reply to Another revision of the… by scorster
I don't undertand what the three shift loop options are supposed to do.
The other parts of your suggestions seem clear though (and useful, great ideas)
In reply to I don't undertand what the… by frfancha
Thanks for the inquiry.
@frfrancha asked
>> I don't understand what the three shift loop options are supposed to do.
Perhaps the Shift Loop controls are confusing. The triangular arrows ◀︎ & ▶︎ look like "spinner buttons" for setting the value in the adjacent field, but actually they are buttons for invoking a Loop Shift.
There are three Loop Shift options:
Shift Loop by loop length (i.e. a leap frog function)
If you have and existing loop, for instance Measures 5 to 8:
pressing the ◀︎ arrow located to the left of loop length in the Practice Panel shifts the loop by its own length "backwards" in the score, changing the current loop to Measures 1 to 4.
pressing the button ▶︎ located to the right of loop length in the Practice Panel changes the current loop from Measures 5 to 8 to Measures 9 to 12.
This option is available:
a) if you have a selection in the score (and Synchronize loop flats and selection checked in the Practice Panel. Note that MS3.6's Play Panel had the bad habit of letting the flags get out of sync with the selection. I can see selection and flags operating independently, but then once shouldn't affect the other in unseen ways.
b) if you have a starting and end flag set.
Shift Loop by bar(s)
This shifts the loop shifts forward or backwards by x measures. As before the ◀︎ & ▶︎arrows invoke the loop shift.
if you have a loop set to Measure 5 pressing the ◀︎ button sets the loop to Measure 4 and updating the Loop field values accordingly. The Loop fields update to 4.1 and 5.1. Press the ▶︎ and the loop is back to measure 5 and the Loop fields update to 5.1 and 6.1.
If you have a loop set to Measure 9 to 12, the ▶︎ "by bar" button sets the loop to 10 to 13.
Shift Loop by note value
The third option shifts the current loop by your choice of a note value. The default value is a quarter note—and there are up/down spinners for selecting other note values.
Do these descriptions help to clarify The Shift Loop By options?
scorster
a) your level of interest regarding such a tool
As a drum teacher, I see a lot of use in such a tool in MuseScore. Thank you for your work.
b) the overall concept, as illustrated in the attached image
c) the various features
d) the layout of the controls
e) any features you'd like to see added
For me, the panel is far too cluttered and it could probably be made to be easier to understand. I'm sure if MuseScore's design people were to revise the concept, they'd find ways to make it more user friendly.
In reply to a) your level of interest… by RobFog
@RobFog wrote:
>> I see a lot of use in such a tool in MuseScore. Thank you for your work.
Thanks for your support on this.
>> the panel is far too cluttered and it could probably be made to be easier to understand
Simpler is better! I'm not attached to any matters here. My goal is to foster some interest, outline some features, and garner creative and refining input.
That said, there are a LOT of possible approaches in an effective practice session, so it follow that an automatic or semi-automatic practice guide would have lots of options. And as point out, if not well organized that leaves a confusing clutter. I'll continue to refine as I imagine and mull the project.
I welcome suggestions and criticism from anyone, especially those with UI/UX experience.
Your comments are appreciated!
scorster
In reply to @RobFog wrote: >> I see a… by scorster
Definitely a good idea!!! It's basically how I most use MuS ... simplified.
However, I would say that the Select Loops by Name idea is probably unworkable. It's fine when you have a 16-measure score, but think how long it's going to be when you have a 200-measure score!
Your Loop selection could include that. A way to select section X (presumably determined by Rehearsal Marks) or section X to section Y. Once those sections are selected the Measure number drop-down would list only the measure numbers in section X or sections X and Y. If no section is selected, the Measure number dropdown would include all measures.
I foresee another difficulty: a practicing musician would probably want to select from the "score measure numbers" (that is, the measure numbers displayed on some/all measures) rather than the "MuseScore internal measure numbers" (that is, the measure numbers displayed in the status bar [?] at bottom left). These are often not the same.
But a very good idea!!! If I were programmer enough, I'd start writing code for it.
In reply to Definitely a good idea!!! It… by TheHutch
@ TheHutch wrote
>> the Select Loops by Name idea is probably unworkable. It's fine when you have a 16-measure score, but think how long it's going to be when you have a 200-measure score!
Well ... if you have two 100 bar phrases, you can name them First Hundred Bars and the Second Hundred Bars. So I don't see any hard limitation. It's up to the discretion and creativity of the person designing the study guide.
I like your idea of selecting by rehearsal marks!
I'll watch for the issue of measure numbers displayed on some/all measures vs. the "MuseScore internal measure numbers" (that is, the measure numbers displayed in the status bar
Glad you're interested the overall Practice Panel concept!
In reply to @ TheHutch wrote >> the… by scorster
thanks
In reply to @ TheHutch wrote >> the… by scorster
Oh, from your example, I thought that the tool was generating them automagically. You would have the user define "named sections", other than just Rehearsal Marks, I see. Yeah, that makes sense then.
I think I would do it with a dialog that had multiple "tabs". Each tab has a different element on it, so that each tab is not so densely packed with info. One tab has looping controls; another has the list of "named sections" and the ability to add/remove those names; etc.
In reply to Oh, from your example, I… by TheHutch
@theHutch wrote (paraphrased):
I see. You would have the user define "named sections." Yeah, that makes sense. From your example, I thought that the tool was generating them automagically.
Correct. My idea is to allow any user to create "named loops." Then anyone using the study guide can select those loops by name. Glad that makes sense to you. Do you personally have interest in such a practice/looping tool?
I concur that my UI is densely packed, but then so is MuseScore 4's Properties panel, and even more so MS3's Inspector panel, which IMHO is quicker to use and far easier to navigate than MS4's Property panel.
And yes, there is almost always room for design improvement. And while I can see that Tabs would make the dialog's initial impact less imposing, that comes at the cost of many features being an additional click away ... and the loss of seeing all settings at once.
Please feel free to post images that represent your visions for the proposal.
Thanks for your interest and comments!
scorster