Pasting notes puts them in the wrong lines in the stave

• Nov 28, 2024 - 15:09

Hi,

I need to copy some notes from one .mscz file to another. The parts in both files are Acoustic Guitar but when I paste the notes are put on the wrong lines. Is there a way to just paste the notes so they occupy the same stave lines in the destination as they did in the source ? If not, what ?

Thanks,

Comments

• Nov 29, 2024 - 21:04

As far as I can tell the guitars are tuned the same. I have not altered the tuning for either part.

I've attached the files and a jpg of the selection I am copying. The jpg shows the copy right after it happens, with the source section (window on the right of pic) and destination section (window on the left of pic) both still highlighted but the musescore files are snapshotted from before the copy/paste. Source musescore file is "p2a.mscz" and destination musescore file is "You Got It.mscz"

Attachment Size
copy_r2l.jpg 345.27 KB
p2a.mscz 17.32 KB
You Got It.mscz 21.27 KB

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• Nov 29, 2024 - 22:53

"So why has it put that under my new score ? And how do I get rid of it ?"

For the record, by default, MuseScore assigns the treble clef 8va for the guitar when you create a new score (as you have done). But displaying (choose to display) the common treble clef is also possible, and is surely now in the majority (even the vast majority) of use cases in the world of guitar score editing.

Let's say it's a matter of personal preference, and the default choice of softwares (Finale and Musescore adopt the treble clef 8va, Sibelius and Dorico the common treble clef).

To achieve that at this step of your scores, change the default instrument (via Properties panel or Staff/Part Properties) to the treble clef instrument - image below. You need to do this with the destination file, but also with the "p2a" file, because even if the treble clef is displayed, it's an XML source file, and MuseScore needs this file to be correctly configured.
Once you've done all this, you have two working files with treble clefs:
3p2a.mscz
1You Got It.mscz

acoustic guitar.jpg

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• Nov 30, 2024 - 09:53

Gosh, that's a nuisance! I'm trying to transcribe a score from a scanned pdf for my own use and need to open a bunch of .mxl files in musescore and copy their contents to specific places in my new .mscz file. Whenever I convert the instrument type from Acoustic Guitar to Acoustic Guitar (treble clef) it converts the scored notes an octave higher so I have to down-shift them.

Is it possible to change the default settings in Musescore somehow so that pasting from a score created by opening a .mxl file does not change the displayed note values ?

Thanks to all for your help,

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• Nov 30, 2024 - 10:05

"Is it possible to change the default settings in Musescore somehow so that pasting from a score created by opening a .mxl file does not change the displayed note values ?"
No, not that I know of.
"so I have to down-shift them."
Is this really a nuisance? You select everything (Ctrl/Cmd + A) and then do Ctrl/Cmd + down arrow. Honestly, it takes two seconds, one to select everything, and the other to change octave.
Two seconds for a file you're going to spend dozens of minutes editing, or an hour or more, that's plenty of time to relativize :)

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• Nov 30, 2024 - 12:34

"Is this really a nuisance? You select everything (Ctrl/Cmd + A) and then do Ctrl/Cmd + down arrow. Honestly, it takes two seconds, one to select everything, and the other to change octave."

With all due respect, I think you are minimising the issue here: The issue is not that it is difficult to change the octave, the issue is that if a user copies a selection from one part for a guitar to another part for guitar, the notes should end up in the same place on the stave ? It has taken me several days to find out the solution to a problem that should not exist and that fact in itself says a lot.

There is no obvious way to find out that changes the octave of selected notes, you have to already know that.

"Two seconds for a file you're going to spend dozens of minutes editing, or an hour or more, that's plenty of time to relativize :)"

I do not intend to spend hours editing the Musescore file I am using Musescore just to get a useable print of a score I want to learn, I thought it would be trivial to do, and it should be.

I am genuinely very grateful to everyone who works on this software, and especially to everyong who has helped me on these forums, but honestly the useability of Musescore is very lacking, I find. Speaking as a naieve and occassional user.

Thanks again, and again, apologies for the remarks I made about useability but truthfullyI think Musescore needs to change in the user-interface to make it viable for non-experts to use. I think I will post another thread on this aspect later,

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• Nov 30, 2024 - 13:23

"the issue is that if a user copies a selection from one part for a guitar to another part for guitar, the notes should end up in the same place on the stave ? It has taken me several days to find out the solution to a problem that should not exist and that fact in itself says a lot."

You have to understand that the guitar admits not 1, but 2 clefs (either treble clef or treble clef 8va), according to the preferences of composers and publishers. You've got nothing to do with it, I've got nothing to do with it. It's a very long, long story. The problem doesn't arise with a piano, it arises with a guitar, you just have to know it and deal with it.

Next, you don't say which clef you prefer: Treble clef or treble clef 8va?
If the file is XML-sourced, this may or may not complicate things. I don't have a specific example to hand.

But it's quite possible (I haven't checked this point though) that if the file was exported with Finale in XML format, it will come with the treble clef 8va , and if it was exported with Sibelius, with the treble clef.
In short, I'm afraid there's no magic formula and you'll have to get used to the idea of adapting to the imported files. Once you get the hang of it, it will become second nature :)

Do you have any other file examples (XML source, etc.) to share?

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• Dec 3, 2024 - 11:31

'The instrument has already been changed to guitar and then changing the clef on the source also changes the displayed pitches !"
1. You didn't answer a previous question: which clef are you talking about (which do you prefer), the usual treble clef or the treble clef 8va? When we know this:
2. Attach another score (imported I guess) and we'll show you how to achieve the wished result.

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