Lyrics above and below staff
Hello, I'm having a bit of trouble with my score. In certain parts (specifically mm 65-81 and 112-129), I would like to merge the two alto staves into a single staff with two voices. However, they have different rhythms and lyrics, so I was wondering if it was possible to have lyrics above and below the staff. If not, how else would you suggest that I notate this score? Again, any input on the overall layout and even the content of the score would be appreciated.
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
| Fireflies 8.mscz | 46.53 KB |
Comments
The logical way is as you suggest with lyrics above and below the staff.
The only problem is that currently the only way to move a lyric above the stave in MuseScore is to drag it there.
That is fairly easily achieved - CTRL+select the lyrics and then CTRL+drag them into position.
You can now merge the two lines, however I have run into an issue with this which you should know about before you start which I will be reporting: #14395: Lyrics disappear in Voice two on paste
When you paste one lyric into the other line, the lyric for voice two gets nerfed - when I tried it only lyrics on beats 1 and 3 survived, all the others disappeared! This unfortunately means you are going to have to retype them :(
For this reason I suggest you merge Alto 1 into Alto 2, not the other way round.
OTOH you could try using Hide Empty Staves and see how the score looks with the Alto splitting onto two lines where necessary.
HTH
Michael
In reply to The logical way is as you by ChurchOrganist
Thanks for your continuing input! Using the method you suggested, I merged the lines. I was just wondering if you think it's become a bit difficult for the altos to read around m 112 (new version attached).
In reply to Thanks for your continuing by hypehuman
It looks fine to me.
One thing I think that 4.0 is too much for the lower Lyrics margin - IME the default 2.0 is too big, so 4 is way over the top :)
If you want to separate the staves more I should use the Stave setting, or use the Stave Spacer tool in the Palette. Unfortunately this doesn't yet work globally so you have to do it on every system :(