Adding a 'dot' to an upbeat
Hi,
I'm trying to add a dot to an upbeat (and therefore a cut to the beat note) without the next note group being affected. I'm sure there's probably a simple solution but it's driving me completely insane! I've had some pretty serious rage quits over this!
I'm trying to write bagpipe scores, which are read and thought of a little differently from, well, most other music scores.
The goal is to keep the note groups together with the correct "dotting and cutting". The groups generally shouldn't use much else other than beamed quavers and semi quavers and should pretty well stay within their own bars so our tiny piper minds don't over load.
Anyway, I'm off to rage quit again.
Thanks!
Comments
An added dot will always affect the next note (or rest) in the same Voice. If you don't wish this, use a second voice for the upbeats:
https://musescore.org/en/handbook/voices
It isn't totally clear what you mean here. First, you wouldn't normally add a dot to an existing note - the dot is part of the duration, normally selected as such *before* entering the note. But if for some reason you do change your mind and decide to add a dot to a note later, it doesn't make musical sense to do this without affecting the next note in any way. I mean, there is no physical way to do this. Either the next note needs to be made shorter, or else it needs to be moved later in time (byamount that the dot just added). MuseScore does the former - it shortens the next note. If it did the latter - moving the note later in time - it would *also* have to delete the last note of the measure or else there would be too many beats. Or, move the last note to the next measure, and then push everything in *that* measure later in time as well. There's no way to lengthen a note without affecting other notes - musical notation has no concept of that.
As it is, the way MuseScore works (shortening the next note) means there is a quick and easy way to enter long strings of dotted eighth - sixteenth rhythms: first enter them all as eighths, then click the first, press dot to lengthen it and shorten the next, then move the cursor forward two notes, press dot again, etc.
Since you are having trouble, I'm guessing this *isn't* what you want, and you actually want some unspecified number of subsequent notes to be moved later in time. In that case, simply select those notes - only you know how many you want to move - cut, dot the note you want to lengthen, then paste.
Ok, let me try again: I have a 2/4. The first 2 quavers are joined by a beam as are the second two quavers. What I want to end up with is a cut first quaver, and a dotted second quaver, both still joined by the same beam and leaving the second note group as they are.
P_ P.
Excuse my ....drawing... but hopefully that helps
In reply to Ok, let me try again: I have by Tanman87
Not sure what you mean by a "cut first quaver". Do you mean a semiquaver (aka sixteenth note)? If not, the measure won't add up to two beats, so I will assume that is what you mean.
Changing the first quaver to a semiquaver and then dotting the second means you are moving the second note *earlier* in time as well as lengthening it. But, first things first: you want to shorten the note. So, click the first quaver, press "3" to change it to a semiquaver. This will leave the second quaver unchanged - it will still be a quaver, still be on the "and" of 1. If you truly wanted everything else unchanged, you'd be done. But I see now that you *don't* actually want that second quaver unchanged. You want to change it in two different ways: 1) you want it moved earlier in time (from the "and" to the "e" of beat one, and 2) you want it lengthened from a quaver to a dotted quaver. To accomplish the first change you want made, select it, Ctrl+X to cut, click the rest that is currently on the "e" of 1, and paste. To accomplish the second change you want made, click it and press/click the dot.
In reply to Not sure what you mean by a by Marc Sabatella
Ok, yes. what you say is true; that if i write 2 semiquavers then follow with a quaver then that will add up just fine. However, that is generally not "bagpipe score convention". If you showed that to a typically trained piper, they would have extra difficulty sight reading and interpreting what is meant by the composer. When a cut dot rhythms occurs in pipe music, it is actually played more aggressively than written. Anyway, so using the 'cut symbol' is more common, but i can't seem to find an option to select in the program, although it's starting to look like it can't quite be done.
In reply to Ok, yes. what you say is by Tanman87
I didn't say anything about two semiquavers - I said a single semiquaver followed by a dotted uaver, which I thought is what you asked for. If it isn't please explain in more detail what you want. Perhaps attaching a picture would help. I have no idea what you mean by "cut symbol" if it isn't a semiquaver, but if it is just another name for something standard in Western music - not something you invented yourself - then I assure you that MuseScore do it, easily.
For instance, if you do exactly what I said, you get this, which is exactly what I think you are asking for:
If you want something else, just describe it using standard musical terminology or show a picture, and I'm sure we can show you how to do it.
In reply to I didn't say anything about by Marc Sabatella
OMG yes, that's what i'm trying to do. Ok, so i know you've explained how to do it. When I go to select a dot however, it doesn't bring the quaver forward in time, it still only shortens the notes in the next group. Any idea what i'm doing wrong there?
In reply to OMG yes, that's what i'm by Tanman87
Read my explanation again. I said there were two different things you need to do: 1) move the note forward in time, and 2) lengthen it. As I explained, cut and paste is how you move the note earlier in time.
But hopefully also you've realized by now it's easier to simply enter the correct rhythm in the first place :-)
In reply to Read my explanation again. I by Marc Sabatella
A note type (dotted, etc.) applies only to duration, not when it starts.
Write the 16th, then select eighth and the period to make the new duration a dotted eighth and enter it beginning at the proper place.
In reply to Read my explanation again. I by Marc Sabatella
*sighs.....Yes, thankyou, I get it now. Geez, my brain truly hurts. You've no idea how many 'rage quit' episodes you've saved me. Thank you again. I'll try to use better music terminology in any future inquiries.