Lyrics Underscore (Melisma) Continues On Next Line
When one extends a lyric with underscores (melismas) to tied or slurred notes which extend to the next line of music, the line/underscore should appear on that line too.
CURRENT BEHAVIOUR: The melisma on the following notes ends on the current line and does not extend to the next line.
CURRENT WORKAROUND: Manually placing a line from the Lines palette.
DESIRED BEHAVIOUR: The melisma should start on the next line of music under the relevant notes.
NEED FOR FEATURE: 10/10
(This is one of 8 features I am suggesting concerning printing/layout in MuseScore, with publishing houses' standards in mind. The score out of 10 is how badly I feel this feature is lacking.)
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
| Lyrics Underscore Current Behaviour.png | 35.12 KB |
| Lyrics Underscore Desired Result.png | 189.6 KB |
Comments
If I'm not mistaken, you can already do this. Just type an underscore where you want a line. It's detailed here: http://musescore.org/en/handbook/lyrics
In reply to If I'm not mistaken, you can by megafresh
Thanks for the comment, MegaFresh! Yes, the underscore does indeed work, but only for the current line of music. If there is a tie or a slur that extends to the next line of music, then that new line does not start with an underscore/line. See the attachments to understand what I am talking about.
This would also be good: #15358: Automatically-generated melisma lines
In reply to This would also be good: by chen lung
Thanks for the link, chen lung!
There is an outstanding feature request for this: #3961: Melisma line over system break.
FWIW, if I were to construct a list like yours - things required in order to get output up to the standards I'd want, this would be one of my top priorities. The various workarounds don't produce the same look as the generated extenders, plus they can end up being unwanted if the layout changes such than the line breaks move.
In reply to There is an outstanding by Marc Sabatella
Thanks, Marc! I didn't see the outstanding feature request. And yes, this is a feature that I've wanted and needed for a long time. That's why I gave this feature a 10/10 for need.
In the past, I wrote and sold some vocal arrangements that, of course, had lyrics everywhere. I was very embarrassed about the fact that my "vocal lyric underscore" lines did not extend over line/system breaks. (I only have Gr.5 theory (ABRSM), so I didn't know at the time of writing this post that they are called Melisma lines...)
In reply to Thanks, Marc! I didn't see by etienne
For the record, I wouldn't have thought to call them "melisma lines" either, so it took me several tries to find that issue. But I remember that it existed, so I kept trying different search terms until it came up. In Finale, those are called "lyric extenders". I doubt there is any real standardization.
One of the many jobs I've worked was as an editor for a major publisher's series of fakebooks, and one of my responsibilities was to go through charts submitted by others marking up things that didn't conform to the publisher's standards. And one of the submitters was using software - I think it was Sibelius - that also didn't do these, or at least didn't do them by default, and he never switched the option on (I think Finale also gives you an option). So the first thing I did with any submitted chart was run through looking for missing extenders at the beginnings or lines and mark them in with red pen. Also things like adding double bars at the start of systems that followed systems ending in double bars, which this publisher also requires. I marked up so many of these I became hypersensitive to this. So these remain two of the top requests I have.
In reply to For the record, I wouldn't by Marc Sabatella
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melisma