Changing time signatures within a score
How do you change the time signature within a score. I am trying to input "In Evening Air" by Aaron Copeland which has several signature changes as well as key changes.
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Welcome to MuseScore, Paula! Open the Time Signatures palette on the left and drag the one you want onto the measure where you want it to change. For more information, see https://musescore.org/en/handbook/time-signature.
In reply to Welcome to MuseScore, Paula! by Isaac Weiss
I have tried this and MS changes the time signature for all subsequent measures, not just the one I selected.
In reply to I have tried this and MS by juniorjet
A local time signature is set by dropping a time signature symbol while holding the Ctrl key (Mac: Cmd)
In reply to A local time signature is set by Shoichi
Doesn't work. Ctrl + drag and drop produces what you see in the attached screenshot.
In reply to I have tried this and MS by juniorjet
Time signature changes the "rythm" not for 1 measure but for all the suite of your work . If you want only for 1 measure , you must put the new time signature you want, once time, at the place you want it
In reply to I have tried this and MS by juniorjet
If you are changing all the staffs to a time signature for one measure you need to reinsert the old time signature where it changes back. If an instrument changes time signature for a measure, I would wait until the rest of the score is written to insert all of the "Local Time Signatures" to avoid other editing problems that will likely arise. You can put notes in the measure that will have a local time signature if you want, they will stay there later when you insert it.
In reply to If you are changing all the by mike320
Yes, that's what happens. In a score with 4/4 time, I insert 2/4 for one measure. All subsequent measures are changed to 2/4. When I change those subsequent measures back to 4/4 there are other editing messes to deal with.
The only, very awkward, way around is similar to what you suggest. In the 2/4 measure I enter notes having total value of 2 beats and fill the remaining 2 beats with a rest. That's OK for my own solo purposes but unacceptable in a score that will be played and relied upon by other players.
Is it really this difficult or I must be missing something.
In reply to Yes, that's what happens. In by juniorjet
Before you put the time signature in the measure, put the original time signature in the next measure. Then everything after the change back will be unaffected. You should end up with 1 measure with notes and one that is a measure rest. Control delete that measure and it will be removed.
In reply to Before you put the time by mike320
Worked like a charm. Thanks. Either it's not immediately intuitively obvious or I'm unusually thick. Don't answer that :-)
BTW this arises because of dealing with John Lennon"s and George Martin's fun and games in Strawberry Fields Forever. I'm doing a solo guitar chord-melody arrangement.
In reply to Worked like a charm. Thanks. by juniorjet
FWIW, normally you'd want to enter the time signature changes *before* entering notes. So it wouldn't matter what order you entered the time signatures in. Yes, adding the 2/4 would affect all subsequent measures, but so what, they are empty anyhow. Then you add the 4/4 afterwards. But if for whatever reason the notes are already entered - and they are entered in the correct measures - the trick of adding the second time signature first is indeed the way to go.
Note if you want *multiple* measures of 2/4, another way to do it is to select the region first then double click the 2/4 in the palette. This automatically restores the original time signature afterwards. We don't do that with only a single measure selected because the more common scenario would be someone *wanting* to change time signature for all measures following that point.
In reply to FWIW, normally you'd want to by Marc Sabatella
Thanks Marc, that all makes sense. My usual working style (dealing with song arrangements for guitar, not orchestral works) is to go from beginning to end and lay out a very rough, preliminary draft that gets the melody and basic chord progression in, and then go back and work it bar by bar to "play it in" and refine it.
In the case of this song (Strawberry Fields), that meant different time signatures in a couple of spots to "take up the slack" that Lennon and Martin had originally created and also to insert a small hint of some flavour from another contemporaneous Lennon song (Lucy in the Sky). So the overall song is in 4/4 but it ends up with 5 measures of 6/8 and one measure of 2/4.
Hey, it's jazz :-)
In reply to Before you put the time by mike320
It works! Thanks!