Handling 1 different measure in a 16 bar repeat
I have a score which has a section of 16 bars which almost repeat. The only problem is that 1 bar in the middle of this section is different on the second pass through.
Is there anyway I can handle this in MuseScore apart from duplicating the whole section and then changing the 1 bar? Duplication can be done with a simple copy/paste but it means that the score will be somewhat longer.
Comments
MuseScore allows you to misuse voltas for this. In your case make sure to set the repeat count in the measure with the repeat sign to 2 and use volta 1 over what's played the first time and volta 2 over what's played the second time.
In reply to MuseScore allows you to… by mike320
Thanks. I've had to read the manual to find out what voltas are but it seems to make sense although it talks about alternate endings rather than a mid-repeat measure. If I "misuse" voltas in this way, will it be understood generally by people reading the score, and will it be played back correctly by MuseScore?
In reply to Thanks. I've had to read the… by yonah_ag
It will playback in MuseScore but it's not normal notation, so the understanding by humans will be in doubt. There are people who are willing to sacrifice this to make the score a couple of measures shorter. I wouldn't do it because it isn't normal notation. I would copy and paste and change the measure in question.
Here's the reason for doing what you want that I've seen this most often:
There is an exception to this. If this is a vocal score and the difference is that in verse 2 you have a two syllable word and in verse 1 it was a one syllable word for example, it is normal to notate the different second verse words using what MuseScore calls voice 2 (See https://musescore.org/en/handbook/3/voices). You can make the extra voice 2 rests invisible by selecting them and pressing v. The drawback in MuseScore is that you can only have it playback one way, so I would select the voice 2 notes and remove the check from "Play" in the inspector so it doesn't ever sound bad, but it always sounds like verse 1. The stems will automatically point in opposite directions in this measure. This helps the singers understand the alternate notes in the two verses.
In reply to It will playback in… by mike320
Then I'll stick with normal notation. Although it will add 15 measures to the score it's more important that it's understandable.