Staff type change

Updated 10 months ago

To change one staff everywhere on a score change Staff type or template instead. Staff types and templates supported by Musescore are covered in Staff/Part properties chapter.

You can change the appearance of a staff starting from certain point on a score by adding a "Staff type change" element to a measure, and adjusting its properties in the Properties panel. This can be used when changing between pitched and unpitched staves or for various experimental notation effects.

Staff type change example

Adding a staff type change

Select a measure in the score and, in the Layout palette
Click the "Staff type change" symbol to add it to your score

Alternatively, you can drag the symbol from the palette to a measure in your score.

Setting staff properties

When you alter a "Staff type change" property in the Properties panel, the new value takes precedence over the value shown in the global Staff/Part properties dialog. Only those property values in Staff/Part properties that cannot be changed for the "Staff type change" will be valid throughout the score.

The properties that can be altered for the "Staff type change" in the Properties panel are:

Cue size
Use the Small staff size that is defined for the score

Offset
Displace the staff vertically

Scale
Change the size of the staff using a custom percentage

Number of lines
Change the number of lines making up the staff

Line distance
Change the distance between two staff lines

Step offset
Offset the notes on the staff relative

Invisible staff lines
Toggle visibility of the staff lines

Staff line color
Set the color of the staff lines

Notehead scheme
Specify alternate noteheads such as pitch names or shape note