Multiple voice rest confision and chaos

• Jul 21, 2012 - 16:38

I am arranging a song with multiple voices on each staff. As I'm arranging each voice, the rests are showing on each voice in the middle of the measure which in some cases is creating a mishmash of rests and notes which I think will be confusing to the musicians when I'm done. Has anyone figured out how to minimize the chaos by combining the rests or by some other method?


Comments

The supported ways are to hide all not-needed rests by:
1) right-clicking them and choosing "Set invisible"

and to move rests which are required but are 'in the way' up or down (according they belong to the upper or lower vice of that staff) by:
1) double-click the rest to enter "edit mode" (alternative: select the rest and press [Ctrl]-[E])
2) 'nudge' up or down the symbol with the arrows keys
3) click on any empty spot (or press [Esc]) to exit edit mode

Whether a rest belongs to the first or second group depends on the type of music but may also be your choice. If you are combining several independent voices (for instance, choir parts) on a single staff, probably most rests would belong to the second case.

HTH,

M.

In reply to by Miwarre

It is sometime useful to combine the two methods. For instance, if you have two rests for two voices partially overlapping of which one could be hidden, it is often better to start by moving it 'out of the way' in a place where it is clear the voice it belongs to and then make it invisible: it will be easier to understand what belongs to what if you come back to the score after a while.

Also, 'trailing' rests (i.e. rests at the end of the measure without any following note in that voice) for any voice but voice 1 can be deleted; if they are not needed. Simply select them and press [Del] to remove them; you have to start at the last and go backward, though. Personally, I do not like this trick, as it sometime makes further editing more complex, but it is possible.

M.

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