playing with modes

• Mar 12, 2013 - 20:48

I am using 1.1 on my elderly mac as a learning tool to explore diatonic modes.

I want to input a melody and listen to it; then add a key signature and listen to the same tune, pitched at approximately the same level, but played in a different mode.

Musescore very kindly adds accidentals so the melody sounds the same. I have to remove these to hear the new mode. Can I suppress these unwanted accidentals ?

Comments

• Mar 13, 2013 - 06:44

Hi Jojo
This has the same effect. If I have a tune in (say) C Maj and I want to hear what it would sound like played in Aeolian, I transpose into C minor and Musescore kindly pushes all the notes up the staff and adds accidentals so everything sounds exactly the same as before.
I don't want to express exactly the same sound in a different key signature. I want to change the key signature and leave the notes exactly where they were on the staff so I can hear the difference.

Am I misunderstanding your post?

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• Mar 13, 2013 - 09:45

I'm not sure to have really understood your question; if I didn't and what follows is plain non-sense, please bear with me and simply disregard this post.

MuseScore does not 'support' ecclesiastical modes per se (nowhere you will find the terms Aeolian, Misolydian and so on); but what you are after can probably be achieved by diatonic transposition, which should cover all the twelve modes and a few more.

For instance, your example could be converted into: take a tune, transpose it diatonically a third minor below and it will change from any of fifth, seventh or eleventh mode to first, third or ninth mode resp. (you'll forgive me, but I stick to Zarlino and his numeric names for modes, which are much more meaningful to me than the conventional 'Greek' names; also I think we can disregard authentic/plagal difference here).

Unfortunately, MuseScore 1.x does not implement diatonic transposition either! MuseScore 2.0, currently under development but available for testing as nightly , does provide diatonic transposition. I don't know if your "elderly mac" can run it; if it can, you may try it.

HTH,

M.

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• Mar 13, 2013 - 13:03

MuseScore 1.x doesn't support diatonic transposition, but it can be achieved by CTRL selecting the notes you want to move then dragging them to the appropriate line or space.

HTH
Michael

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• Mar 13, 2013 - 14:43

Thanks to all. My mac is stuck with 1.9. There is another on order.
I have tried selecting and nudging with up and down arrows, but the material passes through the transpose routines and the accidentals get added.

Maybe it just can't be done.

I had hoped to use musescore as a shortcut to listening to the same tunes played in many modes. I have no intuitive feel for them and thought this might help.

No worries.

Niko

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