How to play multiple scores at the same time?

• May 23, 2017 - 06:20

I am currently working on a piece that has both a concert orchestra score and a pit percussion score, but I can't figure out how to get these two scores to play simultaneously in the editor. These two scores are in separate files, currently. Is there a way to play them both back at the same time, but keep them as separate files?


Comments

In reply to by Jojo-Schmitz

I haven't used MuseScore very much yet, so I'll be asking a lot of questions regarding terminology. What is the difference between having a single instrument on a staff and a part? Does a part combine multiple instrument staves into one staff?

Then secondly, how would I link parts together?

In reply to by E Squared

A score is music for (potentially) multiple instruments all written on parallel staves. A part is just the staves for one instrument. That is, the score is what the conductor looks at, the parts are what the players individually play from. This isn't MuseScore special techno-speak,. btw - it's the same terminology used in orchestras etc. Most parts contain just the staves for a single instrument - like the 2nd clarinet part is just the 2nd clarinet staff. But it isn't uncommon for the percussion part in an orchestra piece to contain mutliple staves - say, one for snare, one for triangle and cymbals, etc.

You don't link parts together. You start by entering the full score, then you go to File / Parts and it generates parts for you. By default, it generates one part for each instrument, but you can also ask MuseScore to generate a "part" consisting of several instruments at once, which is how you'd generate a percussion part from your orchestra score.

So, create your score for one giant ensemble consisting of *both* the orchestra and other ensemble, then generate two parts: one consisting of just the orchestra instruments, the other of just the other instruments.

In reply to by E Squared

Also, if you never used MuseScore, starting with an orchestra + percussion score is a bit like going directly to the 20 meters diving platform if you never dive. You might want to follow one or two tutorials and input a simple song before going full orchestra.

In reply to by [DELETED] 5

Well, the thing is, I have made full concert orchestra pieces on MuseScore before, about ten of them at last count. I've just never tried to make a piece this way, using a combination of ensembles.

I use the phrase "new to MuseScore" in a relative sense; compared to people who have been using MuseScore since the alpha version, I've been using it only since 2.0.3

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