I'm transcribing church chant

• Nov 16, 2013 - 20:03

I'm transcribing Byzantine chant from Byzantine to Western notation. The notes are easy, or relatively so. As the measures in chant are per line of singing instead of a fixed length, there was some playing with the length of a measure. That provision worked really well, even for 32 beat measures.

But I have multiple words on a given note as the drone carries on for six to eight words on that specific tone. The provision for using word-slurs in your manual just doesn't provide a readable score. I know this is a special case. But it would be nice if the spacing for notes could be more proportional to the words.

As it is, I'm going to have to revert to an old style of doing the service music, showing the musical notation at the top of the page, then dropping down to put in the lyrics, with a rubric to sing one line per measure.

Or I'm going to have to do the scores by hand then scan them to insert into service books. Sigh.

If I'm missing some provision to do what I need to do, PLEASE let me know.


Comments

In reply to by Shoichi

EXCEPT that I am unable to put more than one word in the lyrics attached to one note. If that example you gave is accurate of what the software will do, then I'm missing how to do it. When I click on the note, then click cntl-L it lets me key in a single word. The moment I use a space to go on to the next word, the software advances to the next note.

What's the trick?

In reply to by karenwoodsauthor

Use CTRL+Space to enter the space between the words and you will find the cursor doesn't leap to the next note.

You can also tweak position in by double clicking a notehead and moving it with arrow keys.

I have been setting plainchant with MuseScore for over a year now and assure you it can be done.

If you need more help just say.

Regards
Michael

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