Scores without time signature
Much of the music I use, typeset, arrange and compose does not require a time signature to be included in the score. Indeed, the inclusion of a time signature would be both historically incorrect and irrelevant in early music, from Plainsong and Gregorian Chant through Ars Antiqua, Ars Nova, and subsequent periods prior to the high Baroque era. In addition, much current liturgical music does not require a time signature; antiphons, psalm chants, versicles and responses are quite irregular.
1 How can a score be created using the File/New facility without a time signature being a mandatory requirement?
2 If this is not currently possible, can an additional option be included in the Create/Time table that consists of spaces (preferably nulls) in both the numerator and the denominator of the time signature?
Help would be appreciated.
Barrie S. Bowden
Comments
Just delete the 1st measure after score creation, using Ctrl-Del.
This might be a bug, but I see it as a feature ;-)
Of course, deleting the first measure means you still *have* a time signature - MuseScore just doesn't display it. So you'll need to right click each measure to change the "actual" time signature to get the right number of beats in each. The next version of MuseScore will include more features to make it easier to create measures of arbitrary length, as well as other features useful for early music.
In reply to Of course, deleting the first by Marc Sabatella
I have just downloaded Musescore 2 for Yosemite and I also want to be able to write a score in free time. I need to recreate Gradus by Philip Glass, which has no time signature or bar lines, so that I can read it on an iPad and manage page turns. The whole 11 min piece is in free time. Is there a way to do this now? I can't seem to find it.
In reply to I have just downloaded by samduffysinger
See https://musescore.org/en/handbook/measure-operations-0#split-join and https://musescore.org/en/node/24449
I would use one of the nightly builds for producing unmetrical music which has split and join measure facilities which make the customisation of the actual time signatures much easier.
I then export in MusicXML and reopen in MuseScore 1.3 if it's something I want to publish on MuseScore.com.
If you need further advice, please ask.
Here is an example of what is possible:-
http://musescore.com/user/9641/scores/155127