How to tell Musescore NOT to break Multi-measure rests

• May 13, 2018 - 20:38

Hello All
I have written a full score, for about 15 instruments, and a few of those instruments play very little. So, in turn, they (should) have one large multi-measure rest. BUT, Musescore automatically breaks the multi-measure rest with a performance mark. How can I tell Musescore NOT to do that? (also, yes, I read the handbook, and I don't have that option(see attached screenshot))

(the edit was because I made a typo in the title)


Comments

It is necessary to break multi-measure rests at rehearsal marks. Otherwise, how does the musician know when to start playing when the orchestra is told to start at Rehearsal Mark D?

Get rid of the rehearsal mark and the multi-measure rest will not break.
So...
Save a copy of the part (or do a 'save as'). Then the rehearsal mark for the part can be deleted without affecting the whole (linked) score.
Of course, such a part might only be acceptable for home practice, not for ensemble use.

Regards.

This is a good point - there should be way to indicate that an instrument instruments is totally tacet - no rehearsal marks, no key changes, no tempo markings, etc. Not sure what the best way to deal with this is, but it's definitely worth discussing and then filing an official feature request.

In reply to by Jojo-Schmitz

If nothing else, yes, that makes sense and could be useful as a spot fix for various special cases. But still, that's kind of a lot of work for a truly tacet section - no notes in any measure from beginning to end of a score or section of a score. One idea is to add another style option, something like "Use Tacet indication", that would cause MuseScore to automatically mark an entire part with a single multimeausre rest, or optionally the text "TACET", if it contains no notes whatsoever.

In reply to by Marc Sabatella

It's not much work to right click a rehearsal mark and select all similar items and press V - or are you talking about the work for the programmer, that might be more difficult. If there are no notes in the entire section (movement) it would make sense to simply mark the score TACET with the number of measures in a single multi-measure rest. This is what typically happens in a real score. It's especially common in percussion where one musician plays several instruments.

In reply to by mike320

No, this is easy to program, and totally worth it I think. But still, to me, nowhere near sufficient for the actual purpose. If it were only rehearsal marks, that would be one thing. But now imagine having to do the same for double bars, for key changes, for time signature changes, for tempo marks, for system text, for repeat signs and text (DS et al), and then hoping you've thought of everything that can possibly break a multimeasure rest.

So yes, I think a single multimeasure bar marked "TACET" should be something you can generate just as automatically as regular multimeasure rests. Probably I'd recommend that option set by default in new scores, but for compatibility, leave it off for older ones.

In reply to by Marc Sabatella

From a user's point of view, it would be rather simple to see if you've made everything invisible. If there is something visible at a multi-measure rest break, make it invisible until you have one big rest. But, your idea is better. If there are no notes in the section make the part read TACET with the options and backward compatibility you suggest. Even though 4' 30" does exist, I would not make it so the score can have this option.

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