Figured bass — Augmented intervals
I am trying to write an augmented 6th in the Figured Bass. What I type in is "6+". As I understand it, this is supposed to remain, "6+"; but what happens is that it changes to a "6" with a backslash through it—which is exactly the same as the diminished 6th (see screenshots). Is this a bug, or am I simply not doing the figured bass correctly?
Comments
This is the expected result of typing 6+. I've never seen a 6+ printed in figured bass but rather the 6 with the backslash through it indicating a raised 6th. The alternative is to use the proper accidental. MuseScore is actually being forgiving by allowing you to type it as 6+.
There are others more experienced with figured bass than me, and they will no doubt comment on this.
In reply to This is the expected result… by mike320
Well, that is interesting. I don't have that much experience writing out figured bass and I am copying this from a really horrible photocopy. I figured out that the almost unreadable notation must be a raised 6th by looking at the orchestral parts. So, maybe the question is, if a backslash indicates a raised 6th, how do you indicate a lowered 6th? The backslash through a 7 seems to indicate a diminished 7th, so I thought the same would apply to a 6. Clearly, this is a problem I should take to a harpsichord player. My problem apparently is my own musical ignorance, not something about MuseScore.
Thanks for your response.
In reply to Well, that is interesting. I… by Jake Sterling
I suggest that your read https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Figured_bass, http://www.thinkingmusic.ca/thinkingharmony/figuredbass/ and https://www.mymusictheory.com/for-students/grade-6/172-a8-figured-bass and finally https://musescore.org/en/handbook/figured-bass.
Note, that you may be attempting to copy the symbols exactly as they appear in your score. There have always been variations of nearly all symbols used in music, this is how notation has changed we arrived at the standard we use today. Music is a language and like language, music notation changes over time and sometimes a new notation is only used a few times before it is discarded. MuseScore attempts to allow for most variations, but it cannot allow for every variation.
Talking to someone who is used to realizing figured bass (turning it into actual notes) is also a good idea.