Parts

Not to be confused with MuseScore Voices feature, see also Glossary: Part.
To add, duplicate, edit or remove instruments, see Change instrument setup instead.

Overview

Parts is a MuseScore feature to aid extracting staffs to generate different versions of the same score.

A Part is an independent viewing profile that contains layout and formatting style configuration, Mixer settings and chord playback settings only. Most of the musical score data (except for certain items like image attached to first staff) is shared among Parts. Modification such as changing a note when viewing one Part will reflect on the same places if the item exists on other Parts.

Tempo markings are always shown on all Parts. Text and Line object's visibility depends on its object type, for example a System text added on any one staff is visible on all Parts, even if it is not included in that Part.

To manage Parts, open the Parts window by selecting File → Parts…, Parts are shown in Select Part pane.

New score file created contains no Parts by default. Full Score is shown, there are no sub-tabs under the score file tab:

score adapted from https://musescore.com/user/9928481/scores/5706424

When a score contains at least one Part, the Full Score and Part(s) are shown as tabs under the score file tab, click on any one tab to view it. Either the Full Score or any one of the Parts can be viewed at a given time:

Common reasons to create Parts

• You have a (orchestral) full-score and you need to:
  • remove one staff along the whole score from the on-screen view but keep its notes and notation data intact. Like from a 3 pages "soprano + piano" score, remove the piano accompaniment on computer screen temporarily so that you can read a 1 page soprano score.
  • extract staff(s) to print hard copies for individual players to read in real life, or exporting digitally. Like from a "woodwind + brass + strings" score, batch create individual printable versions for different players for emsemble rehersal.
  • extract staff(s) based on type or family they belong to. Like from a "woodwind + brass + strings" score, create MIDI file of "flute 2 + first violin" score.
• You have a two-part score and need to create a one-part score.
• You have a single staff that represents two instruments in real life, and need to extract it to create staff that represent one instrument in real life only. Like from a single staff "Flute 1 & 2", create "Flute 1".

Use Include or exclude Voices in a Part for the last two.

Create a new Part

To add new instruments, see Change instrument setup instead.

A Part can be manually named, and include instrument(s) or their Voice(s).

1. Click Single Part (or prior to MuseScore 3.4: New ) to create a new empty Part (empty Instruments in Part pane). The Part is named automatically "Part", and with a trailing number if needed. The Part is shown in Select Part pane.
2. Customize Parts.
3. Click OK to finish and exit. Once this window is closed, created Parts cannot be edited due to a bug.

Automatically create separate Parts for each instrument

To batch create separate Parts for each instrument:

1. Click All Parts (or MuseScore 3.2-3.3.4: Generate; prior to MuseScore 3.2: New All) to batch create separate Parts for each instrument.
2. Customize Parts. Each Part is automatically named with the instrument name, and with a trailing number if needed. They are shown in Select Part pane. You may want to rename Parts to prevent confusion if you have already changed the long or short name to something other than instrument name.
3. Click OK to finish and exit. Once this window is closed, created Parts cannot be edited due to a bug.

Customize Parts

Parts are only editable during creation - A bug in Musescore 3.6.2 prevents user from editing existing Parts. You may need to delete it and edit it during recreation.

Rename a Part

Change Part name in Part title:, it is displayed at the tab heading. It is also used as filename suffix when exporting. You may want to rename Parts to prevent confusion if you have already changed the long or short name to something other than instrument name.

Add instruments to a Part

To add an instrument to an existing Part:

1. Select the Part in the Select Part pane.
2. Select the instrument from the Instruments in Score pane.
3. Press + to add it to the Instruments in Part pane.

Remove instruments from a Part

To remove instruments from an existing Part:

1. Select the Part in the Select Part pane.
2. Select an instrument from the Instruments in Part pane.
3. Press - to remove.

Include or exclude individual staff(s)

This feature is not working in Musescore 3.6.2 due to a bug, use Include or exclude Voices instead.

1. Select the Part in the Select Part pane.
2. Click the small arrow to the left of an instrument in Instruments in Part to expand the listing to show all its staves and Voices.
3. Select staff(s) to be excluded from this Part.
4. Press -.

Include or exclude Voices

1. Select the Part in the Select Part pane.
2. Click the small arrow to the left of an instrument in Instruments in Part to expand the listing to show all its staves and Voices.
3. Uncheck to exclude Voice from this Part.

This feature only works if all notes need to be strictly written in separate Musescore Voice respectively. To extract, for example, "Flute 1 & 2 in the same staff" into two Parts, notes need to be strictly written in Musescore Voice 1 and Voice 2 respectively, even in passages where they share content, you might need to create duplicate Voice 1 unison and assign it to Voice 2. Flute 1 and Flute 2 notes should not be merged into one chord in one Voice at all.

piano left hand separation like shown above does not work

assign piano left hand notes to Voice 2 as shown above, working result is shown below

The same result can also be achieved without fiddling with note Voices assignment, because piano left hand is on the Bass staff.

Delete a Part

2. Select the Part in the Select Part pane.
3. Press Delete.

When you delete Parts, most of the musical score data are intact, because Part contains layout and formatting style configuration and its playback options only

Playback options

Instruments not included in the currently opened Part does not create playback by default, to change this behavior toggle Mixer Play Part Only option. This option is not modifiable when the "Full Score" is currently opened, as shown below. It is only modifiable when a "Part" is currently opened, for example, click either "Send to Chris" or "Print one for Jimmy" to open that Part.

Exporting and printing Parts

To export Part(s):

1. Select File → Export….
2. Select Full Score and Parts in What to export pane, or click Select all or Clear selection
3. Fill in other settings as required, click OK.

Score file name will be used as prefix for Parts, generating files with the names "<Score file name>" + "-" + "<Part name>.<extension>". When exporting as PDF, an additional file named "<Score file name>" + "-Score_And_Parts.pdf" is generated.

To print a Part:

1. Make sure the Part is currently opened, see Overview.
2. Select File → Print.

Save Parts

Parts are embedded into a score file, and saved along with the score file. No other action is required.

To save a Part as an separate file:

1. Make sure the Part is currently opened, see Overview.
2. Select File → Save As….