Changing key signature when you change instrument

• Mar 24, 2019 - 17:28

I am arranging for orchestra, and the clarinetist is frequently swapping between Bb, Bass and Eb.

There is no issue swapping between Bb and Bass as they are in the same key, but the Eb is not. When I add an instrument change to Eb, the key signature for that clarinettist does not change and displays as if it were a Bb instrument. I can't find any way to correct this without it also showing new key signatures for the whole orchestra. Making the others invisible isn't an option either as it leaves a gap in the score. What should I do?


Comments

In reply to by mike320

No, that isn't my issue. My issue is when I swap to and from the Eb Clarinet- the key signature should change accordingly but it doesn't.

For example, part of the piece is in Eb major concert pitch and starts with the Eb clarinet, so the key sig for the clarinet part displays as C major. Part way through it changes to the Bb clarinet, so the key signature for the clarinet part should be F major, but instead it displays as C major with a bunch of Bbs as accidentals.

In reply to by mike320

The trouble is when I reinsert the key sig it does so for every instrument in the orchestra. I'm not in continuous view, the key signature doesn't correct itself with a new system. It will display as C major until the key of the entire piece changes.

I understand that I could fix this by adding the Eb major signature after every instrument change but I don't want the display for every single instrument

In reply to by Musical Brit

It sounds like you are using version 2.1 or earlier. In 2.1 (possibly 2.2) instrument changes worked more or less correct. The one thing you had to do was reinsert the key signature if you wanted to see it before the next new system. If you are using 3.x then please attach your score. If you're in a 2.x version you might as well upgrade to 2.3.2, which is what I use most of the time.

In reply to by Musical Brit

There seems to be a bug here.

When I drag the e-flat to measure 108, the score redraws itself and put the measure as the second measure on the system with key signatures on all instruments. Measure 107 also has the key signature since it's now the first measure in the system. In measure 108, the key signature for the bass clarinet is F major and C in measure 107 as expected. When I ctrl+drag e-flat to measure 109, the key of F appears on the Bass clarinet only, as expected.

The bug is that there is no reason for the measures to change widths and move to another system resulting in the extra key signature. I'm nor sure what you were seeing, but this is what I get in version 3.0.5. BTW, your score says it is from version 3.0.2. Are you still using that or is that just the version it was created in?

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