Novelty Percussion

• Nov 19, 2019 - 05:05

I'm wondering if there is a way to combine miscellaneous percussion/novelty instruments to display and playback from a single staff. In the attached score, during the "Creature Feature" beginning at M. 37, I would like to display a number of instruments that are commonly played by a theatre percussionist, slide whistle, anvil, ratchet... (I added Musical saw, but I'm actually thinking of the theremin-like percussion instrument that you strike with a hammer... the name escapes me.)

Apart from the fact that none of the instruments, as available in the MuseScore_General_HQ soundfont, really sound like the instruments I have in mind, (the anvil definitely sounds un-anvil-like, and it does not appear possible to edit the "pitch") my main goal is to be able to present these instructions to a musician in the simplest possible fashion. Is it possible to assign these instruments to a given line of a single standard staff? In pieces that employ novelty percussion, it is common practice to provide a legend or key explaining the position of each sound, and then to trust the performer to make sense of the instructions.

I do understand that some of the sounds I am employing are pitched and some, un-pitched, but I am hoping there is some way to combine the notation to take up less of the page, and make it easier for a single performer to follow.

(It occurs to me that one solution would be to use "random" notes on a standard percussion staff and to indicate the novelty instruments via staff text, but to be honest, I'm hoping for a little better.)

Attachment Size
1-04 K'luq'maq in the SpringMS3.mscz 23.66 KB

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