Octave transposition is inverted
Reported version
3.5
Type
Functional
Frequency
Many
Severity
S4 - Minor
Reproducibility
Always
Status
by design
Regression
No
Workaround
No
Project
Editing staff properties by double-clicking part name in score:
choose transposition up/down 1 or more octaves.
Transposition results in the opposite direction from the direction indicated.
OS: macOS 10.15, Arch.: x86_64, MuseScore version (64-bit): 3.5.0.28537, revision: 43c5553
Comments
If the notes are already entered then changing the transposition in the instrument properties does not change their pitch. it will change the notation to match the existing pitch but with the transposition you have just selected.
It is not clear what you are trying to do but perhaps selecting the notes and using ctrl + up or down arrow to move the pitches and notation by an octave will help.
For more help attach a score and explain what result you are trying to achieve.
To be clear: the transposition options in staff properties are not there to take music that is already written and change the pitch. It is there to specify the transposition of the instrument itself, and preserves the pitch. So if you wrote middle C, it is going to stay middle C in sound pitch. If you specify that the instrument itself transposes an octave down (like, for example, guitar), then MuseScore transposes the written pitch up, so that it continues to sound like what you entered - middle C.
For further information about how transposition works, see the appropriate section of the Handbook, and if you have further questions, please ask on the Support forum.
Thanks for the reply. I had mistaken this for a handy shortcut to the Tools ---> Transpose function. I can't think of any concise terminology to recommend for the staff properties panel to indicate that the sounded pitches will remain constant and the notation will be transposed to maintain these pitches.... maybe "staff transposition from sounding pitch" or something like that. I appreciate the recent UI refinements & bug fixes.