Multiple Grace Notes (Contemporary Notation)

• Mar 12, 2021 - 14:39

Hi everyone,
I'm working on this piece for piano, and I needed to write multiple grace notes, not as ornaments but as the actual melodic (or textural, in this case) line. What I mean is, I wanted to use the notation frequently used in Ligeti's meccanico style, as shown in the example I attached (from Ligeti's Chamber Concerto):
Meccanico Notation Example (Ligeti's Kammerkonzert).png
This being said, I would like to know if it's possible to make specific note beams with the same thickness as note stems, how can I mark these notes with the accicatura sign and also how can I format the measure bars as "non metrical", as shown in the picture.
I hope I was clear explaining my problem. Sorry if I wasn't, but I'm really in a hurry editing this score since I need it to be ready by tomorrow.
Thank you all for your attention!


Comments

I am not expert, but I can imagine do it a bit "hacky" way.

  • Hide time signature (select it, press "v")
  • Change Measure Properties - Actual Duration - 35/16 (or count, how namy beats you need)
  • Write passage
  • Change Beam Properties - Beam middle
  • Set it "small" - select notes, tick "Chord - Small" in Inspector
  • Select all stems (right click one -> same elements), than in Inspector Stem thickness: 0.40 sp
  • Add Slash for grace notes as Symbol (Select first note, open Master Palette ("z") - Common Ornaments - Slash for stem up..)

Or if every part has different number of beats in same measure, you can use "custom tuplets".

Attachment Size
pattern.mscz 9.52 KB

In reply to by sammik

Thanks you so much, that helps a lot! Still, I don't know how to change note beam thickness – you told me how I can change note stem thickness instead.
Also, is there any way I can reduce the note beam thickness without reducing the notehead's size?
Thank you once more!

Just to add to the above - instead of painstakingly counting the number of beats, easier to assemble the larger measure from "normal" ones using Tools / Measure / Join Selection Measures.

In reply to by Marc Sabatella

Thank you, Marc, that's really useful! Do you also know how I could erase the part of the measure bar that crosses the staff without erasing it completely (I'm saying this because it seems impossible to select only a part of the bar to make it invisible, I can only select the bar along with its connection to the other stave)?

In reply to by Tiago Simas

You mean to get the kind of "mensurstrich" effect shown in your picture (barline between staves, not on staff)? Yes, use the Inspector to change the span properties of the barline. On the top staff, set "from" to 8 (top line is 0, top space is 1, etc) and on the bottom staff, either set "to" to -8 (well, it's 8 less than the default) or make it invisible.

You can do this to multiple selected barlines at once, but if it's the whole piece, you can also hit the "Set as staff default" button.

In reply to by Tiago Simas

It would help to see much than just that one small snippet to understand, but if you don't wnt any time signatures on that staff, disbale them in its Staff/Part Properties (right-click the staff to get there). Or if just one particular time signature, select it (Ctrl+click to make sure it's only the one staff, or use keyboard navigation like Alt+Left/Right) and press "V".

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