Free form measures?
Hi;
When I go through the "create a new score" wizard I'm given many choices of time signature (3/4, 4/4, 2/4, etc...)
Well, when I'm creating something, I don't know if it's going to be a waltz or a march, etc. I just know that I want this note long, the next one short, and a rest here - for example.
When constrained by time signature and measures, changing "anything" causes a ripple effect on subsequent measures.
....and it gets messy!
So is there a way that will allow me to do my composition "free form" and later, if I want I'll format it..
Like you do with writing... One writes madly in all directions at once then formats it in paragraphs and chapters, and so on...
Probably like you do with any other creative process - painting comes to mind...
Thanks,
CM
Comments
See: insert->https://musescore.org/en/handbook/3/note-input#note-input-modes
Well, you could choose a time signature of 32/4 or whatever you like to give big measures you can break up later as you see fit. but realistically, I suspect you'll find that if there piece is not worked out enough in your head to be able to decide on a time signature,e it's probably best to wait a bit longer to start trying to enter it into MuseScore, as almost certainly you'll be running into any number of other issues with the process. I always recommend pencil and paper for those sorts of really rough sketches.
In reply to Well, you could choose a… by Marc Sabatella
Unless you're Eric Satie... https://imslp.org/wiki/File:TN-Satie,_Erik-Klavierwerke_Peters_Klemm_Ba…
This time I'm serious though - Free Time compositions have been around since Gregorian Chant. I'd expect advanced notation software to have explicit support for it.
(And yes I know all the Satie Gnossiennes are essentially in 4/4. But I figured a well-known example trumped something obscure from Charles Ives or whoever).
In reply to Unless you're Eric Satie… by Dylan Nicholson1
I'm not saying it wouldn't be interesting to someday have features to support meterless music better. Just that today, with MuseScore .3.6.2, the feature that do exist and work quite well actually are still not sufficient for cases where you haven't worked things out in advance, and paper & pencil is still my recommendation. note really sure what Satie has to do with it, pretty sure he never composed into software? If I were Satie composing this piece today, I would work it out on paper first, just as he did. Again, it's not impossible that someday there would be viable ways of composing it directly into MuseScore.
In reply to I'm not saying it wouldn't… by Marc Sabatella
Satie has everything to do with feeling music shouldn't need a time signature, even after it's all worked out.
And interestingly I don't think any performer has ever had real difficulty playing music without time signatures/measures, but obviously it would more of a challenge for a large ensemble.
In reply to Satie has everything to do… by Dylan Nicholson1
To be clear: I never once said or implied in any way whatsoever that music needs a time signature. That's not what this thread was actually about - it was about deciding one a time signature after starting the piece, not a cases of music that will never have a time signature.