Cannot split tuplet

• Mar 21, 2022 - 18:28

I am working on an orchestral piece and had feed back from my tutor to change time signatures to avoid triplets starting on weak beats of a bar.

If you look at the attached file you will see that I did this fine at bar 108 onwards. It goes through 3 / 8; 5 / 8 and then back to 4 /4.

However, the same issue crops up again at bar 144 onwards, and no matter what I do I get the message "cannot split tuplet". Not sure what this means, but I created a totally empty bar so there are definitely no tuplets anywhere. I still get the same message. I can change time sig to 2 / 2 but nothing else.

Any advice gratefully received!

PS. This is a very strange piece I know - I had nothing to do with lyrics, I was given a piece written by a drama student and had to work it into an opera scene!!

Attachment Size
Daydreaming score.mscz 55.13 KB

Comments

Generally that message mean what it says - the operation you are trying to perform would result in a triplet being split between measures. So whether it's a copy/paste operation or a time signature change, anything that would result in a tuplet being split across measures gives you that. And regarding time signature changes, remember, even though you only apply it to a single bar, it affects the whole score from that point forwards. So even if there is no problem in the bar you are applying the time signature to, there might well be somewhere further down. So, if you want a 3/8 and 5/8 bar then returning to 4/4, it usually makes sense to add the return to 4/4 first. This protects the rest of the score, then you can add the 3/8 and 5/8 in front.

FWIW, the other thing that can give this message is using "local" time signatures - places where different staves have different time signatures at the same time. This is supported but only in a limited way, and error m messages that are trying to tell you about limitations will be worded in terms of tuplets for not any really good reason but it is what it is.

Anyhow, if none of that seems to explain what you are seeing, please give us precise steps to follow in order to see the problem.

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