Freely insert tempo marking WITHOUT needing to anchor at a barline.

• Apr 30, 2022 - 17:35

At present, tempo marking ("𝅘𝅥=80") is an object that can only be anchored to a note. Not barlines, not title text, and absolutely no chance of being able to drag and drop it on the page anywhere. It's frustrating because 'real' scores add this at the top of the page, where musicians actually look for it.

What's worse is even if I operate within the overly restrictive parameters of tempo marking insertion (again, adding it to a note and only a note), I cannot move the tempo marking without upsetting the layout of the page. Images are included.

Thank you.

Attachment Size
default point.png 9.08 KB
trying to add to title block.png 14.94 KB

Comments

Tempo markings need to be attached to notes because that is where they take effect, not on titles. You can however use the screenshot capture tool to copy a graphic image of the tempo marking and that can be added to a title.

As to upsetting the layout, those upsets are a result of the automatic collision avoidance that is normally desired. But that can be disabled for individual elements including tempo markings in the inspector by unticking "Automatic placement".

If these suggestions don't solve your problem come back with a sample score and explain in more detail what you are trying to achieve.

'real' scores add this at the top of the page, where musicians actually look for it.

Yes, but 'real' (i.e., printed) scores can not play for the musician that reads from them. MuseScore has playback capability, so it needs to know at which note a tempo change occurs, especially if there are multiple tempo changes throughout the score.
If you are writing, for example, a pop tune with a single tempo, you can add the tempo marking at the beginning, and uncheck 'Automatic placement' in the Inspector. Then you can move the marking to the top of the page without upsetting the layout. .

Have you considered not abusing a tempo marking for title frame notation, but actually placing it in there as just normal plain text and using the special characters palette to add the note symbol in there?

No relayout needed, no automatic placement issue at all.
And you can still add an invisible one to the start of the score to fix MuseScore's playback.

FWIW.. In all of the scores I own, none of them have the tempo marking in the title frame. All have them at the point in time where they apply, which is at least at the start of the score, above the first bar.

For the record: "real" scores do place tempo markings above the first measure. This is practically universal in all published music and has been for several centuries. Not sure which publisher you have in mind when you speak of "real" scores deviating from that, but placing tempo anywhere but the expected location - right above the first measure - is likely to cause musicians to not notice it. So unless you are working for a publisher that requires this non-standard placement, best to leave the tempo markings where they belong.

The only exception I can think of is certain fakebooks that place a generic indication like "Bossa" or "Ballad" or "Waltz" in the top left. These are more "style" indications than "tempo", but you can certainly add that text to the title frame as well if you like. Just right-click the frame and choose Add / Text. But the actual tempo indication still belongs over the first measure. Some fakebooks will not display that, so you can make that tempo indication invisible if you like.

Do you still have an unanswered question? Please log in first to post your question.