Does MuseScore support split tuplets?
I was trying to notate a specific rhythm I saw within a score, so I could see how exactly it would sound. Basically, it's a measure of 8/4 where the rhythm alternates between two triplet quarter notes and three normal eighth notes, with the final group being two instead of three so it fits within the measure. I found that I wasn't able to recreate this in MuseScore, and I couldn't find a guide online which helped. The book I saw this rhythm in referred to the two triplet quarter notes as a "split triplet." Is this possible to recreate in MuseScore, and if so how?
Comments
I find it difficult to understand the rhythm which you are looking for. Is it either of the following examples?
If not, can you post the image from the textbook mentioned in your post - to show us what you are trying to create?
In reply to I find it difficult to… by DanielR
Sorry I wasn't clear enough; I've attached a photo of the event for clarity. It seems to be two notes which each have the length of triplet quarter notes, except they don't form a whole triplet group. This is then followed by 3 or 2 normal eighth notes, but because of the displacement of the "split triplet," it ends up not being aligned with the beat. This is what I was trying to notate.
In reply to Sorry I wasn't clear enough;… by pianoboy1422
Sure, MuseScore can produce a visual image which looks like the example score:
But isn't this a case of "The Emperor's New Clothes"? How many musicians can mentally split two triplets of 3 quarter notes into three pairs of quarter notes, and play this measure in the correct rhythm, interspersed with the eight eighth notes split into 3 + 3 +2? Is it really worth the convoluted workaround to get to this final result? Seriously?
As an amateur singer, I am open to correction by any professional musician. ;-)
For fun, let's debate this!
In reply to Sure, MuseScore can produce… by DanielR
In reply to Sure, MuseScore can produce… by DanielR
This is not an uncommon compositional technique, and it wouldn't be too challenging to play for a professional who's used to playing contemporary music.
In reply to Sure, MuseScore can produce… by DanielR
There are many things in music typesetting that seem unnecessarily complicated and even absurd. But you have to understand that this is how things are often done, sometimes for silly reasons like tradition or whim of the composer. As a typesetter, unless you're also the composer of the music, or you are fine with editing it without composer's input, you have to deal with such situations. If you are the composer and you are doing your own typesetting, you can adjust your music to make it easier for yourself. But if, for example, you are making an urtext edition of a work of composer who died centuries ago, you can't just change the music to make it look "more logical" and easier to read. You have to be faithful to the original, no matter how illogical that may seem to you. You have to honour the wishes of the composer and the tradition. And in the end, it may actually not be illogical at all, there could actually be a very good reason for it, just not an obvious one. It's not up to us to question it, if we want to be faithful to the original.
So the answer to your question "Seriously?" is "Yes, seriously."
Short answer - "No".
You could do this non-standard notation with multiple Voices, time signatures with very high denominators and by hiding some notes etc. but I'm betting that if you showed this to 5 musicians you'd get 6 interpretations as to how it should sound.
Sure you can nest tuplets to get the "correct" interpretation; but you should in theory also fix the tuplet brackets as to indicate the first one doesn't and and the middle one should be split and the last one has an open start.
![331752-incomplete-tuplets.png]( "331752-incomplete-tuplets.png")
MuseScore can't do the open end/start on tuplets, but you could always consider masking those hooks with a plain white line on top of them.
Instead of the nested tuplets for the normal 1/8ths, you can also opt for notating them as dotted within the main 12:8 tuplet and then mark the dots invisible instead.