2 notation questions - stem direction and rests.

• Jul 22, 2022 - 22:51

In the snippet attached, I had to change the lowest note's stem from down to up because of interference with the footer.

I expect that is allowed. (Confirmation?)
As to the 1/2 rest prior, can I make it invisible or is it required?

Thanks.

Screenshot 2022-07-22 174302.png

Comments

SteveBlower

• Jul 22, 2022 - 23:07

Yes, it is allowed
It depends... If you want to indicate clearly that there are two independent voices - presumably continuing something similar in a previous measure or being continued in later measures then I think the rest is useful. In this case however I think it looks like the second voice really exists only in the second half of the measure with a big clue provided by the 8th rest on beat 3. In that case it is probably safe to omit the half rest. It would certainly look cleaner Rather than deleting it I would make it invisible. Deleting it makes later editing more complicated. The rest may need to be replaced if you later want to add something in voice 2 in the first half of the measure.

xavierjazz

• Jul 23, 2022 - 00:29

Thanks.

... " ... then I think the rest is useful. In this case however I think it looks like the second voice really exists only in the second half of the measure with a big clue provided by the 8th rest on beat 3." ...

You understand completely. :)

Marc Sabatella

• Jul 23, 2022 - 01:46

This is all good advice, but I would add, in general, even though you can do these things, as a pianist and editor, I would recommend it against them both most of the time. Stem down and show the rest is definitely preferable unless something about the surrounding context or space available on the demands sacrificing readability. MuseScore should be automatically adding space as needed to keep the music out of the footer, unless there is something else going on we can't tell from just the picture (like invisible staves).

If I needed to save space - or even if I didn't but just wanted to improve readability by decluttering the page - I'd lose the pedal markings. like fingerings, pedal markings are normally seen as editorial additions for the benefit of beginners but mostly ignored by pianists who might actually be called on to play things like this. Experienced pianists generally prefer to work out their own fingering and pedaling.