cue notes in parts

• May 30, 2023 - 21:44

How do I enter cue notes in parts without altering the score?


Comments

Add the cue notes in an unused voice. Make the cues invisible in the score. Currently the content of parts must be identical to that in the score.

Some thought is being given to how cues can be handled more simply in future releases including automatic linkage between the cued-in and cued-to parts and cue visibility in the score (see https://github.com/musescore/MuseScore/issues/13570 for example) but it is early days yet.

In reply to by SteveBlower

You need to make sure that cue notes are not only invisible, but also that they don't play.
Here is my current recipe (not pretending it is the best):
1. Open the score
2. On the instrument receiving the cues, select the measures there you want to add cues from another instrument, then do:
Tools -> Voices -> Exchange voice 1-2
This creates two voices for the selected measures, with one voice composed only of rest(s).
3. Copy the cue notes from the other instrument. You might have to split the measure rest first. Depending on where you want the voices to be (i.e cue from a higher or lower instrument), you might want to click again on Tools -> Voices -> Exchange voice 1-2
4. Select the cue notes, then go to the Properties tab and:
- Toggle OFF Visible
- Toggle ON Cue size
- Toggle OFF Play
5. (the part I find very annoying): Move the visible rests so that they look good on the score. Unfortunately, despite the fact that all the cue voice is now invisible, MuseScore is not smart enough to place rests for the instrument part correctly on the score (that is, in the same place as it would be it there were only one voice). Worse, whole measure rest cannot always simply be dragged where they belong with a click, you often have to right-click on the rest, then select Edit Element, and only then can you move the rest where it belongs.
6. Add the name of the cued instrument (I use Staff text), then make it invisible on the score
7. Now go to the part for the instrument:
- make sure cue notes have both Visible and Cue Size toggled ON (not always the case). You may want to modify the orientations of a few things (slurs, articulations) as MuseScore does not always place them well.
- on the cue voice, render invisible the rests before the first note and after the last note.
- make sure the Staff text is Visible and placed properly.
Given the hassle to currently do this properly, it is an understatement to say it should be done "more simply in the future".

In reply to by prigault

Should this method allow an otherwise empty staff to remain hidden in the score, or will it always show up when it shouldn't. I'm pretty sure that's exactly the method I used here (Bass Clarinet has cue notes in bars 155–156), but I can't seem to get the staff to hide. It's not "empty", but is there a way to hide it as though it is truly empty, since nothing is actually visible?

Attachment Size
Cue notes making staff visible.png 139.25 KB

In reply to by hamsandwichnow

Unfortunately that still doesn't hide the system. Even if you edit every measure on that staff in the system to be invisible, it still takes up the same amount of space, and the bracket and instrument name are still visible. It basically turns it into a cutaway staff that takes up the same space even when it's all hidden.

In reply to by mikechadyt

The "Play" button is only present on the main score, and not on the parts.
This limitation is unfortunate, as I could see many advantages of having the ability to toggle notes as played or not in the parts. Both in a synchronized way (i.e note toggled in part automatically toggled i the score) or in a part-only way (e.g produce a sound file with specific cue notes played just for a given part).
There has been improvements in synchronization between score and parts in 4.2. It would be nice if it addressed this limitation. I cannot speak for these changes however, as I have no interest in testing 4.2, which forces the format of the scores to be changed in a non backwards compatible manner.
(file format changes in minor revisions = questionable design decisions).

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