MU4 add measure

• Jun 19, 2023 - 23:07

Chromebook/Linux i5 8gig
Please add another 3/4 measure before the first 5/8 meas (bar3). How?

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Untitled score.mscz 16.37 KB

Comments

In reply to by R. L. F.

Do you know how to do that?
If not, yes, it's a bit special.
Here's what I recommend:

  • Select bar 2, the one with 3/4 time signature.
  • Press the insert key, an empty measure will appear before measure 2 (previous counting).
  • Copy the notes from now measure 3 to measure 2 (Ctrl-X, Ctrl-V)
  • write new notes in measure 3

In reply to by HildeK

HildeK
Yes. That is what has to be done. My attempt was to point out this is not working as it should. There are two ways for adding a meas. Before the highlight meas or barline and after the highlighted meas or barline. Unfortunately, as it is now both of these options give exactly the same result. For me neither is the way I needed it to be, without going through the extra steps as you mentioned. Both of the options are giving the same result, so why have both? I think one is wrong and needs to be changed. I actually want the blank meas to be after the 3/4 meas. Thanks for your comment.

In reply to by R. L. F.

Because Jojo-Schmitz wrote: "But Mu4 should not be too different here", I explained how I would do this in MuS 3.
The main problem in your case seems to be that an insertion is always before the selected measure. You want to have an insert function that inserts an empty measure after the selected measure.

Normally this is not a problem, but here it is, because the time signature changes from measure to measure.
If the starting point is the 5/8 measure, a 5/8 measure will be inserted. This is working as it should.
If the starting point is the 3/4 measure, then the empty 3/4 measure is inserted before the existing notes. Also workin as it should, because an insertion is always before the selected measure.
There is a missing option to select that you want to insert after the selected measure. Maybe this could be brought in as a feature request. But your constellation is rather rare.
In most cases, you always have the same time signature and only rarely a change. Then you simply choose the insertion point correctly - or you have to make one or two steps more.

In reply to by HildeK

HildeK
Sorry for taking so long to respond. The last few days have been back and forth posts with Marc. He explaining that no consensus could be agreed upon for how to do insert in MU4. So, for some reason they gave 2 options that both give the same results. I also must say in my original post I completely forgot to mention I was dealing with MU4. Unfortunately MU4 IS different. It only puts the added measure(s) after the following measure or in my case the new meter sign.
You are confusing me a little with this post, because in MU3 if you highlight the first measure and then go to add-measures menu the new measure will be added after that . This is how it should be, but as I said in MU4 this is not where it occurs. Above you say the insertion is always before the selected measure?

May I ask a big favor and have you take 30 seconds to do this in MU3 for me. Open MU3, new score, skip and select treble voice, skip to finish. You will have an empty score 32 bars the first meas is 4/4. Highlight the 2nd bar and add a new meter 3/4. Then back and highlight the 1st bar, go up to add menu , open drop to measures select insert, click and hit OK for one measure. Look at score and the new measure should be bar 2. If you would then let me know, I would greatly appreciate knowing your result.(in MU4 it will be added After the 3/4 bar) Thanks for your comments and if you have time your help with all of this!

In reply to by R. L. F.

It seems to me that MU4 is doing just what you ask it to. But maybe not what you want. In your scenario:

  1. Select measure 2. insert 1 measure before. Result-1 3/4 measure before that measure.
  2. Then insert 1 measure after. Result - 1 3/4 measure after that measure.
  3. Select measure 1. Insert 1 measure before. Result - 1 4/4 measure before that measure.
  4. Insert 1 measure after. Result - 1 3/4 measure after that measure.

For result 1, I probably wanted a 4/4 measure.
For result 4, I also wanted a 4/4 measure.

I don't see that the different options are getting the same results. Measures are being added before and after. But it is the time signatures that make it seem to not work as I might like.

I put notes in the measures so that I could track what was happening.

In reply to by bobjp

Sorry. I have been going back and forth on this so much I am not sure I am following. Are you saying if you select meas 2 and use insert before that meas, you are getting the meter of the meas before ie: meas 1 in that added measure? Because I am not ! I get another meas same meter as bar 2. And when I select bar one and add a meas after I also get same meter as bar 2. No difference either way. Both options, insert before highlighted and insert after highlighted, give the same result.

In reply to by R. L. F.

Yes, insert before or after measure two result in a 3/4 measure being added. But not in the same place. Just as the tool says, one is inserted before measure two and one is inserted after measure two. The difference is hard to see with blank measures. So technically the result is not the same. It depends on if there are notes in the measures in question.
The problem comes if you want an 4/4 measure after measure 1.

In reply to by bobjp

Yes! That is the problem. Guess I did not remember the difference even with notes. I simply was not getting the meas after the highlighted meas and Before the following measure, which is what I needed. It may be semantics, but both options give results after the 3/4 bar line not in front of the bar line.
Thanks for the thoughts. Just wanted to make sure you were not getting something different. MU3 on the other hand Does give the added measure(s) before the bar line as some/many of us would like.

In reply to by R. L. F.

I don't really have a use for MU3. It isn't even loaded on my new computer. I've stayed in this thread because sometimes I like puzzles. I see several ways to get an empty 4/4 measure before the 3/4 measure. Not complicated. But certainly more steps then we may want.

  1. Select measure one, and insert one measure after.
  2. Select measure three ( this used to be measure two) and add 3/4 time signature.
  3. Select measure two and add 4/4 time signature. Then delete the 4/4 symbol.

Even more fun:

  1. Select the 3/4 meter symbol in measure two and change it to 4/4. Then delete the 4/4 symbol.
  2. Add one measure after measure one.
  3. Add 3/4 meter to measure three.

As well as many more.

I know this doesn't help much. But it's what we have.

In reply to by bobjp

I WAS WRONG! MU3 does not work different.
Your 1st #1 is what is needed. Unfortunately, Musescore does not offer this option. No way to put empty meas behind highlighted meas and still in the same meter. In My normal situation with 2nd #1 is there are notes in that meas and you now changed a lot of the following meas. Hopefully they would be back to normal after you got through adding and remetering? I do not think/know I would want to try. That is why I find the need for simply adding the measure behind the highlight meas. That's for your thoughts on this. I like a puzzle also, but only if IT is solvable. :)

In reply to by R. L. F.

> May I ask a big favor...
Yes, of course, with pleasure!

I hope I understood everything correctly, then this is the result in MuS 3.6.2:
Starting point with staff text for measure number:
First.png

Define new time signature 3/4 for measure 2:
Second.png

Then I selected measure 1 and "Add/Measures/Insert one Measure" gives this result:
Third.png

You can see that the inserted measure is now measure 1.
Does it help?

Edit: Pics replaced for more clarity.

In reply to by HildeK

Thanks!! That is exactly what I was asking. You did not need to be quite as elaborate with your response. A simple yes would have been fine. I do wonder how you know the inserted measure is M1. I 'believe' if we had numbered the measures before the added bar would now be meas 2. We may be saying the same thing I just am not following your thoughts. Either way we say it, the added meas is before the new meter. That was all I was hoping to confirm. Thank you very much for the help.
In the long run it may not make any difference, but it shows I am not the only seeing this. I will try to get back to you next week with further details.
Thanks again for doing this!

In reply to by R. L. F.

> I do wonder how you know the inserted measure is M1.
Using staff text, I first marked the two measures with M1 and M2.
Then I added the additional measure. Now a new measure appears to the left of M1.
Repeat this, but instead of a staff, put a note in M1. Then add a measure while M1 is selected. The note is then in the new M2.

In reply to by HildeK

Yes. I finally guessed this was what was happening. Should have put note in each meas then would have seen. Unfortunately, there is just no way to add the meas following the first measure. Still in the 4/4 meter. Or before the 2nd meas in the 4/4 meter. This is what is needed in this case. Musescore does not allow this option.
Thanks again for your help. Much appreciated! You went above and beyond. Back to work!

In reply to by R. L. F.

FWIW, I agree it would be nice if insert before and append after did different things in this respect. But there have been tons of discussions about this over the years with little consensus on what actually makes sense - just as many people find one behavior more intuitive as the other it seems.

In reply to by Marc Sabatella

As I said, a rather rare problem.
If the " Append measure " function had been implemented differently, his problem would have been solved.

I think that you don't need the 'Append' function the way it works now. It only appends measures to the end of the score. It was confusing for me at first, but everyone has to learn how to use the respective software.

Still, I think it would have been better if 'Append' would add measures after the selected measure. And if I want to append measures at the end of the score, I can also select the last measure and then execute 'Append'. So it would be possible to do both.
Don't get me wrong: I get along fine with my described workaround. Just my two cents :-).

In reply to by HildeK

Even coming from years of using other notation software, I had to look up the meaning of "append". It meant nothing to me as far as notation goes. It seems to me that you add measures in one of 4 places. And as stated, the OP problem was the meter changes.
Perhaps in cases like that the popup should include a meter option.

In reply to by bobjp

The option for adding says: before the highlighted meas/barline(as I think of it) and after the highlighted meas/barline. As the options work now, the results are the same. Something is wrong. Why have two ways if they both give the same result? This is not effective or definitely not efficient with the extra steps needed to get the final result in the score. Thanks for the comment.

In reply to by Marc Sabatella

Marc
I am not having a problem with insert or append. My problem, I guess as usual I am not making clear, is that both options are now giving the same result. There is no option to place the new meas after the first meas. In my example both versions stick the new meas after the 5/8 measure barline. This just makes for extra work when you want a meas of, in this case, the 3/4 meas. This is not how this has worked in the past. This is not effective or, diffently, not efficient. I do not think 'tons of discussions' were after this result. This was my only reason for bringing this to attention.

In reply to by R. L. F.

I think that this is what is happening: Select a measure. Add a measure after that measure. MuseScore looks at the meter after the selected measure and add another measure of that meter. Add a measure before the selected measure. MuseScore adds a measure of the meter of the selected measure before the selected measure.
Normally this is not a problem. Except in the OP case of different meters.
I guess the question could be why doesn't MuseScore just add a measure using the meter of the selected measure?

In reply to by R. L. F.

You are perfectly clear, and I am agreeing with you :-). I am just also pointing out that the reason they both produce the same result is that after years of back and forth discussions about this, people have been able to agree on which result should go with which command.

I think you are mistaken about this not being how it worked in the past. In the past, there weren't even two commands, just one (insert before current measure). And it worked exactly as both commands do now - the inserted measure goes into the new, not the old, time signature. Now that there are two different commands, it would be great if one of them adding the new measure in the old time signature, and the other added in the new. What people havben't been able to agree on is which command should do which.

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