Beam cross from bass to treble staff

• Jul 24, 2023 - 15:28

I know there is a way to get a beam in a piano part to cross from from the bass to the treble staff (or vice versa). Can you point me to instructions on how to do that in Version 3?

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• Aug 9, 2023 - 22:38

Thanks for steering me to the correct part of the Handbook [https://musescore.org/en/handbook/3/cross-staff-notation].

What I was trying to do was insert an arpeggio of seven thirty-second notes going from a low E in the bass staff to a B in the treble staff. As far as I can determine, you CAN do this, but you can't get the stems to reverse direction when the grace notes cross to the upper staff. It works better to fudge it. What I did was to insert an extra eighth note in the preceding measure and make it into a septuplet and use that as a fake set of grace notes.

Here is the original that I was trying to transcribe:
montparnasseBeamCross.jpg

Here is what it looks like using grace notes:
Screen Shot 2023-08-09 at 5.32.15 PM.png

Here is what I ended up doing, adding an extra eighth note to the measure and using it for the arpeggio:
Screen Shot 2023-08-09 at 5.32.27 PM.png

I will probably try to do something to create more space between the staves so it doesn't look so squished.

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• Aug 10, 2023 - 08:31

Great!
I didn't even manage to copy your second picture when using the grace notes :-(
Maybe you can attach it for me?
There you should be able to drag the beam of the arpeggio upwards with the mouse.
To change the spacing between the notes or grace notes, you can change the chord offset in the inspector for every note individually.
Based on your second image and after changing the chord offset, it should be possible to hide the original bar line and put a fake bar line (lines palette) after the arpeggio notes. This will give you the correct timing and a visually correct sheet.

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• Aug 10, 2023 - 13:14

I didn't quite understand what you meant by, "I didn't even manage to copy your second picture when using the grace notes." So, I am just attaching that picture again. I am also going to see if I can attach the actual MuseScore file, which may be more useful. (NB: I am still using version 3 because I don't like the weird hesitation before the note sounds in version 4)

Cheers, Jake Sterling

Screen Shot 2023-08-09 at 5.32.15 PM.png

montparnasse_grace_notes.mscz

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• Aug 10, 2023 - 15:49

Thanks for the mscz file. I'm still using MuS 3 as well.
I thought you used the grace notes in the picture and I couldn't write that in cross staff notation - it probably doesn't work either. I wanted to know how you did it.

So grace notes don't go across measures, either they stay in the second measure as grace notes or you have to use your solution with extended first measure and the tuplet.
I have a variant with grace notes (see attachment, measure 2), which I moved with the x-offset from the chord to the left and the beams with the mouse upwards, so that it fits visually. But this only works in the second measure.

Unfortunately, all solutions do not match your template exactly - neither visually nor in playback.

Attachment Size
montparnasse_grace_notes-1.mscz 11.43 KB

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• Aug 10, 2023 - 20:21

Your grace note solution is very clever!
I think my second solution actually looks the most like the original—it's a little pokey in the playback, but my real purpose is to have a printable version, not to play it back on MuseScore, so I am satisfied—or I will be satisfied after I fiddle it around so the spacing looks better.

Thanks very much for your input. I learned a lot!

Jake

P.S. In case you are interested, the song is "Montparnasse," by Françis Poulenc.

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• Aug 11, 2023 - 14:07

That looks really good. In fact, I tried that, myself; but I couldn't get the septuplet to appear with only three beams (32nd notes or, what? "Demisemiquavers"? I am a little fuzzy on British terminology.) My septuplet came out with four beams—"hemidemisemiquavers"? Is there a trick for controlling the number of beams?

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