Different voices for drums
Hello there, so, I am trying to write for drums, and I want every single drum sound to be in voice one, but I really don't know how to do that, because I am visually impaired, and I saw a person do it on YouTube but I couldn't see what he was doing. I have a MacBook Pro if that helps.
Comments
Select all the notes and change to voice one from the toolbar. If the note values interfere, this will not work.
Can you explain more about why you want all the notes in voice 1? If it's because one particular passage would be easier to read that way, you can select the voice 1 button after selecting the note on the palette. But if it's that you want the notation style in which everything is always forced to voice one (and are sure the people reading your score will share that preference - it's quite unusual!), then use the "Edit drumset" button to change the defaults.
In reply to Can you explain more about… by Marc Sabatella
One voice is not unusual at all in drum notation. Citing Weinberg's "Guide to standardized drum notation": "It is recommended that all drumset music be written in one or two voices".
In reply to One voice is not unusual at… by RobFog
Well, yes, if it's extremely simple - like a nothing but a snare drum beat - it can be written in one voice, but anything that normally would use two voices is normally written using two voices. Artificially forcing it all into one voice is unusual. Not unheard of by any means, but check published music that includes drum parts, I'd say less than 5% uses the everything-forced-into-a-single-voice approach.
In reply to Well, yes, if it's extremely… by Marc Sabatella
I don't know what a "snare drum beat" is. A drum beat usually involves a timekeeping pattern played on a cymbal as well as hits on the snare drum and bass drum.
"but anything that normally would use two voices is normally written using two voices." Again, that is not true. I'm a drum teacher and currently writing my master's thesis on drum notation. I've reviewed plenty of published music, teaching materials, transcriptions, … In my experience, one-voice notation is very frequently used in published music, and certainly much more than 5%. In fact, arguably the largest website for drum lessons in the world, Drumeo, uses one-voice notation most of the time.
In reply to I don't know what a "snare… by RobFog
By "snare drum beat" I simply mean, a pattern that involves just snare drum and nothing else. Obviously that will always involve a single voice only. But anything that involves both hands and feet is normally notated in two voices. I'm not talking about instructional materials from specialty publishers; I'm talking about actual drumset notation from band arrangements and transcriptions from major publishers. Sounds like you have access to a large collection; I'd love to see some actual numbers!
In reply to By "snare drum beat" I… by Marc Sabatella
The problem I was having was that I was using the default settings and Musescore behaived like I was playing a chord. It was putting both the kick and snare on the same beat, making it play both of them at the same time. I figured it out, though. Thanks!
In reply to I don't know what a "snare… by RobFog
In any event, as mentioned, if you do wish to use the one-voice-always style, simply edit your drumset definition to produce that result. No need to quibble over whether this applies to 5% of all published drum music or 8% :-)