How to put graphical elements and symbols beneath the song title?
Hi there!
As former user of Sibelius I am currently migrating all my stuff to MuseScore. The differences how to do things keep me looking into help texts and videos what makes this tedious.
I couldn't find a solution to my current "problem" and would like to know, if there is a way to do it and how :)
Below screenie is, how the headline of the first page should look like (taken from Sibelius). How can this be done in MuseScore?
I want to prepare a preset I will reuse for all I create so this shouldn't be an image. The symbols and the numbers in the boxes must be editable. The song title and subtitle shall remain centered to the page width.
Would be great if s.o. could lead me through the process.
Thank you
Manuel
Comments
Possibility: put your text in the Header (Format / Style / Header & footer). Check to Show on first page. This text will show on all pages so this may not be what you want.
Another possibility: put that text into the "Composer" field (Add / Text / Composer) and adjust its location. This will appear only on the first page.
FYI: the abbreviation "s.o." most commonly means "Significant Other", meaning one's spouse / lover / sweetheart. :-) It does not mean "someone" as it appears you meant.
In reply to Possibility: put your text… by TheHutch
Thank you for answering.
Indeed, I do not want to have it on all pages. I'm also heavily struggeling to position text and I have no idea on how to put text over text (like multi layers of transparent paper which hold a part of the whole thing to display).
I'm missing the functionality to put text in a box and draw it around with my mouse to the place I want it to be.
The problem I see is, that I need textboxes with a solid margin that have to have a fixed position. Then I need more text boxes, that allow for text that is turned by 90°. And another text box that allows for the symbols (which stem from Wingdings btw.). And all this must be somehow stacked on top of the song title as this shall keep centered on the page width.
Regarding the abbreviation: you're right about what I ment. Should have written "so." instead of "s.o."
In reply to Thank you for answering… by manuelgrauman
Don't use your mouse to drag the text box. Instead, select the box itself (dotted, "invisible" lines) and adjust its "Offset" in the Properties tab / Appearance section.
To give a text box a border, go to the Properties tab / Text / Show More / Border. You have the options for "None", rectangular, or circular. (The latter is, in my opinion, only very rarely usable.)
As far as I know, there is no way to rotate text, by 90 degrees or any other angle. I hope I'm mistaken (someone will tell us if I am), but I don't think I am: sorry.
There is no way to "connect" one text box to another, so "stacking" the text fields "on top of the song title" is completely meaningless.
The example you showed had the oddball text not centered but off in the upper right. If you want something centered and connected to the title why not put the text in the Title field. You can size different parts of the Title text differently and you can include special characters in the Title field. There's also the Subtitle field which is also centered and is (normally!) situated directly beneath the Title. Or you could add "System Text" attached to the beginning of the score but moved (with "Offset") to immediately under the Title text box. See the example below.
[A few moments later] I had forgotten: you can put multiple text fields in a vertical frame. This is commonly used to provide multiple verses to a song beneath the score in multiple columns. Here's an example of that:
In reply to Don't use your mouse to drag… by TheHutch
Yeah I alredy learned that I cannot really move anything with the mouse. I have to stick to the layout parts of the elements but that is also fine, as long as I can accomplish, what I'm trying to do.
Please show me inside your example, how you put text on the right page margin in the same row as the word "Title", that does not move and does not impact anything, when the length of the "Title" changes.
Regarding the 90° text: This is a part that I could also do by an image, as those numbers do not change. Just the numbers inside the boxes would change as well as the special symbols.
And to clarify a bit: It is important that everything stays in the same area above. I have no room to put things under the title to get around this, as I want as many music on one page as possible (viewing this later on tablet).
Template.mscz
All elements are simple editable texts from the header frame's right-click menu.
![Lorem2.png]( "Lorem2.png")
I can't find a way to rotate text without using images. Maybe a redesign?
To layer elements, use the stacking order:
![Layer.png]( "Layer.png")
But that was not needed in the above template.
Here's the Wingding text in blue, stacked behind the title:
![stacking.png]( "stacking.png")
In reply to [inline:Lorem.png] [inline… by yonah_ag
Now this is, what I'm talking about :D
I downloaded the template and it looks exactly, as I expected. Thank you!
Now I have to find the Z-Index field (Stacking order) in MuseScore 4.5 as I don't see it in my menu.
In reply to Now this is, what I'm… by manuelgrauman
You don't need the Z-index for that template as the texts do not overlap.
(The last image with blue texts shows overlap.)
In reply to Now this is, what I'm… by manuelgrauman
Layers come in useful for shadow texts and images. In this example the white texts have an offset layered black shadow behind them to help them to stand out:
![Layers2.png]( "Layers2.png")
In reply to Layers come in useful for… by yonah_ag
Oh I did not say, that I need to do anything about what you have provided. This is great work!
I just want to understand how I can do this on my own, if I need it sometime in the future.
Found it by the way, but I do not have a field to put a number on. There are only 4 buttons to "bring to front" or "send to back" completely or by 1 layer.
In reply to Oh I did not say, that I… by manuelgrauman
OK, sounds like it's been re-engineered in MS4 for ease of use.
In reply to OK, sounds like it's been re… by yonah_ag
Guess the main problem I had was, that I could not find a text type that can be placed without relation to a bar/note. And next how to put it in another layer.
Thank you again!
Now I can proceed to refurbish ~400 Sibelius files. The XML export was a great help, but the results need quite much work on layout.
In reply to Guess the main problem I had… by manuelgrauman
400!
You are going to be kept busy. Maybe this could be automated.
In reply to 400! You are going to be… by yonah_ag
Its all short piano pieces about 50 ~ 70 bars long.
Don't believe there is an automated way to repair the missing repeats and rit. lines or the slur placement above or below the notes. Guess everything could not be exported/imported via XML but that is not a problem.
I know, I wrote "much work on layout" above... The file I peeked into was a bad sample. Some others I saw today look much much better.
In reply to [inline:Lorem.png] [inline… by yonah_ag
@yonah_ag said ...
> "All elements are simple editable texts from the header frame's right-click menu."
"Header frame"? Doesn't that imply that it will be on every page? I think OP said that was not acceptable for their needs (?)
In reply to > "All elements are simple… by TheHutch
No, it's the start of score header frame and only appears on the first page.
Download the template and have a play.
In reply to No, it's the start of score… by yonah_ag
Yes it is only on page one.
I did some adjustment though. The problem with the text boxes with the margin line: they change size depending on content. As I did not find a way to create empty text boxes with the margin, I put an image behind them and did some fine adjustment. Now everything works as intended.
In reply to Yes it is only on page one… by manuelgrauman
Nice fix. Space characters in specific font sizes can sometimes help. Alternatively white "#" characters in the box to set a fixed size, overlaid with black, (non-boxed), numbers.
In reply to No, it's the start of score… by yonah_ag
Oh, I've always referred to that as the "title frame" ... but that should prolly apply only to the the actual "Title". Yeah, "Score header frame" is a better name, but when you called it only the "Header frame", I confused it with the "Page header". I understand now.
In reply to Oh, I've always referred to… by TheHutch
No, "Title Frame" is better. It's the frame which contains all the title info and it avoids the possible confusion with page header.