copying voices+ attached chords to another system (or another score)
I have the following problem.
I normally write my chord symbols on layer 4 (voice 4) attached to slashes. To be exact: I first fill layer 4 (voice 4) with slashes (using the slash plugin) and then attach the chords. The melody notes (or chords or rests) are in layer(voice) 1.
I want now to copy layer 4 (with the chords) to other staves in the same score or - mainly used - to other parts, extracted from the score.
Example: I've written an arrangement for a small combo (Piano, bass, drums. sax, trumpet) and I want all separate parts haven the chords (in concert pitch). Normally I write the chords in the bass part and copy them then to sax, trumpet & piano parts.By writing them on layer 4 and setting the slashes invisible I then simply copy layer 4 of the bass part to layer 4 of the other parts. (this by the way was in Finale). But in Musescore 1.3 I did not succeed. I assume that is so because only the notes and appended structure of layer one (sorry: voice one) are used in the copy procedure and the only the notes on the other layers(voices).
I hope this is solved in 2.0 but I have not succeeded in installing it (on Xubuntu 14.04), notwithstanding the helpful comments of several members but I will remain trying.
Can somebody help me out as doing it by hand is extremely boring ans extremely apt to errors!
Thanks in advance,
Joep
Comments
Well, my first comment is that in 2.0, you will no longer need a slash plugin - the slash functionality is built in, and they won't transpose, either. So that much will definitely be better.
Meanwhile, though, in both 1.3 and 2.0, I think are trying to use a method of entry that made sense at one time for Finale but doesn't really for MuseScore.
First, there is no reason to enter invisible slashes at all just to be able to enter chords on any beat. You can enter chords on any beat you wish in MuseScore - just hit Space after entering a chord to move to the next beat, whether or not there is a chord (or slash) there. Actually, Space moves to the next note or beat, so you're covered either way. So you can leave your invisible-slash-in-voice-four trick with Finale. Actually, I think they've fixed that too in more recent vertsion, but I remember using a similar workaround years ago.
In 1.3, it is indeed impossible to copy just voice 4 to another staff (this becomes possible in 2.0). So when you copy your slashes, you get the contents of voice 1 too, even if it's empty.
So the solution is simple - just enter the chords into voice 1 in the first place. Then copy this to your other staves *before* you enter the notes for those parts. If you entered the notes already into the destination parts, you can still work around this - you'll just need to copy the destination part on top of the chords first (you can use a scratch staff for this), which basically merges them, then copy the result back.
In reply to Well, my first comment is by Marc Sabatella
Marc,
Thanks for your comment but I'm inclined to disagree.
First, if there is no "item" on the beat (note, rest, slash, etc.) a chord can not be attached to the beat.=, therefore the use of slashes on voice 4.
Secondly, especially the fact that you can copy the chords to layer 4 (where no notes or complex chords or note-sequences are written) makes it easy to write chirds.
Thirdly, as composer/arranger I don't know before I have written the score which chords I want to write. In one case you use a simple F7 in another place (where in an "improvisation" you want) a completely different chord, e.g. B7+9.
The workaround you suggest is not simple in e.g. 19-piece big-band arrangement. Therefore my plea for a method to copy layers between systems (instead of simply exchanges voices).
Sorry for my mix of voices and layers.
U hope you see my point,
Thanks in advance,
Joep
In reply to Marc, Thanks for your comment by J.L. Blom
The version of Finale you have might not let you attach a chord symbol to a beat with no chord/rest, but I promise, MuseScore does. Try it: click the first note of a measure (or the measure rest if empty), Ctrl+K to enter a chord, type your chord, then hit Space. The cursor moves to beat 2 even if there is no note there. You can now enter a chord on beat 2.
As mentioned, 2.0 will already allow copying of just one voice, so the feature you ask for is already implemented. It will also allow copying of the chord symbols directly. I was simply giving you a workaround for now.
In reply to The version of Finale you by Marc Sabatella
Thanks, Marc,
I'll try and mention the results. If people are interested I can publish some of the arrangements I wrote for 2 piano's of jazz standards (like, Caravan, Autumn Leaves (actually ,Les feuilles mortes)) as I only see transcriptions of classical works or original compositions and I don't know if it is interesting for others.
Sincerely yours
Joep