Key Signatures
Hello, I am working on a concert band piece that eventually undergoes a key change into concert E major. I am impressed with how MuseScore 2.0 will automatically change the key of all the instruments, but in concert E major, there are some instruments whose key signatures show up as sharps, when I want them in flats (i.e. in concert E major, I want the key signature for the alto sax to be 5 flats, not 7 sharps). Is there a way to fix this?
Comments
I recently discovered the following, and somewhat hidden, solution (it's currently not documented in the handbook and I'm reluctant to add it because I'm not sure whether or not this is intentional by design):
1. In the alto sax part (not the score), select the default key signature (7 sharps)
2. Hit F2 (shifts the key sig for the alto part only up a tone to 2 sharps), then...
3. Hit shift+F2 (shifts the key sig for the alto part only back down to the original key, but this time displays it enharmonically as 5 flats, leaving the score displaying the original 4 sharps)
IMO, a more intuitive solution would be to select the key signature in the part and just hit the "j" key once (which is the default key to change note enharmonics), but sadly this currently doesn't work.
It would be nice, though, if there were an option to automatically minimise the number of accidentals in key signatures for transposing parts (as in Sibelius, for example).
In reply to I recently discovered the by Xasman
Thank you! This is exactly what I was looking for!
This is indeed not currently supported. The subject does come up from time to time. I continue to wonder if players of transposing instruments really would prefer 5 flats to 7 sharps - it seems to me, and from what many of them have told me, they they are *much* more accustomed to sharps than flats because of the transposition, and would therefore prefer the sharps. I'm always looking for more feedback on that point.
Anyhow, I'm open to suggestions on how an option could be presented. I could imagine the option being score-wide (a Style setting), or per staff (in Staff Properties) or per key signature (set in Inspector, or by "J"), etc. My sense is per score would actually be simplest for the user and sufficient, but comments are welcome.
In reply to This is indeed not currently by Marc Sabatella
Hi Marc,
My preference for this would be to add a score-wide option (in Style Settings) to minimise the number of key signature accidentals in instrumental parts, but with the possibility to override the with the "J" key after selecting the key signature in any specific part or parts where desired.
As a saxophonist, I can give you some feedback on key signature preferences :). One of my teachers used to say "There's no such thing as a difficult key, only an unfamiliar key". I think that's true, and it also represents a good mental attitude. However, despite best efforts during practice, I still tend to prefer (transposed) sharp keys simply because I usually find myself spending more time playing in those keys in the real world, and they are therefore inherently more familiar.