Cannot delete the instrument name for a score in version 1.0

• Mar 3, 2011 - 01:48

I'm trying to delete the instrument name and abbreviations from a score that reside on the left side of the page. In version 0.9.6.3 all I had to do was click on the text to select it and delete it. In the current version I cannot select the instrument name or abbreviated names.

StevenD


Comments

This is been discussed at length since the release of 1.0. You must click in an empty part of any measure, choose measure properties, and clear out the instrument name and abbreviated name.

In reply to by sven2011

BTW, I notice that in the nightly builds, if you right-click directly on the instrument name you now have the option of selecting Staff Properties. That's a nice improvement.

Personally, I'd be more concerned at this point about trying to reduce the number of times people have to do this in the first place. Right now, I suspect it comes up most often because people seem more inclined to create new scores from scratch than from templates; templates would hopefully already have appropriate staff naming. So why not add a checkbox under the instrument list in create new score from scratch that controls whether the staff name fields are populated or not?

If you wanted to be *really* clever, you'd make that box default to not generate names for scores that contain just one part. For scores of two parts, perhaps have the long name populated but not the short, so the first system only is labeled. Logistically, I could imagine you might need to place that option in the next screen of the wizard, because all scores start start off with no parts at all, and you don't want that box toggling itself as you add or delete parts.

Or, forget the checkbox and just make the defaults as I suggested. Long & short names for large scores, no names for one-part scores, long names only for two-part scores. I'll bet that would be right 90% of the time, and between that and the ability to right click staff names, we'd *drastically* cut down on the number of times people ask about this!

In reply to by Marc Sabatella

I just didn't think of it. I just tried it out and it doesn't seem to be much different from making one from scratch except for the instrument selection. I guess I will have to start using that template more so I can bypass the instrument selection. I still think a check box on the instrument part of the wizard to allow users to choose whether they want to include instrument names or not is a good idea.

Thanks for the heads up and reminder.

In reply to by StevenD

I don't know what else night or might be different in that template since I have my own that I use instead, but the point is, if there is a particular type of score you create lots of, you should be using a template for it, for just this sort of reason. No point in having repeat the same steps for every new document. In general, I get the sense templates are probably underused - not just in MuseScore, but in other programs too. But it's amazing how much repetitive work they can save, so I like to try to spread the religion.

In reply to by Marc Sabatella

Yes I think I would agree with you for the most part. You may be using Musescore more than I do. When I start using a new application I usual bypass the templates and do things from scratch so I can see and learn how the programs work. After that I start working with the short cuts. And of course it is easy to stuck in a rut. Your comments have been good reminders to learn the short cuts. The idea hasn't entered my mind to make my own template for some reason. I do use my own templates in a forms authoring application. Anyway thanks for the helpful comments. I really like this application.

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