Cadenzas

• Feb 5, 2016 - 05:27

Hello everyone.

I am working on a transcription of an existing work, and certain parts I am picking up and carrying to my work intact (it is public domain). The problem I am having is with a cadenza that I am including as an attachment to this post - it is in Microsoft word .doc format, since I can't get it into a MuseScore format to begin with....... cadenza example.doc

I was trying to install this cadenza into a full band score in the Alto Sax line. The time signature for the work is not shown in the sample - it is 6/8. As you can see the non-solo parts work out to 9/8; I'm not sure what the solo line is. I have looked through the handbook and forum posts, and came up with the idea of using the local time properties feature to set the time for the measure in question, but I am having problems. I can set the global time properties for everyone else to 9/8, and I can drag the local time signature to the Alto Sax line, and it shows up on the line as expected. I understand how to hide this so that it isn't printed, but I can't change the number of beats in the measure. When I click on measure properties, it allows me to change the numbers printed in the time signature, but not the actual number of beats in the measure.

Basically, what I need is an open measure with no time signature applied. How can I do this? Are there any suggestions out there on how you would do it?

Thanks in advance.

Jerry


Comments

I'd avoid local time signatures if possible as potentially causing too much trouble when it comes to making changes to your score, copying and pasting etc. and just because it is basically unnecessary to resort to them.

Changing the actual duration of a measure seems to be more stable. For cadenzas I usually roughly count the number of beats in measure and then set the duration to a bit longer than that. Then I enter the cadenza and then I adjust the actual duration to make it near enough exact. Where the cadenza is going to take up more than one line then I use more than one measure and hide the barline if appropriate.

For your example I'd create two measures of 40/8 since there are maybe 40 eighth notes in each part of the cadenza. In other words, I would right-click on a measure of 6/8 and change its actual duration to 40/8 and then do the same for the next measure. Then enter the notes and either make the actual duration longer if it needs it or trim it down to avoid excessive rests. Then enter the rests in the "non-solo" parts and adjust them, make some invisible etc, or whatever it takess to get the appearance that you want.

The simplest way to do that is to select several measures and join them into one as-long-as-necessary measure (using Edit > Measure > Join Measures); enter the full cadenza; split the measure after the end of the cadenza (using Edit > Measure > Split Measure); and delete the unneeded extra measure fragment (using Edit > Measure > Delete Selected Measures.)

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