Cross-staff notation

In piano scores, it is common to write a musical phrase extending across both staves—bass and treble. This can be entered in MuseScore as follows:

1. To start with, enter the notation in one staff. e.g.

2. Select a note and press Ctrl+Shift+↓/↑ (Mac: Cmd+Shift+↓/↑). This moves the selected note, and all other notes in the same voice, down (or up) to the other staff, e.g.

   Note: It follows that if you want to ensure that notes remain on the same staff during the operation, they should be in a different voice to the one selected above. Be aware that notes which have been moved to a different staff still belong logically to the staff of origin. This is why no rest is shown in the place where the moved notes originated.

3. To adjust the beam, double-click it to show the handles. Use the keyboard arrows or drag the handles to change the beam angle and height:

See also

• Barlines: How to extend barlines over multiple staves.
• Beams: How to adjust beam angle and height.

External links

• How to span a chord or stem over two staves (MuseScore HowTo)