Symbols in Staff Text
Is there a way to insert a symbol (e.g. an accidental) into staff text? I'm trying to notate a Roman numeral chord progression using staff text, but when I insert "b" it remains a "b," and doesn't become a flat. I'd like it to look like this (the "b" should be a flat symbol):
bVI7
I also tried inserting a flat symbol with the symbol palette, to no avail.
If I try to insert this as a chord (Ctrl-K), the little b turns into a capital B.
Doug
Comments
Yes, it is, in Editmode press F2, then you can add the symbols from the dialog that pops up
Symbols can be added by pressing F2 while editing text. There are also shortcuts for the most commonly used one - eg, Ctrl+Shift+B for flat, Ctrl+(Shift)+# for sharp.
There are also specially designed fonts intended for Roman numeral analysis - they include the horizontal bars on the V, also allow for the superscripted numbers for inversions, etc.
In reply to Symbols can be added by by Marc Sabatella
Thanks to both of you, but when I add the flat it's placed too low. How to raise it? See:
In reply to Thanks to both of you, but by darkstream
Hmm, this is odd. When the flat symbol is part of an instrument name, an automatically generated part name, or a chord symbol, it's larger and much better positioned. Why the poor default positioning (and different poor default positionings) if added via Special Characters?
![Bb.png]( "Bb.png")
In reply to Hmm, this is odd. When the by Isaac Weiss
I believe these are different fonts, Free Serif vs Emmentaler Text or Bravura Text
In reply to Hmm, this is odd. When the by Isaac Weiss
I am not up on all the details, but I also believe there are different flat characters - the old standard Unicode ones and the new SMuFL ones. The old ones could be sized and positioned any old way, but the SMUFL ones are, I think, designed to be sized and positioned to look correct next to a SMuFL note character, which in turn is designed to look correct when placed relative to SMuFL staff line characters. In other words, to facilitate creating readable music in a reliable way using text only. But the characters may or may not look good in ordinary text. This was the issue we faced with thenote characters for metronome markings - the regular SMuFL note characters were not intended for that purpose, so they had to add new metronome mark glyphs just for that purpose. Perhaps ultimately they will need to do the same with accidentals and maybe other symbols.
In reply to Symbols can be added by by Marc Sabatella
Never mind, I figured it out by selecting the flat and adjusting using the format menu at bottom of the screen. Thanks again! :-)
Doug
In reply to Symbols can be added by by Marc Sabatella
Note for Mac users: on Mac it's command+shift+{symbol}
In reply to Note for Mac users: on Mac… by elraeburn@pacb…
But also, note for people in 2021 as opposed to 2015 - MuseScore now support Roman Numeral Analysis directly, no need to resort to staff text with symbols. Add / Text / Roman Numberal Analysis, then type normally, with "b" for flat etc. Numbers for inversions format themselves automatically, etc. See the Handbook for more info.
Go to edit/preferences/shortcuts, search for "roman", define the shortcut (I used Ctrl+Shift+R), save, and then you can type "bVI" and it should render correctly.