separating staves, entering text
Does anyone out there know if it is possible to separate staves and enter narrative between the staves. I'm writing a scale book, and I'd like to be able to enter explanations on how to practice the following examples in-between the staves.
Comments
Select a measure and insert a vertical frame. Right click on the frame and add text
Vertical frames as shown above work, and are flexible in that you can add multiple text elements to arrange them in columns, also you can add images, etc. But for most cases, you don't need that flexibility, and a simply text frame does the job more easily. Both types of frames are found in the Frames & Measures palette, and are documented in the Handbook under Frames.
Hi Victor,
As Marc said, a vertical frame will give you the most options and flexibility. To add a vertical frame select the first measure on a system, right-click and choose Add>Insert Vertical Frame. You can add and position multiple Frame>Text obects.
Alternately you can use Staff Text objects and set you staff distance with a Staff Spacer. Either way there's a considerable amount to manage.
I create lots of educational materials so Text object with word-wrap would be my top choice for a Musescore enhancement—and the option of multiple columns in Vertical frames. The combination would be heavenly.
If you'd like to see that you can add your voice to the official request.
scorster
In reply to Hi Victor, As Marc said, a… by scorster
Word wrap would be huge for me as well. Multiple columns are already simple, though 0 just add two text objects to a text frame and position one manually. I'm not sure all the additional overhead of needing separate settings and so forth to create such an arrangement by other means would be an improvement. Unless, I suppose, you are thinking of having the text automatically flow from one column to the next? That'y doesn't tend to be so relevant for the sort of use of columns I think most people doing educational materials need - in these case these columns are usually more independent, annotating separate examples etc.
In reply to Word wrap would be huge for… by Marc Sabatella
Marc wrote > Word wrap would be huge for me as well.
Glad to hear that. How would word wrap help you?
It's common knowledge that wide columns are hard to read. (Look no further than newspaper or magazine columnar formats.) So when I need to present paragraphs of text in Musescore I arrange it in two or three columns. Unfortunately doing so is awkwardly manageable. The initial draft is not the worst of it. The real challenge occurs when making revisions. For instance, if I need to add a few words to a line I'll probably need to add a line break. And that means I have to redo line breaks on every subsequent line of the text object.
But then you know this ...
Marc wrote > I'm not sure all the additional overhead of needing separate settings and so forth to create such an arrangement by other means would be an improvement.
I'm not sure what you mean by this, other than the the benefits of multiple columns would not justify the effort in implementing them.
Marc wrote > Unless, I suppose, you are thinking of having the text automatically flow from one column to the next?
Absolutely, at least within the scope of a page.
Marc wrote > That doesn't tend to be so relevant for the sort of use of columns I think most people doing educational materials need - in these case these columns are usually more independent, annotating separate examples etc.
Good question: What are needs of those creating education materials, specifically with respect to word wrap (in resizable text frames), hyphenation, and linked flowing columns.
Is there an option for creating a poll in a forum post?
scorster
In reply to Marc wrote > Word wrap would… by scorster
I create tons of education materials with significant amounts of text between systems. Word wrap is kind of a no-brainer. However, I will see I've learned to "make lemonade" by organizing my text as "bullet points" rather than full paragraphs. I still write in complete sentences, but I disciple myself to be concise so each sentence fits on a single line and makes a complete point by itself. I think of these as being like the sentences within a traditional textbook you mark with a yellow highlighter.
What I mean about the additional overhead of setting columns is that it is actually extremely cumbersome as a user to set up multiple columns and get them to lay out the way one wants, in every single program I have ever used that provides this facility. Setting up how many columns, where they should be positioned on the page, how big you want the margins to be, and controlling which text goes into which column - it's almost always ten times more work than simply adding a second block of text and moving it manually. Just struggled with this again the other day using Microsoft Publisher, but I've had the same experience with Word, with LibreOffice, with Google Docs, etc. Not saying it doesn't have its use case, but for me it's more about creating automatically flowing newspaper-type layouts than about education materials where you really want the columns independent and with full control over their position and formatting. I don't see the value of multiple columns that are not independent, in the context of educational materials. Maybe if I saw an example of this being used effectively I'd understand better.
I don't think you can create a poll here, but you certainly can in Google Forms or whatever and post a link here.
In reply to I create tons of education… by Marc Sabatella
Marc wrote > I create tons of education materials with significant amounts of text between systems. Word wrap is kind of a no-brainer. However, I will see I've learned to "make lemonade" by organizing my text as "bullet points" rather than full paragraphs. I still write in complete sentences, but I disciple myself to be concise so each sentence fits on a single line and makes a complete point by itself. I think of these as being like the sentences within a traditional textbook you mark with a yellow highlighter.
Sounds like you're in support of brevity and word wrap when more detailed commentary is necessary. Me too.
"Everything must be made as simple as possible, but no simpler.” — attributed to Albert Einstein
Sometimes brevity doesn't cut it. When necessary I'd like to include adequate commentary to Musescore files, rather than creating a hosting page layout document to which I import portions of Musescore documents.
Marc wrote > What I mean about the additional overhead of setting columns is that it is actually extremely cumbersome ... in every single program I have ever used that provides this facility. Setting up how many columns, where they should be positioned on the page, how big you want the margins to be, and controlling which text goes into which column - it's almost always ten times more work than simply adding a second block of text and moving it manually.
From what you stated I see that your concern not about development efforts but rather that the user will invest "ten times" more effort trying to manage a system of linked columns.
I've worked with comfortably with columns in Framemaker, Indesign, Pages(Apple), Affinity Publisher, and a few legacy apps as well.
Adobe Illustrator provides simple example of linked/threaded column flow that might be an ideal model for Musescore.
On this page see
• Threading text between objects
• Create rows and columns of text
Doesn't get much simpler than that. And if the proposed option in Musescore supports columns styles one needn't configure each instance.
scorster