Drum notation beaming
I am using MuseScore 3.6.2, and I have managed to enter a drum part, which currently looks like this:
However, I want it to look like this:
I guess I could select and hide all the rests, but how can I group the beams like that? (There appear to be two voices, but I am not sure why, as I didn't specify a second voice, it just appeared when I entered the notes using the drum palette.)
Comments
It's better to attach the actual score than just a picture, then it's easier to understand what is happening. What I can tell is that you seem to have entered things incorrectly - either there are two many voices, or some notes are in the wrong voice for your desired stem direction - but it's not clear what the problem is exactly.
The second picture you show, BTW, looks quite odd to me - is it really saying to play a hit hat on beat 1 with your foot, and then to strike same hi hat on the fourth sixteenth with your stick?? Looks like a bit of typo actually. But maybe there is a key that came with the score that explains their particular notation?
Thanks for your reply. I have attached the score as requested.
My score.mscz
I'm not sure why there are two voices, as I didn't specify a second voice, it just appeared when I entered the notes using the drum palette.
The music is a famous drum part by Steve Gadd. Here is a link showing the notation that I am aiming at.
http://www.kevoshea.com/drum-transcription-steve-gadd-paul-simon-50-way…
In reply to Thanks for your reply. I… by ozmusicman88
It's normal that drum notation uses two voices, but usually, it's voice 1 (stems up) for things hit with hands, voice 2 (stems down) for things hit with the feet. It seems you've tried to make everything be stems up regardless of hands or feet. That's a thing used by some publishers, but unless you're expert in reading and writing that style and know that the people who will be using your score are as well, I don't recommend it - the more common two-voice standard is much more familiar to most people.
It appears the person who did the transcription you are working from does use that less-common one-voice style mostly, except that for some unexplained reason, he notated the hi-hat stem down. It's not at all clear why he would do that - but maybe he works for some publisher who has some special unorthodox set of notation rules they follow?
Really, unless you are submitting your manuscript to that same publisher, I don't recommend copying this style of notation. Simply enter the notes normally, using the default stems direction and voices. The result is instantly much more clear and easy for most people to read. The hi hat is played with the feet and belongs in voice 2, same with bass drum, but all else belongs in voice 1, and this is exactly what MuseScore does by default. But when copying music using the one-voice style, you'll have to think through how to rewrite it into the more standard form.
Here's my rendition of that, with the hands up / feet down distinction clearly delimited, and note values and rests simplified as per usual custom (eg, no need to show an sixteenth note followed by a sixteenth rest when an eighth note does the same more simplify):
If on the other hand you need to copy the special notation style used here, you'll want to customize your drumset definition to place everything in voice 1 by default - see the Handbook section on drum notation for more on that.
BTW, I see you also made some rests invisible, I guess to make the first few notes look like a pickup, but better to just create the pickup directly - eg, select the rests and press Ctrl+Delete.
In reply to It's normal that drum… by Marc Sabatella
Thanks kindly, that's very helpful.