Add Superscript for Chord Symbols
Add Superscript for Chord Symbols: dim 0, half-dim. o and the "(b5)", and Major 7th triangle.
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Some superscripting options are already possible in Format / Style / Chord symbols. Others can be accomplish through customization of XML files. Additional options are expected to become possible in the future. But it should be noted, the options provided tend to favor formats actually in come use in published scores. The "Jazz" style already does appropriate superscripting according to the Brandt-Roemer standard used by many major publishers. Outside the jazz world, superscripting isn't all that common. But if you've got a link to a style guide form a particular major publisher that uses superscripting in a way not currently supported, that would be good to share here.
In reply to Some superscripting options… by Marc Sabatella
Hi Marc, thanks for your speedy response! The style guide I see from a google search based on your suggestion above is from 1976; outdated scholarship/guidelines? What style guide are you using, do you have a link? I recall in Gary Lindsay's "Jazz Arranging Techniques", he tried to standardize jazz chord symbols. Hal-Leonard superscripts their m7(b5). I mean you have a bold, Italics, and underline, why not just add the subscript and superscript next to it? Style guides and standards are helpful, but they're often broken with the passage of time. Can you send me a link on how to customize the XML file? For me, the more options the better, Co7 and C07 takes less space than Cdim7 and Cm7(b5). If I've got four chords in a bar of music I often run out of space or they look cramped.
Just bit on my background I've been playing and composing jazz/classical/modern music for 30 years, one college diploma in jazz and university degree in music, summa cum laude. I'm quite familiar with the library and various chord dictionaries from academic theory books and understand that even academics do not always agree on chord symbols; symbols are always evolving.
Also, does MS4 offer Polychord symbols?
In reply to Hi Marc, thanks for your… by RP_2022ad
The Brandt/Roemer system or something very similar is used by pretty much every major publisher of jazz charts, from Sher to Hal Leonard to Kendor, etc. Gary Lindsay also uses more or less this exact same system.
it's pretty universal these days, and it's pretty much what you are asking for, except in a handwritten font (that is actually based directly on the handwriting of the calligraphers who did the charts for Chuck Sher).
All you need to do to get this system - or something very close to it - is set the Jazz style in Format / Style / Chord symbols. It gives you the appropriate superscripting automatically as well as the font.
There is no documentation on customization of the XML files except what you see within the files themselves, and various discussions here. A future update, as mentioned, may provide additional options.
For polychord, you mean the vertical layout to indicate triad over triad, as opposed to chord over bass? There is no direct support yet for this, but you can fake it without too much trouble by adding the two chords individually. Actually, by making three chords: first enter the bottom chord, then the "___" as a second chord, then the top chord.