Lyrics

• May 1, 2023 - 12:05

I need help with a problem I am having writing lyrics. I have an 8th note tied to an 8th note with a word I want to tie. This should be done with a dash under the 2nd note. I have tried all combinations of using a dash, shift and ctrl keys. Nothing works. When I tie across a half note to a quarter note it works. What am I not doing or doing wrong? When I was using muse 1 I did not have a problem.

Thanks for the help.

John Fries
jfries@ptd.net
570 850-5331

Comments

• May 2, 2023 - 13:07

You wrote:
See the word "white" and others where I need to use a dash.

What word "white"? What others? I see no lyrics in that pdf.
So...
Please open this file in MuseScore:
Lyrics.mscz
and follow the directions.
The underline (melisma) is created by positioning the cursor at the end of a syllable (or word) and pressing underscore - once for each note in the melisma.

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• May 3, 2023 - 15:10

Okay, this one shows melismas all over the place and has 11 pages. It also reveals that it is a pdf exported from MuseScore 4.0.2, so it looks like you figured it out.

Wait a second...
I just noticed you have melismas and dashes interchanged in different staves:
melisma-dashes.png
Earlier you wrote:
I have an 8th note tied to an 8th note with a word I want to tie. This should be done with a dash under the 2nd note.

Measure 42 in the above image shows exactly that on the bottom 2 staves. Just do that for the top 2 staves to get the melisma dash under the second note.

Also:
See the word "white" and others where I need to use a dash.

Measure 51 shows a melisma dash in the bottom 3 staves.
Did you open the file attached to my earlier post above? It shows how to enter a melisma after the word "white".

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• May 3, 2023 - 16:12

Not quite. What you see in m. 42 in the tenor and bass on the work "fall" is what should occur in m. 51 on the word white. I have used dashes after the word "white" because I couldn't add the melisma line and this is not correct. You will see the m. 51 problem occurs many times throughout the piece. What am I missing?

Thanks,

John

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• May 3, 2023 - 16:53

You wrote:
What you see in m. 42 in the tenor and bass on the work "fall" is what should occur in m. 51 on the word white.

Okay, so look at my picture of measure 51 in my other post above. See the word white? It is dotted on the top staff only. The other staves show lines (melismas) on "white". How did you enter those?
So, delete those dots on the top staff 's "white" and enter lines just like you did on the other staves' "white".

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• May 3, 2023 - 21:51

Still a problem! Sorry to be a bother, but I did not have this problem with the previous version of Muse I used. See m. 9 the word "noth-in'". It needs a line (not a dash) to show the word lasts into the next note. Actually, I am unable to create either a dash or a line after the word! Other places in the score where the tie extends over 3 notes I am able to create the line using Ctrl and line. This problem occurs many times in the piece and in others I have arranged. I have tried all combinations of Ctrl, Shift, dash and line. What am I missing?

You can see from the number at the top of the piece I have created over 400 arrangements with lyrics and over 430 lead sheet arrangements.

Thanks,
John

Attachment Size
#435 Ease On Down The Road (P-V-G+).pdf 63.72 KB

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• May 3, 2023 - 22:57

First, please try to stick to one score. Your "#437 Aquarious (Choral Arrangement).pdf" attachment posted earlier does not have any of the words you mentioned: m. 7 "down" (which occurs many times thoughout the piece) m. 9 "noth-in', m. 13 "road", m. 17 "mov-in'", and others.
So what's up with that?

Second, did you open my "Lyrics.mscz" MuseScore file which instructs how to enter the melisma for the word "white"? Look for it above.

If not, here we go again, so please open this one:
noth_ing.mscz
(Don't worry. It will open in MuseScore 4. Just click OK at the prompt.)
Be aware that when entering the melisma, you must type Shift + dash which actually creates the (under)line _____ for the melisma. In this case, type it twice - once for the lyric note, then again to extend to the following tied note.

Third, attaching the MuseScore .mscz file - like what I did - is the best bet for troubleshooting stuff like this. A pdf file is basically a picture. (You don't send a picture of yourself to the barber to get a haircut, do you? ;-)

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• May 4, 2023 - 11:54

Still can't make it work. I've attached a file that you should be able to use to see the problem I'm having. Take a look at p. 2 measure 5. The word "down" needs a line (not a dash) to show that it is held into the next note. See the end of the same measure where the word "road" has a line that is correct. The line works when it extends beyond two notes. How do I get the line after the word "down"? This problem exists throughout the entire piece and in all the lyrics I have uploaded since I started using Muse 3.

Thanks.

John

Attachment Size
#435 Ease On Down The Road (Choral Arrangement).pdf 162.59 KB

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• May 4, 2023 - 14:15

Yet another word?

In my earlier posts, I had attached 2 different examples.
One example shows how to place a melisma on the word "white". Look above for the "Lyrics.mscz" file which relates to your song #416 Cherry Pink and Apple Blossom White.
My second example shows how to place a melisma to divide the word "nothing" into its syllables "noth_ing". Look above for the "noth_ing.mscz" file which relates to your song #435 Ease on Down the Road.

Presently you want to place the melisma line after the word "down" on measure 5 of Ease on Down the Road. Have you opened my earlier attachments? Can you enter those melismas?
Once you master that, you will see that it works the same for all of your 400 scores, so we won't have to do each one here. ;-)

If you have a problem with one of my examples, attach it (the .mscz file) explaining how you tried to enter the melisma.
You can even edit and add to it your own example - e.g., the musical phrase "ease on down" containing that word "down" which you say you now have trouble with. You can explain exactly your keystroke sequence - and not "I've tried all combinations, and nothing works". You can submit your results by attaching the .mscz file to your post.
PDF's don't let you edit the score.

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• May 5, 2023 - 04:09

Unlike MuseScore 3 which always showed the melisma line even when it so short as to look like a period, MuseScore produces more professional results, suppressing the melisma line if there is not room for it rather than display the little stub line that MuseScore 3 inappropriately showed.

If you continue to have trouble again, please attach the actual score - not a PDF, the actual MSCZ file.

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• May 5, 2023 - 13:19

Hello Marc. I still cannot create a text melisma line from an 8th note tied to a half note. However, if the melisma extends for three notes It works. I don't understand. I've attached two versions of a choral arrangement of "Ease On Down The Road". Not sure which one you need.

See m. 5 "down" 16th note tide to an 8th, m. 7 the same issue and m. 10 "load" 16th note tied to a dotted eighth. The similar problem occurs throughout the entire piece: as well as many other arrangements I have done. The previous version of Muse allowed me to do this with Ctrl line.

Thanks.
John

Attachment Size
#435 Ease On Down The Road (Choral Arrangement).pdf 162.59 KB
#435 Ease On Down The Road (Choral Arrangement).pdf 162.59 KB

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• May 5, 2023 - 14:14

Please see my previous response where I explained why MuseScore no longer incorrectly shows melismas that are too short. And also where we explained that Ctrl is not the way to add melisma lines - it is the way to prevent melisma lines from being added.

And, again, if you want help, PLEASE attach the actual score. Pictures (which is what PDF files are) just don’t help much.

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• May 6, 2023 - 19:31

Below is attached the MSCZ file as requested. After opening the two examples provided above, the melisma was created; however, in my composition, I was unable to create the melisma. Whenever I attempt to do the "shift + -" with two "-," it jumps to the next note without any line given. For my word "noth ___ ing" and "road __." I am using MuseScore 4, verison 4.0.2, which should not create any problems from your files to mine.

Attachment Size
#435 Ease On Down The Road (Choral Arrangement).mscz 40.64 KB
#435 Ease On Down The Road (P-V-G+).mscz 39.93 KB

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• May 6, 2023 - 19:40

Pardon the second reply on thread, would the cause of not having enough space in the measure cause the melisma not to appear. I tested with moving enlarging the measure and it seemed to work. Is there an auto function that would create space or do I manually have to enlarge the measure myself?

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• May 6, 2023 - 20:40

As I explained earlier, it's not necessary for a melisma line to be shown if there is no room - it was a bug that MuseScore 3 would incorrectly display them as little short smudges that would be mistaken for periods. if there isn't room to show the melisma line, the proper thing to do is not show it at all. See for instance "Behind Bars" (the most well-known reference on proper music notation & engraving practice), p. 447. So that's what MuseScore 4 now does automatically.

So no, you aren't supposed to go out of your way to do anything - the results are correct in MuseScore 4 already. It's not wrong to force the melisma to appear, though - just unnecessary, and also, important not to leave it as just the little stub MuseScore 3 created. So if you do decide to go out of your way to force it appear, be sure to make it longer enough to be understood as a melisma. You can widen the full measure using the shortcut "}", or by adding leading space on the second note via the Properties panel.

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• May 7, 2023 - 12:35

For "noth - - ing" no melisma underscore is wanted/needed, just the changed alignment, not longer centered under the (1st) note, but left-aligned. And, if the distanca is large enough (which it isn't here), some additional dashes to show. For "road__" this is similar, ic changes to left-aligned, but there's not enough space left to add the _ in that situation, so it just left out. Would you widen that measure, the _ automatically appears

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