How to Control Placement of Tempo Notations

• Jan 16, 2024 - 05:36

Usually, when I enter choral music in MuseScore with several vocal parts & accompaniment in separate combined staffs within a system, I can click on any note within a vertical line on any staff line to add a tempo marking, & the tempo marking selected is automatically placed at the top of the whole system at that vertical point.

However, in entering a new score, part-way thru it, the tempo markings I was adding suddenly started going to the top of the particular staff containing the notes I clicked on, instead of to the top of all the staffs in the entire system. I assume that I inadvertently did something that caused this change, but I don't know what it was.

How can I control at will whether the tempo markings are placed at the top of the system as a whole or at the top of a particular staff within it? (I am using version 4.2.)

Thanks very much!
Nolan W. Cook

Comments

• Jan 20, 2024 - 02:35

How can I control if tempo markings are placed at the top of an entire system (containing multiple choral or instrumental parts) or at the top of a staff for a particular part within that system? I'm very frustrated that, right in the middle of entering a score, the target for the tempo markings suddenly switched from one place to the other!

How do I fix this? Could someone please respond?

Thanks very much!
Nolan

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• Jan 20, 2024 - 04:21

Here is the score as it presently stands. The issue with the tempo markings appearing as staff text instead of system text exists in measures 52 (rall.), 69 (rit.), 87 (rall.). I believe there were more instances, but it seems that some of them might have now changed to system text. Thanks so much for looking this over!

(BTW, I have entered the score into MuseScore to export to audio files to help a choir I am leading to learn their separate vocal parts. I also intend to replace the original organ accompaniment with a special arrangement that I have, to create a synchronized master score out of it all.)

Thanks so much for your assistance!
Nolan

Attachment Size
O Divine Redeemer.mscz 105.59 KB

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• Jan 20, 2024 - 05:26

Indeed, all elements in the Tempo palette behave like system texts. Except for "accel.", "allarg.", "rall.", and "rit.", which behave like staff texts.
Is this an issue? Or, if it's intentional (?), I fear, for the moment, I don't have the explanation or the reasons.
Any other thoughts on the matter?
In the meantime, if you want these indications to appear above the system, select a note from the upper staff (and not another staff).

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• Jan 20, 2024 - 06:13

Thanks for the explanation. Now that I understand that "accel.", "allarg.", "rall.", and "rit." behave like staff texts, in contrast to the other tempo markings, I realize that I did not inadvertently do something wrong. Although it doesn't make sense to have one part do a "rall." or "rit." while other simultaneously sounding parts do not do so, at least I understand now what I'm dealing with in the software.

Also, your suggestion about putting such markings on only the top staff for appearances is excellent for printing purposes. (I'll do that for the master score I'm creating, but keep the redundancies on lower staffs in versions used simply for the sake of creating the audio files.

Thanks so much for your time! This has been very helpful, & I appreciate your input!

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• Jan 20, 2024 - 21:37

Thanks, well put. However, that being said, I have now been successful in creating the MP3 audio files that I needed out of that score to email to my choir members. (Also did so successfully about 6 months ago for some other music.) MuseScore certainly is a great tool. I'm actually impressed with what I CAN do with it! (My next step with it is to now prepare the music for our accompanist.) Thanks for your response.

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