Can MS write multiple vocal voices on the same line?
I have a piece that has multiple piano voices. I want the tenor vocal voice to sing both piano voices. Voice 1 will have different words than voice 2. Can that be done on the same line, or would I have to have 2 tenor lines? I really don't wanna have to put in two tenor lines, because the 2nd voice only sings separate from the 1st voice every once in a while, not the whole song.
I tried it like I was putting in verse 2, but MS gets confused with the notes (since the notes are different).
Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks
Comments
Are you talking about rhythms being different between verses, although the notes are (mostly) the same? Or are they both singing at once, and only occasionally split?
Can you post a picture?
In reply to Are you talking about… by mikey12045
Hi. thank you for responding. The rhythms are not different just the words are different. Here is a fake example. Instead of one tenor voice singing, "I am going to the store". I want to spit it between voices like this, Voice 1: I am going-------------------
Voice 2: ---------------To the Store.
The word "Going" is held on a whole note, while at the same time, voice 2 sings a Whole note Tuplet: "to the store".
That is just one example. On occasion, they will sing the same notes, but different lyrics. Singing over each other. Isn't that what is called a "round"?
Most of the time, they will sing together, only occasionally splitting. That is why I don't really want to put two lines.
Flip the voice 1 syllables to above staff in those sections where you need voice 2 lyrics too
In reply to Flip the voice 1 syllables… by Jojo-Schmitz
Thank you JoJo. I knew you would have a great solution. So I can put one singers words above the staff and the other below the staff and they will sing simultaneously?
Since I don't know choral music, how is it notated in real life when two singers with the same voice (tenor, soprano, etc) are singing different words simultaneously?
In reply to Thank you JoJo. I knew you… by odelphi231
There are a couple of ways to do that. I will put in the shorter duration notes, and join them with a dashed tie, to indicate the rhythm for the longer durations. Or you can use first and second voices, with the lyrics for the voices above and below the staff. But if the differences are really great, such as crossing voices within the part, then you might want to consider two staves.
In reply to There are a couple of ways… by mikey12045
Thank you for your response. For the first method you mentioned, I think I know what you are describing, but would MS play them properly (both voices sounding simultaneously) and could that be done, If voice 1 is singing a C5 and voice 2 is singing a C4 (while voice 1 is singing C5).
Putting the lyrics above and below the staff sounds like the easier way to do it. I am just wondering if real singers (amateurs) will know how to read it that way, especially if the split only happens occasionally.
In reply to Thank you for your response… by odelphi231
Yes, MuseScore will play both voices. Will amateurs understand it? Can’t tell you. I have no idea when I might have learned that, but it was a long time ago, when I was young, and dinosaurs roamed the earth…
In reply to Thank you for your response… by odelphi231
I assume that you are talking about something along this line:
Everyone sings together on the "La la"s and then separates on the "Ooh" and "Aah".
(Somewhere here I have a whole bunch of barbershop scores, but I can't find them.) Barbershop is loaded with stuff like this with the addition of a second stave, with the lyrics for the baritone (above the bottom staff but below the "Lead" line) and bass voices (below the bottom staff) in it. Barbershoppers are, almost without exception, amateurs and they read this kind of thing quite easily. Pretty self-explanatory, to my eye.
I've seen stuff like this in hymnals and church singers obviously are, again almost without exception, amateurs.
As always, YMMV and you might possibly have to explain it to someone, depending on their level of experience.
[A moment later] Oh, and it's easiest if you enter the lyrics that have to move first. In my example, enter the "aah" line first, move it, then enter the "ooh" line. Try the other order and you'll see why :-)
In reply to I assume that you are… by TheHutch
I have lots of BBS experience, and it can get pretty crazy, sometimes with all 4 voices singing different durations/lyrics. I do copy work for the Barbershop Harmony Society and Sweet Adelines. With Finale, it’s easy to put the lyrics lines where they belong, so you start with the lead line, and then add the others. But with MS, I’d agree with TheHutch, and do the lines you have to move, first.
In reply to I assume that you are… by TheHutch
Yes. Thanks. This is exactly what I mean. Would it still work if you had 3-part harmony? The reason I questioned whether amateurs would struggle is because the score is only sometimes split, so the AHH people will mostly sing on the single line, then occasionally split to sing on the upper line. I was thinking some might struggle remembering "Im I the AH line or the OH line", especially if they are all in the same timbre (tenor, soprano, etc).
In reply to Yes. Thanks. This is… by odelphi231
In general, no. Two lines on a staff is generally the maximum, unless it’s something simple like a 3-way split on a chord. If they are assigned to a section like soprano 1 and soprano 2, then it’s “if there’s just one line of notes, I sing it. If there are two notes, the stem direction will tell me which one I sing.” Even amateurs should pick that up in a minute or so.
In reply to Yes. Thanks. This is… by odelphi231
Concurring with mikey. Stems only have two potential directions: up and down. Thus, you can have Soprano, Alto on one staff (like in a hymnbook), or Tenor, Lead on one staff (like in Barbershop) or other possibilities for two voices. But how are you going to indicate that third voice. Similarly, lyrics above and lyrics below let you separate two voices, but where do you put the lyrics for that third voice.
That's what I was describing, for four voices (e.g., SATB or TLBrBs) use two staves. Each staff carries two voices, indicated by up and down stems and lyrics above/below the staff. The lyrics between the staves are separated clearly to indicate Up-voice from bottom staff and Down-voice from top staff. This is called "Closed Staff" (if I remember correctly?) and is a standard way of writing multi-voice music (like the two instances I described: Hymnals and Barbershop).
If you have three voices, I would simply make three staves, one voice per, so that none of the voices have a harder or easier time.
In reply to Concurring with mikey. Stems… by TheHutch
Thanks for that additional information. I have transcribed music for chorus, but not where the same voice/timbre sings two different notes or lyrics.
In reply to Thanks for that additional… by odelphi231
If the one voice sings two different notes with the same rhythm, you can just include a chord note in that voice.
However, if the one voice sings different rhythms--for example, SATB, two staves, two voices per stave, but at some point one soprano sings a descant part--you'd have to go to a third stave for that descant. To do that, you'd include the third stave for the entire score, but you would hide it in the parts where the soprano was not singing that descant. That's a setting in Format / Style / Score.