Can note head position be locked? (See preset note head Q just previously)
I'm using x heads in Voice 3 to show harp damping, as described in my post just now.
When these are entered, some existing notes helpfully reverse head direction to accommodate them. I want all the x's to show just after the note being played, so then have to reverse each head back to where it was, while moving the x to the right, in its place.
Is there a way of locking the first two voices in position, so that voice 3 is forced to accommodate existing note positions, and save all this fiddling, please?
Thanks again - this is truly a helpful place!
Comments
I'm not quite sure what you mean here. Are you talking about having two notes of the same pitch? Why use two voices for this - seems it would be easier to do it with a singe chord? Attaching an example would help us understand and advise better.
In reply to I'm not quite sure what you… by Marc Sabatella
Thanks - image attached.
![Damping sample.png]( "Damping sample.png")
Voice 1 is top hand, voice 2 bass hand. Here Voice 3 is for x-heads in top hand, Voice 4 x's in bass. Wire harp rings on for ever, so to avoid musical food-mixer effect it's common to indicate playing one string while damping another to get a cleaner sound.
So here, the top hand plays F E D and I want only F & D to ring on, so as D is played, the E is damped.
In the next group, E F, as F is played, the E is damped. When first entering Voice 3, it writes that E as a note, and I forget if this particular one did it, but typically places the E to the left of the stem, shunting the F to the right. Having converted the E to an x-head with no stem, I then have to tell Voice 1 F to revert to head on the left while grabbing and moving the x to the right.
Sorry this is so long and detailed, but hope it explains!
I suspect it's such a rare occurrence among normal usage that it's not seen as a problem for most people.
In reply to Thanks - image attached. … by Richard_Y
PS Just spotted that very first quaver/eighth note rest... that shouldn't be showing, sorry!
In reply to Thanks - image attached. … by Richard_Y
One comment that may make this easier. You say you use voices 2 & 4 for the bass line. This means that you must be making voice 1 invisible because it is not shown on your screen shot. In each staff you can use voice 1 and voice 2 and there will be no conflicts between the two staves as far as notes are concerned. You can actually use all 4 voices on each staff (if the number of notes justified it) and then use cross staff notation to move some of the voices to the other staff if you wanted to, and MuseScore will keep all of the voices straight.
In reply to One comment that may make… by mike320
Thanks for this, useful to be reminded.
In reply to Thanks - image attached. … by Richard_Y
This definitely looks like it would be way easier to do with only one voice - I can't see a need for multiple voices in either staff. Multiple voices are only needed if you need to show independent rhythms within a single staff, and neither staff is showing that here.
So, for each staff, use voice one, and then simply add the "x" note to the chord normally. For example, Shift+E to add an E, then change its head with the Inspector or palette. If you want it to detach from the stem as you've shown here, you can do that via the Inspector or double click and cursor key or drag.
However, if you really want to keep the non-standard direction of heads shown here - the E to the right of the F instead of to the left as normal notation rules would require - you would still need to mirror the heads. So, another possibility would be not to use actual notes for this at all, but instead simply place an "x" notehead form the Symbols palette and then adjust its position manually. This would not affect the existing notes.
In reply to This definitely looks like… by Marc Sabatella
Thank you again. I'm fairly new to this and hadn't realised when I started that note heads within one voice could be more than one form, I thought there had to be a setting for the lot, and then sort of stuck with the plan.
The benefit of different voices is that one voice can be muted on playback, so I can aurally check I've written it out right without all the damping sounding as notes too.
I'd not thought of moving an x in from the palette - that could be better still - no playback to mute.
I will try this.