How can I put treble clef notes on the bass clef staff?
I am creating a score for voice and piano and would like to place some of the right-hand notes on the bass clef staff instead of hanging in the middle between the two staffs because it looks cleaner this way and is easier for the pianist to read. Is it possible to do that? I have read in the manual that the staffs can be linked (and indeed, the bar lines extend from one to the other automatically in a score for piano), but I don't seem to be able, for example, to put a G 3 note on the bass clef staff if there is a silence before it. What I mean is that I can manage to put some higher notes on the bass clef staff so that they sit there even where there are left-hand notes already lower on the staff, but only if said high note appears at the beginning of the measure - because that is where it goes automatically. The problem is that in this song, almost all the measures of the treble clef staff begin with a silence.
Comments
See: https://musescore.org/en/handbook/cross-staff-notation
HTH
In reply to See: https://musescore.org… by Shoichi
OMG thank you so much I kept forgetting about this even though I'd been writing cross-staff.
Actually, I've just realised that the problem is more difficult than I thought: I can't put a right-hand note lower than an F 3 on either staff! When I try to hang an E 3 in the middle, it sits at the right level, but goes automatically to the front of the measure. So, on the score attached, the after the E 4 in the second measure, the next four eighth notes are E 3, G 3, B 3 and E 4, but I can't place the E 3 - it springs to the beginning of the measure and changes the whole note that's already there into an eighth note and changes the rest of its value accordingly.
In reply to Actually, I've just realised… by lespommerats@g…
Enter the notes, select them
Ctrl+Shift+down arrow, then adjust the pitch.
Edit upgrade to 2.2.1 ;-)
In reply to Enter the notes, select them… by Shoichi
Then, perhaps?
In reply to Enter the notes, select them… by Shoichi
Thank you very much, that makes everything possible! And yes, I will upgrade to the latest version...
In reply to Actually, I've just realised… by lespommerats@g…
I guess you are trying to use the mouse to enter your notes. That works, but has this limitation indeed - MsueScore cannot always guess correctly what staff you are trying to enter the notes onto. Much better all around to use the keyboard to enter notes. If oyu must use the ouse, just enter them ont he staff then move them with the arrow keys as necessary.
In reply to I guess you are trying to… by Marc Sabatella
Thank you very much for all your responses, I greatly appreciate your having taken the time to deal with such amateurish questions! Yes, I was using the mouse; I had no idea that one could use the keyboard instead, but I will learn how to do this. It will also help me to make automatic translations from do re mi etc to C D E :-)
In reply to Actually, I've just realised… by lespommerats@g…
When you are using the mouse, there is a point at which notes will stop being put on a staff and will be put on either the next higher or next lower staff. This limitation does not exist if you use a keyboard, either computer or MIDI. With keyboards, there is only a singe staff a note can be put on and that's the currently selected staff.
In every input mode, if the note is in the wrong octave, use ctrl+ arrows (cmd + arrows on mac) to move the note an octave. This is sometimes necessary with the computer keyboard because the next note is put in the closest octave to the last one on that staff.
The reason it's going to the first beat of the left hand is that there is no rest in that measure. It replaces the whole note with the currently selected note. The way to do this is either to enter an E4 and lower the octave or use the keyboard. Press E the ctrl + the down arrow to move it to the correct octave.
In the opinion of many seasoned MuseScore users, the keyboard is the best input method. With practice, it's faster and you make almost all of the decisions. There are shortcuts to do almost all note entry, though you have to define some yourself. If you are not familiar with the note names, you will get used to them with practice. Before using MuseScore I had never tried to read Viola music and used mouse input at first for the Viola. I started using the keyboard and after a couple of days got used to the names of the notes and now I have almost no problems typing wrong notes. I do occasionally get confused when I switch between Violin, Viola and Cello (3 different staves), but I usually realize I'm entering notes for the wrong staff rather quickly.
When I use the keyboard I have my right hand on the numeric keyboard (works on windows system) and my left hand on the note names. I occasionally have to move my right hand to the letters, but it doesn't slow me down that much.
In reply to Actually, I've just realised… by lespommerats@g…
BTW, in your example, there aren't any notes that a pianist would find easier to read if moved to another staff. Doing o on the low "G", for instance would make the score far more difficult to read and would be counter to standard music notation practice. But as mentioned previously, for the special cases where you do want this, see the Handbook under "Cross-staff notation"
In reply to BTW, in your example, there… by Marc Sabatella
I'm sure you're quite right about the normal notation for a piano score that's easy to read, but I'm creating this new score because I want my pianist to change the key of a song we're performing - all too soon - and thought it would be easier to persuade her if the notation were the same as the original score she's been working from! If she doesn't like it, at least I know now how to change them back again quickly and easily, thanks to the responses I've had.
In reply to I'm sure you're quite right… by lespommerats@g…
This is quite a different issue than you raised initially, but if the score is entered in one key, why repeat the process when all you have to do is transpose it using the Note->Transpose... menu option? Once it's transposed it should be a rather quick exercise to go through the piece and do a few cross staff notations. I realize I'm a bit presumptuous in saying the piece is already entered once.
In reply to This is quite a different… by mike320
Thanks mike320, but I'm not quite that amateurish, happily ;-) , though if I had been, it would have been very nice to have this bit of info. No, the original score was not a musescore one. I have now done my new score; having learned how to insert the notes with the keyboard, it was a faster process. In the end, I left the low left-hand notes hanging rather than put them on the lower staff and the pianist is happy anyway, because the key it's in now is easier to play than the original one. Thanks again for your responses.