Set custom measures per line.

• Sep 23, 2018 - 12:10

In some older version of MuseScore I remember there was an option to set the "number of measures per line" at a certain place, instead of increasing/decreasing the layout stretch (which is not always effective).
Is there a same option in v.2.3.2? (I have failed to find one).

I'm using MScore 2.3.2 on Windows 10 Home.

Thank you.

Comments

• Sep 23, 2018 - 14:00

Well, I have seen and already tried this option, but does not really solve the issue...
Let's say I have two lines with 4 measures each, and want to have 6 measures in the first line.
So, I select these 8 measures, go to Edit→Tools→Add/Remove System (Line) Breaks and press e.g. "break every 6 measures".
What happens is that it brings 5 measures to the first line, leaves the 6th in the second line, and puts a "line break" after the 6th! The second line ends up with only one measure!!
The conclusion is that this feature will not compress the score beyond some built-in level.
Am I wrong?
On the other hand, by compressing one-by-one the measures 1 to 6 through Measure Properties - Layout Stretch = 0,1, I have eventually made it to get 6 measures in the first line. But it takes very long and one cannot do that throughout a whole score measure-by-measure.
Could there be a more effective method?
Thank you.

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• Sep 23, 2018 - 16:52

Here's the example:
The original measures are measures 13-18 (painted red). Their stretch was given by MScore, and only 4 of them appear in the first line.
I have copied/pasted them to measures 25-30 (painted green) and the stretches were identical.
After that, I selected measures 25-30, went to Edit - Tools - Add/Remove System Breaks and ordered for "Break every 5 measures". You can see what happened. Nothing to do with measure stretch...
As I said, if we paste again the original measures to number 42-47 and go (measure-after-measure) to Measure properties and set Layout Stretch = 0,00, we will end up with 5 measures in the first line. But this is quite tiresome.

I hope I've helped and wish you'll find an answer.

Attachment Size
Measures_per_line.mscz 25.57 KB

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• Sep 23, 2018 - 17:05

MuseScore only fits as many measures into a system as there is space given the current settings, the most important one is spacing and stretch, but there are many more. System breaks may make less to fit, but never more (in MuseScore 1.x this was possible with very bad effects to the layout, that is the reason why it got removed and replaced by that tool). To fit more measures into a system you need to change the score settings, less spacing, less stretch, wider paper, narrower paper borders, less note to note distance, etc.

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• Sep 23, 2018 - 15:48

The conclusion is that this feature will not compress the score beyond some built-in level

MuseScore uses the default minimums when you change the locations of system or page breaks, it does not compress them. If you want to compress (decrease stretch) on ever measure you can select the entire score using ctrl+a and press { about 15 time until the minimum stretch is achieved. If applying system breaks every X measures does not fit the proper number of measures on each system, then you will need to open Layout->Page settings... and reduce the Scaling so everything in the score will be smaller. I would try small amounts at a time, like .05mm, until the score is to my liking. You will see the preview change when you have adjusted the scaling enough to affect the layout.

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• Sep 23, 2018 - 18:58

If you are changing the scaling in the main score, the parts will inherit the scaling when they are created. If you need to change the scaling in only one part to force a rule that exists only because you want it, then no one but you will know the scaling is different on one part that the others. It's not like the flautist looks at the trumpet part.

Changing the scaling in Layout->Page settings... affects the entire score and is passed to parts if they are created after. If you need to change this for one or all parts, look at a/the part and change it. You can apply it to either the current selected or all parts. So all staves can or do have the same scaling. If this is not the case, you are doing something wrong.

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• Sep 23, 2018 - 19:53

For the record, the older versions of MuseScore that had an option to attempt to enforce a constant number of measures did not every allow more measures per line than your setting settings allow, either. If you really want six measures on a system and MuseScore is giving you only four or five, there is getting around the fact that you need to change some setting. MuseScore cannot and should not try to guess whether you'd like to do this by reducing the overall scaling of the music (Layout / Page Settings), the scaling of just that staff (Staff Properties), the overall spacing between notes (Style / General / Measure), the minimum distance between notes (Style / General / Measure), or to perhaps select a different notation font that is more compact (Style / General). It's your score, and your decision to try to fit more measures than are currently allowed by your settings, so its' up to you to decide which of these settings to relax.

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• Sep 24, 2018 - 13:43

You are right, Marc, and of course you know things better than I do. I rest my case.
It's just that there seem to be so many settings to deal with, while from the musician's point of view, one simply needs to "squeeze" some notes together from time to time... I guess I'll have to work harder on learning the details of the MScore functionality.
You've all been wonderful and very helpful. Thank you.

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• Sep 24, 2018 - 13:58

Ciao a tutti.
OT.
MuseScore is nowadays a professional software, very far from the version I started from. As in all cases of the genre, think about paintbrush('98)/gimp, even the use requires more resources and not only of the machine on which it runs ;-)
Fortunately, resources on the service side are also increasing.
Thx all!

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• Sep 24, 2018 - 17:00

You're welcome! FWIW, indeed, we realize that sometimes one needs to just squeeze some notes together, and that's exactly why the "stretch" commands exist. But at some point merely squeezing notes won't be enough - no amount of squeezing notes to together will fit the entire Beethoven Moonlight Sonata onto one line :-). So it's when squeezing isn't enough that you need to start thinking about what else you might want to change. Usually the best answer is to reduce the overall music size.

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• Apr 4, 2019 - 19:41

I am trying to my available some duets that are not in print from PDFs of photos of an original score. The original has anywhere from 5 to 9 measures per line. Measures consisting only of rests are naturally small, as are measures of only a few notes.

To make this playable without memorization, I need to have the paging flexible by being able to resize measures as I go. I have tried everything that I was able to find in the manual, but without success.

I am attaching only a few lines of my transcription and the PDF of the first flute part I am trying to transcribe.

Any help or suggestions would be appreciated.

Attachment Size
Trois_Duos_(Op._69).mscz 15.34 KB
Kummer_Op_69_Duet First Flute.pdf 1.64 MB

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• Apr 4, 2019 - 22:03

I would say the first thing you need to do is learn about music notation. There is no need to enter all of the beamed notes as tuplets, like you did in the first measure for example. The second and third measures absolutely need triplets because there is no other way. Perhaps you used another program that required the tuplets, that is not the case in MuseScore.

The next thing I would do is what Shoichi suggested and remove all of the system breaks, and put them where you want them. To enter a system break, select the last measure of the system and press the enter key.

You may need to read about beams in https://musescore.org/en/handbook/3/beams if your goal is to make it look like the PDF. I have made some corrections to show you how I would do it.

Attachment Size
Trois_Duos_(Op._69).mscz 12.23 KB

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