Editing or deleting instrument names made easy
Ideally, users would be able to simply click/select instrument names and delete them by pressing the delete key or double click and edit them (WYSIWYG style) right there, without opening any menus or windows. A technically simpler solution would be to put an "Edit/remove instrument name" item in the pop-up menu that appears when you right click the instrument names and simply make that item open up the Staff Properties dialog.
As it is now, the only way to change or delete instrument names seems to be:
1. Right click a staff next to the instrument name, not on a note, break, time signature etc. but on an empty space in the staff. 2. From the menu that pops up, select Staff Properties.
3. In the boxes "Long instrument name" and "Short instrument name" you can edit the name displayed in the score. Delete the text to remove the instrument name completely from the score.
This is counter intuitive because the most obvious things a user would try would be left-, right- and double-clicking the instrument name in the score or going to the Instruments dialog, which doesn't help. Also, when right-clicking the staff, if you hit a note, stem, break, accidental, barline, clef, time signature etc. you will get a different menu that doesn't contain the Staff Properties option.
(Version: MuseScore 1.0)
Related: How to remove the Instrumentname at the beginning of the score?
Comments
More to the point, though - why you are you having to delete instruments more than rarely? If you're creating music with a single staff, you can use a template already set up that way. And if you're creating music of more than one staff, why *wouldn't* you want the staves labeled? I'm not saying these things *never* happen, but they should be rare.
I've also suggested, though, that the "create new score from scratch" wizard be enhanced to not create staff names if creating only one instrument. It's also been suggested that a global option be create to control whether staff names are displayed. With these enhancements, I think staff name deletion would go from being fairly rare as it should be now to practically unheard of.
In reply to More to the point, though - by Marc Sabatella
To piggyback on that, in the nightlies - which will become 2.0 - you can right-click the instrument name to bring up the dialogue to change/delete it. So it's being addressed.
In reply to Also... by newsome
I'm happy to hear that. Thank you :)
In reply to More to the point, though - by Marc Sabatella
why you are you having to delete instruments
I wrote nothing about deleting instruments, only instrument names. I'm quite satisfied with the way staff deletion works in MuseScore.
if you're creating music of more than one staff, why *wouldn't* you want the staves labeled?
I don't want all staves labeled for pieces with only 2-4 instruments (flute+piano, voice+piano, violin+violin+piano etc.). That would be a waste of space and would often prevent me from getting the desired number of measures per system. Getting the right number of measures per system can be crucial, both for performance, visual appearance and proofreading/comparing to the original score.
Usually the first staff should be labeled, but only in the first movement of a piece. In the following movements, repeating the instruments is often unnecessary. Omitting instrument names gives you more space on the page and allows you to fit more measures into each system, which can be crucial, both for performance, visual appearance and proofreading/comparing to the original score.
In reply to why you are you having to by S_
Ooops, typo - I meant, why are you having to delete instrument *names* more than rarely. And I agree, scores of 2-4 instrument would indeed be the main case. You'd generally still want the full name on the first system, but not the abbreviated names on every system. That would be another clever option to add to the new score wizard. Seems tht two checkboxes - one to control whether full names are generated, and another to control whether abbreviated names are - would be great, And if the defaults could be set to be sensitive to the number of instruments, even better.
I did forget to mention that the nightly builds have added the right click on the name itself - that too will help.
Mostly, though, people posting this request are producing single line music, and are simply unaware of the existing lead sheet template that already exists for this purpose (and the fact that you can create your own). So once you've got things looking the way you want here, you basically never need to mess with it again. Not the case if you're constantly writing for *different* 2-4 instrument ensembles, though.
In reply to Ooops, typo - I meant, why by Marc Sabatella
"why are you having to delete instrument *names* more than rarely"
For my case, I usually receive xml or midi files. Pretty often, the midis contain far too many instruments. That gives me a heap of pages with only one staff that I need, per page. I normally just want one staff, then write one of my own. That would often fit on one single page. So, what I need, is to select the staffs I don't need, then remove them.
Another, maybe even better approach would be to keep the staffs, but hide them. But "hiding" an instrument just makes it light gray, not hidden, and all of the staff remains unchanged. When setting the staff properties invisible, the lines turn gray, notation remaining unchanged. When hiding, I would really hide the staff invisible, regenerating a simpler layout. Maybe also a "mute" checkbox on the staff properties dialog? That would serve the needs in this type of use exactly.
In reply to delete/hide instrument / staff by mattiriikari
Just to be sure and for beginners that might read this later. You can delete staff (complete staff, not only staff name) by going to Create -> Instruments (select the staff and press delete).
You can also mute any staff in Display -> Mixer.
In reply to Just to be sure and for by [DELETED] 5
Sure. But talking about the contextmenu of a staff, the choice of deletion would be more expectable than deleting through "Create". Maybe some other expression in the submenu would be more descriptive. "Elements"?
Still, hiding a staff from the visible sheet, yet keep it intact, seems not possible by any means.
In reply to deletion/hiding of staff/instrument by mattiriikari
hiding a staff works if is empty and doesn't make sense if it is not
In reply to hiding a staff works if is by Jojo-Schmitz
"hiding a staff works if is empty and doesn't make sense if it is not"
You get a midi file with lots of instruments. You create an instrument of your own. Obviously you want to hear how it all fits together. But you don't want all of the 20+ pages on the stage, when you play your part. At least I don't. You only need your part, maybe some other vital staff to have things easier to follow.
Hiding the other staffs would do this. Seems like lot of sense, to me.
In reply to hiding a staff by mattiriikari
on replay you can switch off the unwanted voices: http://musescore.org/en/handbook/change-and-adjust-sounds
You can extract the parts you're interested in: http://musescore.org/en/handbook/part-extraction
In reply to on replay you can switch off by Jojo-Schmitz
Okay, thanks. Extraction seems like an usable solution.
Would be easier, though, just hiding the staff.
edit: I'll take that back. Extraction works really well.
In reply to extract the parts by mattiriikari
and with 2.0 it will be even better
In reply to and with 2.0 it will be even by Jojo-Schmitz
I will add - this is exactly the purpose of part extraction (and indeed, it's even easier with linked parts). Still, I can see a use for *temporarily* hiding staves while working. In an orchestra score, for example, you might want to see just the flutes, trumpets, and violins while working on some given passage, or just the low woodwonds, low brass, and cellos and basses. It would save a good bit of scrolling to be able to temporarily hide those staves.
I suppose the lin ked parts facility in could provide a method for this - just define a part that contains the saves you want to work on, and then you could just work within the corresponding linked part. That seems a bit kludgy, though.
In reply to delete/hide instrument / staff by mattiriikari
Also, this issue was originally regarding 1.0. The situation regarding instrument names is already improved for 1.2 - you can delete names directly by clicking them and htting delete, and right clicking an instrument name allows quick access to staff proerties for changing the name.