Drum figures on big band arrangement
I am using MuseScore to input a big band arrangement of "Up Jumped Spring" by Freddie Hubbard that I created in college.
How does one insert rhythmic figures played by saxes or brass above the drum staff in the score so they will show up on the part, but not play sound when played back? I tried using a second voice (Voice 2) but couldn't input the notes. The voice kept bouncing back to voice 1 after inputting an eighth rest.
Is there a way to create a single-line staff above the drum part where I could input the rhythmic figures so that the drummer sees the hits that the band is playing? I would not want the single-line staff on EVERY system, just on the systems where there are big band figures to notate.
Thank you for your help!
Comments
There are several different ways to do this, but the easiest is to use the built-in "Rhythmic Slash Notation" facility in Edit / Tools. Enter the notes into voice 3 (an easy way to do this is to first enter them in voice 1, then use Edit / Voices / Exchange Voice 1-3), select the passage, then run Edit / Tools / Toggle Rhythmic Slash Notation. This automatically turns them into silent notes placed above the staff. Then you can enter the actual drum part (or use "Fill With Slashes" in the same menu).
For more information, see the Handbook under "Tools" and also "Drum notation". This will also explain how to use multiple vocies in drum parts and to customize which notes appear on which lines with which noteheads, etc.
BTW, you can make any notes silent by unchecking the "Play" option in the Inspector for that note. You can certainly create a single line staff as well. Just add the staff normally (Edit / Instruments) then right click it, Staff Properties, and set the desired number of lines. You can use the "Hide empty staves" option in Edit / General to make it appear only where needed. But tht's not really the way to do this type of drum notation - placing it directly on the regular staff is the way to go, which is what "Toggle Rhyhtmic Slash Notation" does for you.
In reply to There are several different by Marc Sabatella
Thanks for your response, Marc. I tried using voice 3 to enter the figures, but the voice kept switching back to voice 1 and it just got too frustrating to do. I decided to add a single-line staff above the drum part and to just input the figures as a tom-tom part, silencing it as I go.
In reply to Thanks for your response, by pete5668
Read my response again - I explained the easiest way to enter notes in voice 3 (enter them in voice 1 first, then use Edit / Voice / Exchange Voice 1-3). It's actually extremely easy to do this, *MUCH*& easier than what you did, and easier to read too, and takes less space. So I'd highly recommend trying again.
BTW, it's *possible* to enter notes into voice 3 directly on a drum part, though, but you have to do it a very specific way. First select the icon for the drum note you wish to enter, then select the voice icon for the voice you wish to enter it on, then click in the score (don't use the keybaord shortcut, don't double click the icon).