Accordion bass notation using drum notation symbols
Hello,
I'm new to MuseScore and at first I want say that this software is really impressive. I almost instantly felt comfortable with its usage and I think it is really easy to use and yet very powerful.
However, I have got a problem concerning accordion bass notation. I'm playing piano accordion with Stradella bass system and want use a simple bass notation where a cross x denotes a single bass note, a slash / denotes a chord, a double slashed cross denotes bass note and chord played simultaneously and a cross surrounded by a circle (x) denotes the bass note which is a quint above the the current chord's base note. All those crosses and slashes are noted at the same height above or instead of the bass staff. Chord names above the symbols denote the pitch of the bass note or chord.
To achieve this result I tried to use the drum notation where I can set the form of the note heads individually for each pitch. My idea was to set a certain pitch to a certain note head symbol. Now, since I have selected accordion as instrument in MuseScore, the bass and treble staff belong to the same instrument and I cannot enable drumset notation usage for each staff individually, but only for both bass and treble staff. Enabling the drumset has the effect that MuseScore also changes the notes in the treble staff. To avoid this conflicts I set all pitches in the playable range of an accordion to "disabled" in the drum editing window with only a few pitches in the contra octave set to the symbols I would like to use for my bass notation. However, for some reason the e' and the a (and possible other pitches) are still getting a cross instead of a normal note head. What am I doing wrong? Is there anything wrong with my drum configuration (it is attached to this post)?
I can work arround this problem by creating a new instrument and using this for the bass notation instead of the bass staff of the accordion. But shouldn't it be possible to achieve the desired results with one instrument?
Thanks for your help.
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
| Akkordeonbassnotation Kontra.drm | 579 bytes |
Comments
I would do it with a plugin instead. A plugin that go through all the notes in the second staff and if there are at a given pitch switch the notehead to a given notehead. What do you think ?
Seems reasonable, yes. But I would say that creating the bass staff as a separate instrument is an equally reasonable workaround. It also has the advantage of working with "hide empty staves" should you wish the bass staff to not display throughout the chart.
Another possibility you may or may not have considered - instead of using drum notation, you can use a regular staff and then edit note properties (select a group of notes, right click, Note Properties) and change the noteheads directly. Or write a plugin to automate that task. The Slash Notation plugin I wrote (see the Plugin repository in the menu at right) would make a very good model.
[EDIT: Doh! Responses crossed!]
In reply to Seems reasonable, yes. But I by Marc Sabatella
Writing a plugin is indeed a possibility I have not considered yet. However, if I change the note properties based on a certain pitch, will I still be able to place all crosses and slashes at the same height? The drum notation allows for this. I could even place the bass symbols above the bass staff and use the staff itself for a more complex bass voice.
Beside the plugin idea, could anyone tell me why exactly my drum notation approach produces such strange results? Is there an error in my drumset configuration file?
In reply to Well, I think... by fortefortissimo
My slash notation plugin does set the notes to a constant height. it uses a dialog box where you select info that allows the plugin to calculate the correct height, but as I understand what you're saying, your plugin could probably calculate this directly, especially if it know what clef it is in. But you can't place notes somewhere that notes don't live. If you want them above the bass clef staff, you can set the pitch to the B just below middle C (or Bb if the key signature requires it), but setting pitch any higher would display ledger lines you presumably don't want.
No idea why your drum configuration isn't working, but as said above, I think using two different instruments is actually a fine idea.
Hi fortefortissimo,
I write regularly scores for a accordion in my orchestra. I understand why you write your left-hand in a kind of short-hand notation, but there are several drawbacks to this approach:
- no playback possible
- no automatic chord transpose
- no "standard" music notation approach.
Did you consider the alternative? Writing down the chords and basnotes on the lower bass-clef? It really works well for accordion-players. They can see the difference between chords, basnotes, combined chord/basnote, and the usage of the quint bas, the chordname is there too, and you have all the options for writing down complex notation.
Thanks to copy/paste it is quite easy to enter the notes.
I have included a sample score for the accordion in my band. Would you please let me know what your opinion is?
In reply to accordion notation by kruijzen_
Nice arrangement, sounds good to my ears. I don't know the original very well, though.
I personally don't like the "standard notation" you use in your example, even though our orchestra has a few notes using this notation approach, too. As an accordionist I have to push only a single button to play a whole chord, so noting all pitches of the chord looks a bit clumsy and is superfluous in my opinion (just consider a chord like e.g. F#, can you distinguish the major, minor and diminuished versions at a glance? I can't ;-) ). The notation I described above is very common in our orchestra so I want to use it for other people's convenience. Note that I use this notation for very easy bass accompaniments only; as soon as they get more complex I switch over to the notation described in this thread (pitches E to d# are single bass notes, e to d#' represent chords, but only the base note of it is noted). It offers the same benefits as your notation and looks a bit more "elegant" (okay, playback does not sound that good, but that's okay for me).
In reply to Bass notation by fortefortissimo
I have 7 bass side registers on my accordion and I've taken the time to annotate each individual chord and bass range on every single register. All chords produced are contained within the respective bass chromatic scaling. That said, the only logical reason to use 3 note chords in musecore is for listening purposes. It is best to use the abbreviated form, i.e.1 note format since chords are normally higher on the bass staff starting mid on the E and solo bass notes are normally below the C on the same staff. So...what does that all mean? Well if I'm playing on a regular keyboard I can immediately decide what notes to add or subtract and do fancy inversions here and there. On the120 stradella (not free bass) EVERY chord is preset to a particular sound, some chords being in root position others in varying inversions. Therefore why rack your brain to read 3 note chords. Incidentally dominant 7th chords do not have the fifth and likewise with diminished. If reading chords turns your crank play a keyboard instrument, right?
Keep notation simple and concentrate on adding flavour with nifty bass runs instead.