Slurs upside down
Almost every slur going from a acciaccatura, appoggiatura or grace note going to the attached note is upside down compared to the scores I get from IMSLP; which means, that with few exceptions, I have to press X to flip them. This wouldn't be so bad if I didn't have to unselect and reselect each slur because slurs appear in the edit mode (like it had been double clicked), which does not respond to X. In order to reselect the slur I must click somewhere, which means picking up my mouse again because the escape key doesn't leave the slur selected, it leaves the grace (or similar) note selected.
Comments
Really? Can you you post some examples? The standard is to have slurs *below* the grace note (see for example Gould "Behind Bars" page 129), and that's what MuseScore does by default as well. There are some special case exceptions involving multiple voices, ledger lines, or accidentals, and no doubt some editors have chosen to do things differently, and those may require flipping. But the default of putting the slur underneath should be correct in most cases, and all the examples I saw when perusing my collection just now are consistent with this.
The PDF's I get from IMSLP are too big to upload here. I have no where that I can put them for you.
Most of the jumps are from the treble staff in the first violin, flute or piccolo to notes several ledger lines above the staff.
I don't know if the default for putting a slur in the edit mode is dependent upon the crescendos and decrescendos being in the edit mode, or if this was done for consistency. If the latter, then it would be nice to have the slur selected normal after input so the X can flip it when transcribing symphonies with large numbers of these exceptions, which is typical in Late Romantic era music. If the default is because they are both the same class of lines, then I would prefer to have the crescendos appear in edit mode like they currently do.
As far as Gould's is concerned, I've never read it. When I write original music I make it neat and make sense to the musician based upon my experience as a musician. When I transcribe, I try to be consistent with the source, only correcting obvious typos, accidental additions and omissions.
While I'm on the subject of transcriptions I have another question. In the staff properties under Advanced Style Options there is a check box that says "Show Key Signature." In Classical music it is normal to not show the key signature for Horns, Trumpets (and their cousins) and Timpani. If you uncheck this box, it hides the key signature, but when you enter a B and the transcribed key is F, it comes up as a B-flat with no accidental. The same of course happens with every other note affected by a suppressed key signature. When transcribing classical music, this does nothing but cause wrong notes, because the suppressed key signature is not taken into consideration in the score for those brass instruments. I would like to use this if it were useful, but I have to resort to local key signatures for the trumpets and horns. If the key signature stays the same, that's no big deal, but it gets tedious when there are multiple key changes and 11 horn/trumpet/timpani lines within a piece.
Oh yeah, there is a question. Is this the result that is expected from that option in the staff properties. If so, why would anyone want to use it.
In reply to The PDF's I get from IMSLP by mike320
You could just post the link to IMSLP. but I think your description sounds about right for one of the exceptions: notes above the staff with ledger lines might look better with slurs above. So in those cases, yes, you will need to override the default. We could consider eventually improving the algorithm to do some of that automatically Still, the defaults should cover the majority of cases well; your initial post seemed to suggest otherwise which is why I was confused.
The reason slurs are in edit mode by default is that for most people in most situations, the most common operation to perform after adding one is to extend it.
Regarding your question about keys: don't use that option, it is literally only meant to hide key signatures. What you want is *no* key signature. That's accomplished by using the "open/atonal" key signature on the palette. Just Ctrl+drag it to the stave(s) you want it to apply to. Sounds like this is what you're doing. I hadn't thought about the need to keep reiterating this at every key change, that's something where perhaps a better scheme could be devised.
In reply to You could just post the link by Marc Sabatella
I assume the "open/atonal' signature is the one otherwise known as C-Major or a-minor.
Three points about IMSLP:
- Much of the printed music on there (indeed almost all of it) is quite old due the copyrights restrictions and does not always match modern practice. So some work to make transcripts look like the original--if this is important to you--is to be expected.
- Specifically about grace notes: More often than not (at least in early to mid 19th century editions or manuscripts) grace notes are not slurred to the main note at all; exactly the way they appear on Musescore right after entering.
- If you need to post an example from IMSLP just take and post screen shots of the relevant sections.
In reply to I assume the "open/atonal' by azumbrunn
The open/atonal signature is the grayed out X on the staff. It will put all instruments into no key signature regardless of if you are in concert or transposed. It can get confusing if you're not careful. It is useful because that is how I get rid of the horns' key signatures.
The editions I'm transcribing are almost all from mid 19th century and later, so they have the slurs or I wouldn't have any concern about them. I realize it takes some work to make it look like the original, I do what I must for the most part. I do take minimal liberties to by-pass some meaningless notations, and I attempt to translate non-standard musical terms from their original languages to English next to the original.
I just learned how to copy sections of a PDF to this site, so if I need to in the future I will. My discussion with Marc was sufficient to satisfy me without having to do that.
In reply to The open/atonal signature is by mike320
I found out why I had no idea about the open signature. It does not exist in my Musescore: Veraion 2.0.3.1 for Mac.
It can't be found in the palette (and wasn't there from the beginning; it did not get lost through some strange error I made--I would have noticed the symbol and looked it up when starting fresh with this version). And it can't even be found in the master palette.
Weird, no?
In reply to I found out why I had no idea by azumbrunn
It should be in the Key Signature Palette of the Avanced Workspace.It is not in the Basic Workspace though. It also is in the Master Palette. See also https://musescore.org/en/handbook/key-signatures-0, it has some images showing this
In reply to It should be in the Key by Jojo-Schmitz
True, I found it in the advanced palette (I am using basic with additions of my own so as not to have so many options I never use). On the master palette however it is indeed MIA.
I tried to drag it into a score from the advanced palette, but apparently it does not show there, so I am not sure how I can add it from there to my own palette.
On the other hand: For purposes of showing transposing instruments with a neutral signature one can work around this problem by using the "offsetting" key signatures (in D major a B clarinet is written in E major, drag the B major signature there and you get neutral). Downside: If you look at it in concert pitch mode it looks really weird: It now shows in B major (and every b and e carries a neutral sign).
In reply to True, I found it in the by azumbrunn
The X keysig is not supposed to Show, it is just 'no key sig' and as such visually the same as a C-Major/a-minor, it is just delat with differently internally.
I'm at a loss to explain why that X keysig is missung from your master palette
In reply to True, I found it in the by azumbrunn
To see that the atonal key is entered, change from concert pitch to transposed pitch and notice that the key signature does not change in those instruments/measures affected.
In reply to True, I found it in the by azumbrunn
The atonal key is definitely present on the master palette as shipped. So if somehow it has gone missing (you may have inadvertently deleted it, although that isn't supposed to be possible), try Help / Revert to Factory Settings.
In reply to You could just post the link by Marc Sabatella
A staff property for "unkeyed" but pitched instruments like timpani is something I've been meaning to request for a while. Is now a good time to file it?
In reply to A staff property for by Isaac Weiss
Makes sense to me.
In reply to Makes sense to me. by Marc Sabatella
See #163611: Support for "unkeyed" (but not unpitched) instruments, needed for timpani and historic brass. There is nothing in the tracker regarding the grace note direction on ledger lines yet.