horizontal spacing between notes
Hello, total noob question, using musescore 1.2 on debian wheezy:
I created a new score, used the piano template, chose f major, 3/4 time, chose to be 1 measure long. Then I read the Online Handbook about note entry and entered 3 quarter notes in each staff-- c4 d4 e4 for the treble and c3 d3 e3 for the bass. Now I end up with a score of one measure which has the quarter notes scrunched way too close to each other. Is the idea of Musescore to try to get the spacing correct immediately after notes are entered, or to enter notes first then tweak later as in Finale? If it's the former, then is this a bug?
I know I can select the notes and use the curly brackets to expand or contract, but in this case that looks like the equivalent of toggling "ragged-right" in Lilypond-- i.e., either taking up all the space of the system, or as little as needed (with the difference being incorrect spacing for the latter).
Also, let's say I want to add a partial measure of one quarter note to this score that will follow the full measure that already exists (as one might do when quoting an excerpt in a musicology paper). Is this possible in Musescore? I saw some documentation on hiding measures but not partial measures.
Thanks!
Comments
On the first problem: I'm not entirely sure what you mean... Could you post a picture? It might just be that I'm really tired though. However, on the second one I can help you. Right click the measure, choose Measure Properties, and change the actual time signature to 1/4.
In reply to On the first problem: I'm not by musiclover007
Although you can move noted right and left by double liking and using the arrow keys.
To add another measure, press Ctrl + B. If you want it to be 1/4, right click on it -> Measure properties -> actual duration = 1/4
When you have only one measure, or if you consider the last system of a longer score, MuseScore will not justify it (expand it on the full length) except if the music in this last system go over the "last system threshold". To change the last system threshold go to Style -> Edit General style -> Page -> Last system threshold. If you put 0% in there, the measure will be expanded on the full length.
Now, if you want more controls over the size of your music on this last line. Go to Create -> Measure -> Append a horizontal frame and double click this new frame to change its size.
In reply to To add another measure, press by [DELETED] 5
Thanks. Took me a little while to figure out how to hide the final double bar-- there's no option for "blank" in the barlines pallette. Turned out just right-clicking on the barline and choosing "Hide" does the trick.
By default, MuseScore puts notes pretty close together as you enter them, but it is usually no concern in real music, because as your music fills the page, things will spread out naturally as measures are "justified" to fill systems. You can set the parameter style / edit general style / measure / spacing to control how much space MuseScore gives you by default - this is kind of the baseline to which the stretch commands then give you overrides for.
However, none of this applies to the last system of music. For what reason, the last system always shows music in the same (tight) spacing regardless of the spacing setting or any stretch applied to the measures on that system. The spacing remains tight unless the system is at least as full as style / edit general style / page / last sustem fill threshold, at which point it is justified to same lone length as the rest of the score.
I'm not sure if it is a "bug" that the last system is not affected by spacing or stretch - it's been like that as long as I've known MuseScore, and I'd think if it wasn't supposed to do that, it would have been changed by now. If there is not some reason for the current behavior, I woild certainly like to see it changed as well.
But the solutions are to either append a horizontal spacer to take up the amount of paper you want to leave (thus allowing the measures on that system to justify up to the left edge of the spacer), or in the case of a score of only one line (something that it seems you are dealing with?), just change the paper size and/or margins to whatever you want the size of your examples to turn out to be.
In reply to By default, MuseScore puts by Marc Sabatella
Example 1 is the musescore spacing I'm talking about. Example 2 is a reference from Lilypond.
By default, both programs _don't_ stretch the measure to fill the entire system. This is good IMO, because for short excerpts that's usually what you'd want (and in both programs it's a single tweak to make the music fill the entire system).
Even so, Musescore compacts the quarter notes too tightly, resulting in default output that would never appear in a published theory book or score, where proper spacing would look more like Example 2.
This seems to affect all excerpts that don't fill an entire system, so for reasonable notation needs Musescore isn't doing correct spacing by default.
In reply to Example 1 is the musescore by jancsika
It seems you might have not seen my reply above, but it explains what is going on here. All but the last systems *are* filled by default, and the spacing parameter I mentioned *is* honored, meaning you don't get the too tight spacing you are seeing at all in "regular" music. It is *only* on the last system of the score where you get the tight spacing by default and you therefore need to take an extra step such as adding a horizontal frame to get the spacing you want. As I said, I too would prefer the spacing parameter be honored in that last system and am not sure why it isn't, but it's been like that a long time so I assume it is deliberate and there is some reason for that behavior.
Anyhow, it's only because you are in the business of creating scores that consist of only one system that you aren't seeing the usual spacing / fill behavior most of the time - *all* of your systems are "last systems", so you are *always* seeing the special case that affects only the last few measures of a score. But for most "reasonable notation needs" - eg, "real" music as opposed to one measure excerpts- you really do get good spacing by default. It's just unfortunate this doesn't work for one-measure excerpts without taking that extra step of adding a frame (or using a more appropriate page size in the firt place).
In reply to It seems you might have not by Marc Sabatella
My example is one measure for brevity. But as you point out, the erroneous spacing applies to all cases where the excerpt doesn't fill an entire system, as often happens for excerpts in scholarly papers, theory examples, theory exercises, thematic catalogs, etc. I wouldn't exactly call these special cases.
(Note: edited about 30 seconds after I posted for clarity)
In reply to My example is one measure for by jancsika
My point wasn't about whether the score is only a single *measure* or not; it is about whether it is only a single *system* or not. Once again, what you are describing *only applies to the last system in a score*. Scores that consist of only a single system are indeed special cases - they may be common in the realm of education materials, but not in the realm of "regular" music. That's why I was pointing out that this really doesn't interfere with ordinary notation tasks - only the special task of providing single-system excerpts. It just so happens you use this special case a lot. And I agree, in the future, if there is not some reason why the current behavior cannot be changed, I'd like to see that as well. If you wanted to submit a feature request to ask that in a future release, the spacing parameter not be ignored in the last system, I'd certainly support it. Meanwhile, though, the solutions we have suggested do work, quite well.