Ties, Slurs and multiple voice measures
This is really a question on correct notation practice.
Didn't know where else to go to get authoritative advice.
So, here's my question.
In a stave that has two voices, can a tie or a slur "link" two notes in different voices ?
Simple question which may have a complicated answer ... but I take the risk !
Comments
I believe the answer to be a simple 'no'
In reply to I believe the answer to be a by Jojo-Schmitz
Logically, no, it doesn't make sense to connect notes that are in different voices. But in realitywe sometimes might need to take a line that is conceptually one voice but put different notes of it in different voices for purely practical reasons. I hear 2.0 will support this directly (?) but for now, I just fake it when necessary, using invisible notes in other voices or whatever.
In reply to Logically, no, it doesn't by Marc Sabatella
Thank you Marc for your comments.
Ok, I see what you are saying.
However, it is possible today to place a slur between two notes on different voices on the same stave in MuseScore 1.3.
This is a problem for me as I use MuseScore to create a score and export it to MusicXML.
I then take this MusicXML file and run it through my own processing system to produce a file for my music display program in Android.
As it "simply" displays the score, I run a number of pre-calculations to correctly position items.
Slurs are one of these, notably to obtain the correct curve depth, avoiding notes inside of the slur curve.
When a slur links notes in the same voice, it is "simple" to calculate a good curve depth.
However, having a slur going between different voices presents an added level of complication I had not yet envisaged.
If it was quite simply wrong practice, I could impose that slurs should only be in the same voice.
But, from what you are saying, I need to support this aspect also.
In reply to Incorrect, but current practice ? by Simon Giddings
Well, "need" is a strong word. It's not something that would be likely come up often, and realistically, it's unlikely you'll ever be able to support every possible notation out there. Simply omitting these would be perfectly reasonable, I think, if that allows you to focus your energies on more important matters.
In reply to Incorrect, but current practice ? by Simon Giddings
My solution to this problem (in MS) is to re-work the voicing so that the tie is in the same voice. One printed there is no sign exposing that things are in different voices.
In reply to My solution to this problem by xavierjazz
Thank you Xavier, for your suggestion.
Would you be willing (or any other composer expert), to validate this ?
![mesure_originale.jpg]( "mesure_originale.jpg")
Here is the original measure :
Here is a zoom on the problem part, with voice 2 notes coloured in red :
![mesure_originale_detail.jpg]( "mesure_originale_detail.jpg")
Here is my re-working of the measure :
![mesure_une_voix_v2_correction.jpg]( "mesure_une_voix_v2_correction.jpg")
Can you confirm if it is correct ?
In reply to Reworked solution by Simon Giddings
No, it is not. I mean, it adds up to the same thing, but it is not proper to put a quarter note on the "and" of 2 like that - you normally need to expose beat 3 in any measure containing eighths, so the note needs to break up as it originally did even if not for the multiple voice issue. Plus, it is not normal to use a tie between two notes but not the third of a chord when all notes are in the same voice. I suppose that might happen in some specific situation, but it should not happen in cases like this where it clearly makes more sense to have a separate voice. What you have is basically much non-standard/incorrect notation, and it's much harder to read as a result of not being standard.
The original is correct and actually a perfect demonstration of why sometimes you *want* to tie between voices. The only "correct" solution that avoids this is to put the bottom note of the chord in voice 2 for the whole measure, which is really overkill. And that still doesn't solve the problem if you need to tie into or out of that measure.
This sort of thing happens quite often in piano music, so you pretty much just have to accept that real life scores will do this. Either directly, as is possible in MuseScore 2.0, or faking it by use of invisible notes or whatnot in 1.3.
In reply to No, it is not. I mean, it by Marc Sabatella
Thank you Marc,
Ok, this is not really what I wanted to hear - it implies more work and makes things more complicated.
However, at least I know now that I will be going down the right road.
Thanks again Marc !