Creating curved line types

• Jul 27, 2017 - 15:49

This may already be a thing that I've not discovered, but I need to create a curved line that *isn't* a slur. The reason for this is that Scoops, Doits etc. snap to either side of a barline, and I want one that goes from the end of one bar to the beginning of another. The easiest way I can think of is to have a new type of curved line that unlike a slur isn't thicker in the middle.

Attached is a picture of what I want it to roughly look like. I created the picture using a Scoop, however whenever I make a change to the score it resets to look like the second picture. This is why I want to create the curved line, because as far as I know this will not snap to the barline and will remain correctly placed.

Thanks in advance. Regards,
David

Attachment Size
Curved scoop across barlines -- gone wrong!.png 17.04 KB
Curved scoop across barlines.png 15.37 KB

Comments

• Jul 27, 2017 - 16:19

A slur is a far more reliable method of connecting notes with the line you want. Anything else will move if the score is redrawn and the width of the measure at either end is changed. A slur has the advantage of being continued on the next line if needed.

If you want to go the scoop route, you need to put in your own line breaks before and after each line that has a scoop. Do this after all of the rest of those measures are finished with notes, accidentals, ornaments etc. Changing any of these can cause the width of the measures on the line to change.

Lines (a straight line from the lines palette) are set to a definite length, so even if you could make them look like that, they would move around as bad or worse than a scoop.

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• Jul 27, 2017 - 17:22

Thanks for your thoughts! As far as I know though lines don't snap to the barline. A scoop will always snap to being all on one side of the barline -- see the second picture I attached. This is a much worse problem than the line moving about a bit when changes are made in the score.

The slurs solution is a good backup option, but on a technical note I'd rather avoid having it thicker in the middle. I could turn that off from style settings, but then *all* slurs would have uniform thickness. So I'd rather have a different line type. An ideal solution would be to be able to create additional custom slurs, with the option to change the line thickness setting independently of the normal slurs.

I've actually succeeded in creating a graphic that does the job pretty well -- see attachment. But this is a very time-consuming solution, and I'd prefer something that doesn't require me to use a graphic design program!

Attachment Size
Curved scoop across barlines -- graphic solution.png 10.83 KB

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• Jul 28, 2017 - 17:24

I wouldn't assume any particular musician would assume your curved line is intended to convey anything special about the desired effect, unless you provide a key for your score that explains your own notation system. While I can see the logic in what you are saying, there is nothing in standard notation guidelines that would suggest this is the "correct" thing to do when seeing this notation.

Anyhow, a generic curved line would be a good thing to add some day, feel free to add an official feature request via the issue tracker in the menu at right.

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