alternate chord changes at different size?
Sorry if this has been addressed elsewhere, I did a cursory look and didn't see a discussion on this topic. (This is specific, I think, to creating lead sheets for jazz applications.)
Is it possible to enter a set of chord changes at a different size than is specified in the chordname text style? Specifically, I'd like to be able to notate one set of "standard" chord changes, plus an optional set of substitute changes in parentheses above the first set of changes, preferably in a smaller font size.
In experimenting, it doesn't appear possible to "locally" override the font size of individual chord symbols.
Any help appreciated -- thank you!
- jeff
Comments
You can enter alternate chords in parentheses, adjust the alignment by dragging, and change the font size via right click / 'Text Properties'.
(Although with the added parentheses, the alternates won't transpose should you later decide to change the key.)
Regards.
In reply to Alternate chords by Jm6stringer
Thank you for your response...!
Hmm, that doesn't seem to work for me. I'm working on v 1.3/5702 on iMac Mavericks. If I change the text properties for the alternate changes, they disappear, and adopt the text size from the text style for chordnames when I reopen the document. The same occurs if I highlight the chord spelling and step the font size down via the controls at the bottom of the screen.
In reply to Thank you for your by jazz_trpt
I guess if I enter the paren first, it doesn't get interpreted as a chord for the purposes of the text settings. If I just put a chord up there without the paren, it adopts the text setting from the chordnames setting.
This is okay, except for when the substitute spelling requires some reformatting (e.g., Eb7#9), in which case, the b and #9 aren't treated as superscripts and relocated in the manner they are with the other chords. Yes?
In reply to I guess if I enter the paren by jazz_trpt
You are correct in your observations. There is currently no way to do what you want, and the workarounds have the drawback you mention.
The chord symbol system has been drastically redesigned and improved for 2.0, for unfortunately, this is still not something we were planning to support yet. It's on my list to think about though. If not for 2.0 then perhaps afterwards.
In reply to You are correct in your by Marc Sabatella
I just realized it is *almost* possible in the development to builds for 2.0 to apply an alternate text style to selected chord symbols, which would solve this problem. I'm investigating to see how feasible this really is. Applying alternate text styles to selected elements is possible for other text items, and in principle it is easy to make this happen for chord symbols too.
In reply to You are correct in your by Marc Sabatella
Thanks for your response. Hope this feature is added, it'd be very handy.
In reply to thanks by jazz_trpt
So it turns out it was exactly as as easy I was hoping. I've submitted that change, and hopefully it gets approved.
In reply to So it turns out it was by Marc Sabatella
...makes me quite happy. :-)
In reply to I guess if I enter the paren by jazz_trpt
If you want them to be able to transpose and can live with them being the same size and font, you can just add 3 chords to a beat, the normal one, the alternate one, which you then drag up a bit and a chord "( )", which you drag up too, so it forms the parens around the 2nd. That 3rd 'chord' won't transpose then :-)
In reply to If you want them to be able by Jojo-Schmitz
...if there is such a word.
You, sir, are another masterful MuseScorer!
I'll be using this one...
Thanks, and best regards.
In reply to If you want them to be able by Jojo-Schmitz
Thanks -- yeah, I have workarounds, I was just hoping there was a more elegant solution. Maybe attaching chords to notes in voices rather than beats and being able to, say, set chords in Voice 2 to be a discrete size. Ah well...onward, and thanks for the replies.
In true underquarkian fashion I have cobbled up this workaround, never having even realised the need for this before now and not having tested it extensively or even very well...
For a single-staved instrument, single Voice:
Create two staves of the same instrument.
Write your music into the first stave.
Copy the music to the second stave.
Write the chords for the first stave.
Write the alternative chords on the second stave.
Select the whole first stave and Edit -> "Exchange Voices 1 & 2".
Select all the notes in the second stave and press [Del]
Right-click on the first chord in the second stave and "Select All Similar Elements in Same Stave"
Press [Ctrl] and drag all the chords up a little (don't worry if they overlap the stave above).
Copy all the rests from the second stave and paste onto the first rest of the first stave.
Select the whole first stave and Edit -> "Exchange Voices 1 & 2".
Delete all the 2nd-Voice rests in the first stave.
Delete the second stave instrument.
This doesn't give you brackets and you can't easily move any chords AFTER creation since they will now all be treated as one "family" but you could experiment and create chords for the second stave in a different colour or you could change the font (Style -> Edit Text Style -> Chordname) after creating the first set of chords and prior to creating the second set of chords etc. (You'd think that you could just do this without all the copy-and-paste palaver but you'd be wrong).
It's in for 2.0. Check it out:
http://www.screenr.com/WshN
The alternate style I am applying is a custom style; you can create your own for purposes like this or whatever else. That feature has been in for a long time, but it never worked for chord symbols before.
In reply to It's in for 2.0. Check it by Marc Sabatella
Slick!
How do I get this inspector thingee in the 2.0 public beta of which your video speaks?
your video shows parenthezied chords on DIFFERENT beats like for a turnaround. You can either do them or not. Musicians just sort of know not to do them at the end of a tune. However I want a completely alt set of harmony for the SAME beats. Like do the normal font line OR the italicized line. And I want everything to transpose if I decide to, so just slapping text up there is ugly.
In reply to Inspector by Tixrus
If you're running a 2.0 Beta / Nightly build, the Inspector is found in the View menu. I suggest you bring it up and leave it up forver; it's that useful. If you're not running a 2.0 build, you need to, obvious. See the Download menu in the menu at right of this page.
Whether the chord is on same or different beat doesn't matter - the process is exactly the same. Define a text style for the alternate chords and apply it via Inspector. They are still true chord symbols and will transpose correctly.