How to make a piece with no time signature

• Nov 23, 2017 - 16:21

Hi,

I and a cantor and direct the choir at an Eastern Catholic church, specifically the Ruthenian branch of the Byzantine Catholic Church. Traditionally - at least in my estimation - bar lines are only used to demarcate a change in phrase rather than a time signature. The liturgical service is done in a kind of sing-song recitative between the clergy and the congregation. Some of the tunes used can be harmonized and done so quite beautifully if you have the singers. We borrow heavily from composers with Russian and Eastern European heritage, such as Dmitri Bortniansky. (It sounds kind of screwy to Western music listeners. but I feel it necessary to correct some harmonies being wrongfully sung and for that I need to notate the correct harmonies.) The harmonies are usually 2 to 4 parts in this church, but can vary between solo recitative to more harmonies, based on the original language from which the melodies are derived and from the number of singers (usually a single priest will sing solo recitative, for instance).

So...very long story short, I need to create these without a time signature. How can I do that?

Also, if there is anyone with experience using MuseScore for traditional Eastern Rite Catholic music, I would appreciate your help/collaboration here.

Comments

• Nov 23, 2017 - 16:31

Basically you want measures of varying length with no time signature visible at the beginning of the song.

Here is what I would do. I would look at the song and find an estimated average number of beats or possibly an often used number of beats in a "measure" and create a custom time signature that will make the measures that length. Once I insert it, I would make it invisible by selecting it and pressing v. As I enter each measure I would first determine the actual number of beats and change the actual duration of the measure to fit it if needed. I would then enter the notes for that measure. If I miscounted the beats for some reason, I would then adjust the actual measure duration as needed. After that I would work on the lyrics to make them line up with the notes as appropriate.

See: https://musescore.org/en/handbook/time-signatures#create-your-own-time-…

https://musescore.org/en/handbook/measure-operations#duration

https://musescore.org/en/handbook/lyrics

You may need to read a little bit around the actual links if you are not familiar with some of the operations.

Your questions are always welcomed.

Reply

Do you still have an unanswered question? Please log in first to post your question.