Combining Rests

• Jul 19, 2018 - 20:26

I am transposing a clarinet part for my friend. And in the part, there is a rest duration of 6 measures. I would really like to combine the measures of rest together, but do not know how to do so. Thanks!

Comments

mike320

• Jul 19, 2018 - 21:19

Pressing M toggles multi-measure rests.

clopak

• Jul 22, 2018 - 14:55

Hey Mike, I have 61 measures in the music I am composing and the first 4 measures are combined rests while the piano plays. Your right about 'M' toggling combining measures...BUT, no matter what I do, it combines all 61 measures! I just want the first 4 without affecting the rest of the score. Am I doing something wrong? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

Shoichi

• Jul 22, 2018 - 14:57

https://musescore.org/en/handbook/measure-rests#break

Ensure that the option to display multimeasure rests in the score is off.
Right-click on the measure where you want the second multi-measure rest to start;
From the menu, chose Measure Properties and tick "Break multi-measure rest."

Marc Sabatella

• Jul 23, 2018 - 19:05

No need to mess with measure properties - just wait to turn on multimeasure rests until you are done entering the notes. Then it will automatically combine only the empty measures.

Lita Rubin Saltzman

• Sep 8, 2020 - 17:12

I'm in a similar situation and just want to combine the 1st 3 measures into a multi measure rest for the tenor part. I can't figure out how to do this. I've tried several things I've read and none have worked.

By the way, (apologies, having nothing to do with the above question) you should know that I recently attempted to update to the newest version of Muse Score and it cause my MuseScore to crash every time I attempted opening it. I was able to uninstall and go back to my older version but I thought you should be aware of this huge problem.

mike320

• Sep 8, 2020 - 17:19

You have to have empty measures for all instruments in the score. Once you do that, press m and multi-measure rests will be toggled (switched between turned on and off). If you have a Tenor part with empty measures but notes in the piano part, you will not get a multi measure rest. If you generate parts (Use File->Parts) you can isolate the parts by instrument/singer and the multi-measure rests are turned on by default.

BTW, your request for clarification might help the OP.

Marc Sabatella

• Sep 8, 2020 - 18:05

As @mike320, if the tenor part is truly its own part - not just one staff within a score - this should happen. But it would be normally for it to not happen within a score for multiple instruments; scores do not normally show multimeasure rests. Only parts. So if you continue to have trouble, please attach your file so we can understand and assist better,

Regarding the crashes, you aren't the only user who is experiencing this, but as I haven't seen this myself and far as I know none of the other developers have either. Except for one very special case that only affects certain Linux systems. What operating system are you on (Linux, Windows, macOS)?

Aside form that one Linux-specific case, most of the others experiencing this report that it goes away if you start MuseScore by opening a score from your file browser, rather than using the program icon, and that's because this bypasses the Start Center. And then once you've started it up, you can disable the Start Center in Edit / Preferences and from then on use the program normally.

mike320

• Sep 8, 2020 - 18:50

I missed the crash comment. Last night someone had the same problem. Starting from the command line with the -F option (the F must be capital) fixed it for them. See https://musescore.org/en/handbook/command-line-options

Lita Rubin Saltzman

• Sep 11, 2020 - 02:16

I did try that and it didn't work. I spent a lot of time trying to keep the update, but, finally gave up and figured out how to uninstall it and go back to the previous version. With the update installed I was never able to open MuseScore. Each time it appeared as though it was opening and got to the point of a blank score and then crashed every time (the program completely closed).

Please let me know if it ever gets fixed so I can try to update again.

Thanks,

Lita

Lita Rubin Saltzman

• Sep 11, 2020 - 02:07

Mark and Mike:

Thanks so much for your response.

I'm trying to only have the rest for tenor only (1st 3 measures of the song) as that is the melody in steel drums. Yes, each part should be it's own, but, I'm not sure if I set it up right. I'm going to have the lower voices (all but tenor) start and bring in the groove on those 1st 4 measures though. I'm just learning to arrange and so am only just transcribing a melody at this moment for the lead.
Also, I think there are some mistakes on the ranges of the steel drum instruments, as when I tried putting in the correct instrument names, it moved my entire melody up an octave. I think that was when I was working on another tune though.

Also, as long as you're helping me, I wanted to put 3 repeats , 1/2/3 all with the first ending (I only have the 1st listed so far, as I don't know how to do this), and the 2nd ending will be only on the 4th time around. I can't find the instructions on how to do this.

Thanks very much for looking at this.

Lita

Attachment	Size
Sway Melody Only.pdf	36.43 KB

mike320

• Sep 11, 2020 - 02:25

What you have displayed is essentially a conductor's score. These scores do not contain multi measure rests but rather put a measure rest in each measure similar to what you have. You actually have a whole rest in measure 2. For notes it would be better if you attached the .mscz file rather than a PDF of the score. I'm not familiar with steel drum pitches but there are enough percussionists in the forums that there will be someone to help you with that.

For you repeat situation read about voltas. One thing I didn't see mentioned here is that you need to set the play count in measure properties to 4 if you want the section to play 4 times.

Lita Rubin Saltzman

• Sep 11, 2020 - 04:26

Could you please explain what score I should be using rather than a "conductor's score"? I can't figure out another way to put in the 4 parts I want to arrange. I tried changing the measure properties to 3 (I just want to do the 1st ending 3X) but it still went on to the 2nd ending the 2nd time around. Does this need to be done for every measure through the 1st ending? I guess it doesn't really matter as we don't need to play it on MuseScore while we're actually playing the parts.
I've attached the MuseScore file for you.

I appreciate your help though I wish there were some better instructions available for this program.

Thanks for your time and your help.

Attachment	Size
Sway Melody Only .mscx	80.66 KB

mike320

• Sep 11, 2020 - 04:50

The manual has general instructions that have to be applied to specific situations because as you have shown, we don't know what the user will put into a score.

As for the conductors score, this is how you look at the entire score. The other option is to look at each part. When you look at a part you will see the multi measure rests you want. This is all normal. See parts for information about creating them.

In the volta, you changed the Text field but did not change the Repeat list field for either volta. You also set the play count in measure properties to 3 (only for the measure with the repeat) rather than 4. Since you want it to play a total of 4 times (3 for the first volta plus 1 for the second volta which is properly labelled 4). Be careful to follow all of the instructions and you will get better results.

I have made the corrections to the attached score. Examine what I did in the places I mentioned and you will see the errors you made. I have also generated parts according to the instructions I linked to so you can see the multi measure rests. As you update the conductor's score view, the parts will update as well so don't worry about any multi measures rests there until the score is complete.

Attachment	Size
Sway Melody Only - B.mscz	18.57 KB

Lita Rubin Saltzman

• Sep 12, 2020 - 03:08

Wow, thank you so much. I will take a look and try to learn and get it right the next time. I still have a lot to learn and I really appreciate the time you took to help me.

benwaffle

• Jun 9, 2024 - 05:13

Select all of the rests and use Tools > Regroup rhythms

cadiz1

• Jun 9, 2024 - 11:32

(edited)