Transposing and scoring
I sing in a male quartet and male chorus.
I would like to be able to take an SATB arrangement which I have scanned and imported as a PDF and make several changes:
Change all staffs to Bass Clef and show the notes.
It is pretty common practice, to use the same notes and assign basses to the bass part, baritones to the melody (an octave lower than written), second tenors to the tenor part, and the first tenors to the alto part (at actual pitch rather than an octave lower).
Another way is to have the first tenor sing the alto part in the same octave, the second tenor sing the soprano part in tenor octave. the baritone sing the printed tenor part and the bass sing the bass part.
Another way is for the 2nd tenor to sing the lead, the 1st tenor on a higher pitched harmony part the baritone either singing the melody or a fifth above the bass root and the bass sing the bass line.
It is important to try several iterations because, since you have essentially one less octave of voice ranges with TTBB vs. SATB,it is important to watch the spacing of chords. Keeping the baritone and bass too close together will generally give a thick, "muddy" sound (unless they are in unison on occasion).
Is there any way to do this automatically in MuseScore without having to enter the individual notes each time, and if so, how.
For instance, we are going to be practicing the song below and I would love to turn it into a TTBB arrangement.
Thank you in advance for your help,
Sincerely,
Pastor Dan M. Appel, retired
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
| God on the Mountain.mscz | 26.79 KB |
Comments
Arranging any song for new instruments (including singing voices) is an art. MuseScore has tools to help, but can never replace human decisions. The most important tool is ctrl+arrow keys that will allow you to move entire selections an octave. It will be up to the arranger to decide if notes need to be moved to other voices (and octaves) to turn 2nds into 7ths or 9ths after octave changes for example or even to correct undesirable inversions from happening. A GBD chord does not sound identical to a BDG chord, though the only difference is that one note has been moved to a different octave. Sometimes it makes a difference, sometimes it doesn't. These are things MuseScore can't automate.
As mentioned, MuseScore isn't going to replace human expertise when it comes to the actual musical decisions. But assuming you are talking about just changing the octave of some notes, moving some notes from one voice or staff to another, etc - MuseScore certainly allows you to do this without the need to re-etner notes. Octave change is Ctrl+Up/Down. Moving notes between voices is best done with Edit / Voices. Moving from staff to staff with cut & paste. And changing a staff to bass clef is as easy as adding it from the palette.