One of the most abundant sources of consternation I have while composing, especially in the chase of choral music, is the apparent inability to and subtract "instrument" lines midway though a score. I have gotten around this by simply having a large number of named instrument parts from the onset; however this leads ultimately to clunky scores and a general lack of user friendliness. For example as detailed in the attached files, if I want the alto 1 &2 and tenor 1 & 2 lines to compress into a single alto and a single tenor line, I have to add a separate instrument called "alto" and "tenor", then hide empty staves.
When trying to compose music, having the soprano line atop the score is ideal for conceptual visualization. This withstanding, I tend to place my parts according to the view in the first file. Unfortunately, when hiding empty staves, the unison soprano line (and indeed the unison alto line as well had it been in play) falls below the tenor divisi lines. This effect can be witnessed in the second files.
Because of this I have to retroactively reorder the unison parts through the divisi parts in a way that makes composing much less seamless. If I were able to simply split a single instrument part into two instruments (with corresponding arrows to show movement of parts (an engraving phenomena often witnessed in contemporary choral music editing) and join them at later unison points, much of the compositional and editorial process would be simplified greatly. As such I would kindly request some thought be had regarding this. Furthermore if there are any ideas regarding a simplification of my current process in the mean time, I would be greatly appreciative and openly receptive for/of them.
