[MuseScore 3.6 beta] Open Hi-Hat symbol too small in Leland
Reported version
3.x-dev
Type
Functional
Frequency
Once
Severity
S5 - Suggestion
Reproducibility
Always
Status
active
Regression
No
Workaround
Yes
Project
One of the two most commonly used symbols for an open hi-hat, the "circle X notehead", looks odd in MuseScore 3.6's Leland notation font. The "x" in the circle is much smaller than the "x" without the circle.
Even though drum notation isn't properly standardised, I have never seen a circle X notehead like that in any drum notation guide. Here are two examples:
- DRUM! Magazine: https://drummagazine.com/drum-notation-guide/
- Online Drummer: https://www.onlinedrummer.com/drum-key/
3.5.:
3.6.:
Comments
Maybe I'm missing something, but in Leland, as in Bravura and MuseJazz, the XCircle notehead is the same size as other noteheads - the circle completely fills the space between two staff lines just as it should. Emmentaler, on the other hand, is oversized, as is Gonville and Petaluma, overlapping the line above & below. This seems like a stylistic decision that some fonts make one way and others make another way, but it's a valid suggestion, so I've changed the severity accordingly.
Even though drum notation isn't properly standardised, I have never seen a circle X notehead like that in any drum notation guide.
I would consider this a bug.
Would be useful to see some published examples, especially taken from other known fonts as opposed handwritten.
But given the most standardized font in the world does it the same way, as does the professionally-designed font we use, it's obviously a legitimate and valid design choice. So again, it's perfectly reasonable to ask whether it was the best design choice when looking at the border scopoe of the different fonts out there and standards used by a wide variety of different publishers, but it's not a "bug" by any normal definition of the term.
Here are two examples:
- DRUM! Magazine: https://drummagazine.com/drum-notation-guide/
- Online Drummer: https://www.onlinedrummer.com/drum-key/
Use Emmentaler, Gonville or Petaluma ;-)
For comparison, here are some showing a closer-to-standard as opposed to oversized notehead:
https://cdn.schoolofrock.com/img/content-module-single/drum-tab-notatio…
https://miro.medium.com/max/625/1*qZYiqe1g2--Tuf14cFbJlg.png
I suspect that at least some of the sources showing oversized noteheads are actually using a standard X notehead and adding the circle separately as an articulation or other symbol rather than having that as a dedicated notehead. An advantage of this approach is it allows circles around other heads too, which are also sometimes seen. I would also note that a circle above the notehead is another common way of rotating open hi hat.
I don't think "School Of Rock" is a very well-known website. The second image seems to be from a personal blog?
Here's another example, from Drumeo, perhaps the biggest online drum lessons website around: https://www.drumeo.com/beat/how-to-play-drums/
The logical thing is: the open and closed note heads (x) should be the same size.
That is, it should not look like the first one is big and the second one is small.
If there is an option to reduce both of them a little, this can be applied. If not, the old system seems more appropriate than the current one.