Hearing separate parts - keyboard music
For musical analysis and other purposes it is sometimes useful to isolate parts of a work - such as a piano part - and to isolate the left or right hand.
For instruments generally this can be done using the mixer, but it seems that for keyboard instruments like a piano, the Left and Right hands don't have separate mixer tracks. If so, that would mean that to separate out the LH and RH it would be necessary to do some work directly on the score, such as duplicate the stave, then delete the LH in one copy, and delete the RH in the other.
Is that the only way? Effectively I'm asking - is it possible to separate the LH and RH parts of a keyboard work, and have those then assigned to different mixer tracks?
Comments
The mixer does have separation between the staves of a piano, you have 2 sets of voice selectors there, where you cam mute voices 1-4 for either staff
In reply to The mixer does have… by Jojo-Schmitz
Hmmmm!
I agree - but it wasn't obvious. Does a 3 staff layout (e.g. organ) have 3 sets of voice selectors?
It's one of those things which is obvious when you know, but very obscure otherwise.
Something maybe to make more intuitive in MS4
In reply to Hmmmm! I agree - but it wasn… by dave2020X
Yes, a 3-staff instrument would have 3 aets
In reply to Yes, a 3-staff instrument… by Jojo-Schmitz
This seems to be the case - mostly. A search for organ works finds one piece by Bach which appears to have been written out on three separate staves - and treated as three separate instruments. See https://musescore.com/fabiolee/bach-organ-sonata-no-4-in-e-minor-bwv-52…
OTOH looking at scores of Widor's Toccata there is this one - https://musescore.com/hmscomp/widor-organ-symphony-no-5-5th-movement-to… - which does indeed have an organ with three rows of muting buttons - as you suggest, but also a collection of other instruments. Those are presumably linked to the staves in order to get the desired timbres. Another version of the Widor Toccata simply has one instrument (Church Organ) in the mixer, but with three rows of muting buttons, as you have explained.
So now I have yet another question. In the version of the Widor Toccata with instruments "added":, how are the effects obtained? Are there hidden staves perhaps, or is there some linkage mechanism which I haven't known about before?
In reply to This seems to be the case -… by dave2020X
Yes, that score has a lot of instruments, all but the organ marked invisible. Open the score and press "i" to see...