Formatting of chord notation
Not sure why the chord symbols and Roman numerals have different formatting. The RNs format the diminished symbol (°) pretty close to how I handwrite it, but the CSs are annoying with how it shows it as a letter "o".
The Delta symbol (Δ) for Major 7s is also slightly different; probably just a difference in font size, although both CSs and RNs are pretty far from how I handwrite it.
I expect the formatting to be consistent more than to be like my writing, and this is not meant to be a complaint about the key binds; I think they're fine as is, although they weren't obvious without a look at the forum.
Comments
Chord symbols and RNA are formatted different in published music, and MuseScore tries to follow the most common standards for each.
Sounds like you aren't using the Jazz style of chord symbols if you are seeing a plain circle for the diminished sign. That's normal - most published music outside the jazz world does not superscript the diminished sign, if they use that sign at all ("dim" is more common in pop music). So, if you are trying to emulate the look of handwritten jazz charts, definitely use the Jazz templates, which default to the Jazz style for chord symbols but also do a lot of other customizations to reproduce the look of handwritten jazz charts. Or, if you wish everything else to look "typeset" but only the chord symbols to look handwritten, don't use the Jazz templates, but just set the chord symbol style to Jazz in Format / Style / Chord Symbols. You can also set other options there to customize the appearance of your chord symbols when not use the Jazz style. Or, select other fonts in Format / Style / Text Styles / Chord Symbol. There are several other handwriting-type fotns supplied with MsueScore to choose from.
RN on the other hand is almost never published in jazz charts, but is instead found mostly in academic theory textbooks. Thus the font used is consistent with the font found in those kinds of books.
In reply to Chord symbols and RNA are… by Marc Sabatella
Does that mean I'd have to go into Format>Style>Chord Symbols for all my old files? And the only Jazz template I see myself using is lead sheets, but the Jazz font looks like someone carved it in a tree.
In reply to Does that mean I'd have to… by edsknife
If you previously created them with a different style and now you wish to change the style, then yes, you would need to update them. Although probably the best way to do that would be to customize one such file the way you like, then use Format / Save Style to save the resulting style settings, then use Format / Load Style to load those settings into any older scores you wish to update.
The Jazz template use the MuseJazz font by default, which is based directly on the handwriting of the professional engravers who produced the "New Real Book" and other publications from Sher Music, generally considered the gold standard for this type of thing. But there are other handwritten styles available in Format / Style / Score (for notation) and Format / Style / Text Styles (for text). And for text specifically, you can use any third-party fonts you like, if there is a font you know that more closely resembles your own handwriting or your own model of what looks good for your intended audience.