Mensural notation
Can MuseScore accommodate clefs used in mensural notation? How is it done? Can the note-spacing in all bars be the same as a full bar of the smallest note-value, so that the notes don't move closer together or further apart automatically? Also, how do you set the note values to carry across bar-lines without the use of ties?
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Have a look at https://musescore.org/en/handbook/3/early-music-features
Thank you. Would there be anything about tactus?
In reply to Thank you. Would there be… by Cervelat
I'm not sure I understand that term and tactus on freemusicdictionary didn't clarify what you mean to me. Can you provide an example picture/description of what you're looking for?
In reply to I'm not sure I understand… by jeetee
Renaissance performance of vocal music where singers read notation, which was usually the case in religious institutions where large and frequently-changing demands of repertoire required pretty well instant performance, depended on "someone" indicating the tempo, if at all. Everyone knew the conventions, and how to interpret the notes. For the tempo a small movement of the hand like a heartbeat was enough, and the singers watched it. The movement of the hand was called the tactus. The assumption was as freemusicdictionary indicates that the tempo was about resting heart-rate, or about sixty beats per minute : the tactus. The Latin means "touch", and "feeling", or "influence". During the sixteenth century it wasn't possible to change the tactus. The singers interpreted the tactus and the written music simultaneously, as indicated by the time signature. Division of a semibreve into three (tempus perfectum) was a hangover from mediaeval practice. It indicated a different movement where the sounds of the written notes came closer together. In general they took the tactus as a semibreve. Flexible melodic lines often of great beauty were combined into polyphonic musical textures : that was the horizontal aspect. The tactus coordinated the vertical aspect.
In preparing editions of sixteenth-century polyphony I would like to show continuity of melodic lines, and to enable playback that does not depend on a time-signature. I don't see why the software shouldn't relate each note-length to a semibreve continuously without the post-1600 division into bar-lines and groups of beats. Polyphony written into bar-lines necessarily includes many tied notes, and questions in singers' minds, which take ages to answer in rehearsal. The score (which was never available to sixteenth century performers) becomes an analogue of the required sound, and unless the singers have some idea of the required sound they can't get past the score. Part-books made with software would be a help, especially for small groups. Each part-book shows one vocal part for the complete work.
In reply to Renaissance performance of… by Cervelat
MuseScore needs a time signature to function, but this shouldn't get in your way at all, since you can also create custom length measures.
Disable the visibility of the time signature in staff/part-properties.
Have a look at the measure split/join functionality (https://musescore.org/en/handbook/3/measure-operations) and possibly use "insert mode" to not have to preset measures to a certain length.
In reply to Renaissance performance of… by Cervelat
I'm a little confused about what you're actually asking for--if you mean the clefs used in "mensural" music--i. e. music from about 1400 to 1600--it looks like you've found them already. Musescore also has a lot of clef-glyphs which more resemble those used in older manuscripts: look under Shift+F9 master palette-->Symbols-->Medieval and Renaissance Clefs. Though to use those, you'd probably have to notate the music using modern clef-shapes, render those invisible, then "replace" them with the F9 symbols.
If you mean the prolation symbols used in Renaissance music, which function like modern time-signatures--those circles with dots in them, and the like--look under Shift F9-->Symbols-->Medieval and Renaissance Prolations; although once again, you might have to notate the music using modern time signatures, render those invisible, etc. There's even a whole palette of oblique forms: white, colored, half-colored--although I'm not sure how to practically utilize those.
As far as extending note values and dots across barlines, and "mensurstrich" notation, once again read the Handbook: https://musescore.org/en/handbook/3/early-music-features#unbarred-notat… (Complete with the helpful warning "EXPERIMENTAL: Early Music Only!"--I've used it to notate some quite 21st century composition, myself.)
Were you intending to notate a full score, or recreate single line part-books?
As far as "Can the note-spacing in all bars be the same as a full bar of the smallest note-value, so that the notes don't move closer together or further apart automatically?", it sounds like you are asking about "proportional" notation--i. e. notation in which a whole-note takes twice as much horizontal space on the staff as a half-note. This is not a part of any Renaissance notational practice that I know of, and I'm not sure how that could be achieved in Musescore, although your idea of repeated eighth-notes might be a start.
As far as "tactus" is concerned, that is an aspect of Renaissance music theory, not music notation. For playback, measure your pulse at rest, then set the BPM accordingly.