Selecting a Note Where Voices Overlap
I would like to be able to select one note from a particular voice (say voice 1). But in the piece of music I have voice 1 on the same note (say C) as voice 2.
In MuseScore 4 it selects voice 2. But I want to select voice 1.
In MuseScore 3 it selected voice 1, the note I wanted. But also I could cycle through the different voices on the same note by Ctrl clicking that note. (I'm on PC.) It would cycle: selecting voice 1, voice 2, then neither etc.
I can painfully work around this in MuseScore 4 by selecting the voice 2 note, moving it off C, selecting the voice 1 note, doing the operation I want, then moving the moved voice 2 note back to C. But that's too painful.
Am I missing something?
Comments
Use the selection filter. See https://musescore.org/en/handbook/4/selecting-elements#exclude-range
In reply to Use the selection filter. … by SteveBlower
That's interesting. I've used different terminology than that manual. It says:
"Overlapping elements #
If multiple elements overlap, clicking selects the topmost element. To select the element underneath a currently-selected element, Ctrl+click it. This deselects the currently-selected element and selects the next element beneath it, if any. Thus, repeated Ctrl+click operations cycle through a set of overlapping elements."
It's a shame MuseScore 4 doesn't seem to work like that anymore. The manual is now out of date. MuseScore 4 seems to hide voice 1 under voice 2, and you can no longer easily get to it.
In reply to That's interesting. I've… by D Harris
There is a known bug in MU4 that means CTRL+CLICK doesn't (yet) work. See https://github.com/musescore/MuseScore/issues/10225
In the meantime, until that gets fixed, use the selection filter as I suggested.
In reply to Use the selection filter. … by SteveBlower
I can't make that selection filter work to help me. Here's the example bar I've been working on, the well known piano piece by Michael Nyman. I'm trying to add the piano fingering. I am unable to select a voice 1 note until the last quarter of the bar (the two E notes).
In reply to I can't make that selection… by D Harris
Thanks for the information. It's good to know that's a bug that might be fixed sometime.
And having tried to use the selection filter, I've now revised my opinion of my earlier work-around. I think it's remarkably efficient: moving the voice 2 note out of the way so I can get to voice 1 again.
It's a shame MS4 gives voice 2 priority treatment over voice 1. Okay, other voices might deserve their turn in the spotlight, but I feel voice 1 is being unfairly discriminated against just because historically they've been the top elite up until MS4 turned things upside down! ;)
In reply to Thanks for the information… by D Harris
I agree, your pragmatic solution is probably simplest.
You could use the voices the other way round and then flip the stems if you want to give voice 2 higher billing for a change.
In reply to I can't make that selection… by D Harris
Ah yes, the selection filter only works on a range selection. So. set up the selection filter to exclude voice2, click on the overlapping notes, Shift+click on the next (non-overlapping note) and you will have a range covering two notes but only voice 1 will actually be active.
In reply to Ah yes, the selection filter… by SteveBlower
Here's a picture if it helps.
In reply to Here's a picture if it helps… by SteveBlower
Selecting another voice of a unison is a bit of a pain in MuseScore...
In reply to Use the selection filter. … by SteveBlower
Selection filter doesn't work when you have voices crossing staves and you can't filter out the same numbered voice from the other stave. I have to move everything out of the way in order to do my edits of other voices. It's not a common scenario but I have encountered it 2-3 times since using v4
To more accurately summarise:
In MuseScore, selecting any voice in a union has been possible using Ctrl + clicking on a note. But in MS4, because of the present bug, Ctrl clicking no longer works, and selecting a voice in a unison is no longer straightforward (it’s nigh impossible).
In addition to that, in MS4 the stacking order has now been reversed. The higher voice numbers are stacked on top of the lower ones. So typically, if you have voice 1 and voice 2 in unison, voice 1 is now at the bottom of the stacking order. The note selected is the one at the top of the stacking order (voice 2). So, you could say that with a unison, the voice 1 that you’re mostly likely to want to select becomes the hardest to.
The most pragmatic workaround is to temporarily de-unisonise them by moving the lowest voice notes out of the way so you can get at the buried voice 1.
In reply to To more accurately summarise… by D Harris
Also images added to the score are automatically put to the bottom of the stacking order. Hence the problems that people have with adding images to the title frame and then finding they can't move or resize the.
I've also found it when adding image files for common swing markings that aren't in the MS tempo palette: they slide under nearby stave text and I have to move several things out of the way in order to position the image and then gently reassemble everything.