'line break' vs. 'system break'

• Mar 11, 2015 - 20:17

Are the terms interchangeable? It seems like they are, at least in discussions I've read - so I wondered whether there's a standard in MuseScore documentation.

In the Symbols palette, 'line break' is used - which suggests it's preferred. 'System break' seems more intuitive to me, probably because even a single staff typically comprises multiple lines - so there is confusion inherent in a word like 'line' referring simultaneously to (1) a single horizontal line, (2) a group of parallel lines that forms a staff, and (3) a group of staves that form a system.

'System', to me, has greater clarity - but according to the Dolmetsch Music Dictionary, a 'system' consists of two or more staves. (It's defined as follows: 'notation of a line of music including all the parts and voices involved, presented in a group of two or more staves which are joined together on the left hand side by a vertical bar and a brace. All staves belonging to a system are played simultaneously.') I did not know that; I assumed that even a single staff was also a system in its own right.


Comments

I would say "system" is more precise, but "line" is more familiar to most people. Not sure that's necessarily the right basis for choice, but anyhow, that's how I see it.

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