Sightreading practice
Hello!
I would like to ask if Musescore can be used as follows:
to show (in realtime) on music staff (treble and bass) any chord that is played on a midi piano keyboard.
I don't need to create a score, but just see on the staves the notes that I am playing at the moment.
It would really be useful for improving my sightreading. :)
Thanks!
brian
Comments
The short answer is "Yes."
In order of tasks to accomplish:
1. Plug in the midi keyboard to your computer.
2. Start MuseScore.
3. Create a blank score with a grand staff for piano or harpsichord or whatever.
4. Enable Midi-input (click on the icon in the main toolbar up top)
5. Turn on Note-Entry mode (Click the "N" icon, or type the letter N)
6. Select a note time-value (click the note value in the toolbar or type a number from 1-9)
5. Play your chord--you should see the notes you play on the keyboard show up on the staves.
Note that MuseScore does not sense the rhythm you play, only the notes.
Also note that if you're using MuseScore 1.3, the program will by default notate black-key inputs as sharps if the key signature is in sharps, and vice-versa if the key signature is in flats. (I have not yet done any Midi input with 2.0, so I am not sure if this anomoly has been fixed in the new version.)
In reply to The short answer is "Yes." In by Recorder485
Hello!
thank you for your response.
I did try out your suggestion and it seems to work ok, except that a chord played with both hands doesn't place the lefthand notes in the bass clef, but all in the treble clef.
Is there a way to control this?
brian
In reply to Hello! thank you for your by briandc
You could use the split staff command after entering the notes (in right click menu).
In reply to You could use the split staff by Marc Sabatella
I'll try the "split staff" function.
Still, my original thinking was that if it were possible to add a function (I can't find anything anywhere that does this yet!) which is kind of the opposite of what is usually seen in music applications: a chord is displayed and you have to play it back correctly, in order to see a subsequent chord.
While this is one possible way to improve sightreading, it would also be stimulating to have the reverse possible: if I play a chord, I can see immediately how it would be written on the staff. (again, no intent on writing out full songs, but just to see how the single chord would appear written).
It would be neat to have something like this, I think. With regard to the issue of all notes ending up on one staff, in this case, middle C would most likely be the break point between hands: anything on or below would be in the bass clef; anything above middle C would be indicated in the treble clef.
Apologies if I'm suggesting stuff that's already implemented or considered. MuseScore is still somewhat new to me, and I don't have a need for sheet music at the moment; but since the chord-displaying idea is so close to what MuseScore offers, I thought this would be the best place to ask! :)
brian
In reply to The short answer is "Yes." In by Recorder485
There is no way MuseScore can know if you want an accidental spelled as flats or sharps. No matter what algorithm it chose, it would wrong a good amount of the time. So there is no anomaly to fix - it's just a question of guessing. The actual algorithm isn't quite "sharps for sharp keys, flats for flat keys" - it's use the closest spelling on the circle of fifths. This will indeed choose flats "often" when in flat keys, but for example, key of F, it should still pick F# and C# over Gb and Db, because F# and C# are closer on the circle of fifths. At least that is my recollection.
In reply to There is no way MuseScore can by Marc Sabatella
I understand what you're saying, but for those who work within the standard rules of harmony, accidentals are an indication of what's being 'said'. IOW, in g minor, E and F# are the raised sixth and seventh degrees of the ascending melodic scale, and while the use of the raised 6th is not universal, the F# will appear in ascending runs or as the third of a #V chord. It is absolutely incorrect to spell this note as Gb, which does not exist in the g minor scale. If you start using G-flats, you're not in g minor anymore...or you feel the need to declare a diminished eighth as opposed to a major seventh.
When students ask why we bother with such weird stuff as double sharps and double flats, the answer is the same: because the scale not only has seven degrees, it also has seven note names which must be used in the proper sequence. Also, triads are always constructed of a root, third, and fifth...so the third of a major triad built upon a D# root cannot be a G--it must be an F##. (Besides, while today a Gb and an F# sound the same, they did not always.)
So, yeah, I don't see (or want to see!) MuseScore analysing my harmonies the way
SpelChekSpell Check andGrammerChekGrammar Check try to analyse my written text...but it would be nice if the basic rules of standard harmony were at least given a passing nod. It doesn't seem that difficult to trigger a sharp for an accidental on the sixth and seventh degrees of the relative minor. That would solve most of the problems in this area. As for the rest, either we'll just have to adjust manually, or some true genius would figure out a way to allow us to spell accidental note names in a 'style' before starting input through the midi keyboard.In reply to I understand what you're by Recorder485
The problem is, MuseScore doesn't record any difference between G minor and Bb major. And Gb is not an uncommon note in Bb major - it's the third of the borrowed iv chird, an extremely common non-diatonic chord.
Anyhow, not saying there isn't room for improving the algorithm, but again, no matter what the algorithm, it's going to guess right sometimes and wrong sometimes.
In reply to The problem is, MuseScore by Marc Sabatella
I was about to reply with something really idiotic ("Well, why can't MuseScore just look at the last note to find out what key the piece is in...?
When I stopped laughing, though, I thought about something that (from my non-programmer's viewpoint--you'll correct me if I'm too far out in left field, I hope) seems practical and relatively straightforward: How about if MuseScore asked if the score (or section of it following a new key signature) was in major or minor? IOW, you drop the key sig on the staff, and you get a popup with three radio buttons: "Major" "Minor" "Ignore". Click one of them and away you go, happily playing accidentals on your midi keyboard and getting pretty much the ones you expect on the staff because MuseScore is using an algorithm tailored to the key you checked.
Alternatively, you check 'ignore' and MuseScore uses it's 'default' algorithm, which could be random (bog-knows what you'll get, let's be adventurous), toggled/alternate (statistically, you'll get what you want about 50% of the time), or coin-toss (are you feeling lucky? ;-).
In reply to I was about to reply with by Recorder485
Yes, there are a number of ways we could allow specification of major/minor. Could be a property set for the key signature in the Inspector, for instance. I'd prefer not to be bothered by a dialog every time I added a key signature, though, because for most people most of the time, the distinction doesn't matter (pretty much only when using MIDI input).
I think I'd actually prefer just special-casing this particular scale degree. It's still going to be wrong a good chunk of the time no matter what - consider, a lot of accidentals are "non-essential chromaticism" like passing tones and as such the proper spelling depends on the direction of the line, not the prevailing harmony. And it's still the case that the other accidentals are going to be wrong a good chunk of the time (eg, b3 and #2 are both very common, so whichever we guess is wrong a lot. There is no getting around the fact that accidental spelling is the Achilles heel of MIDI entry, and the main reason why I find it no more efficient than keybaord entry overall.
In reply to Yes, there are a number of by Marc Sabatella
Yes, I agree with that last thought enough that I don't bother installing the keyboard unless I've got a lot of work to do. I'm a very fast typist (used to be a full-time typographer, after all), but it's still more instinctive for me to play a music keyboard when inputting notes, so for those lengthy runs of 16ths in much of the baroque solo literature, the midi-keyboard is faster.
In reply to Yes, I agree with that last by Recorder485
It's also worth mentioning that there is a stylistic component to this. Baroque music is far more likely to favor the sharp spellings of different scale degrees because the non-diatonic harmonies most common in that era did indeed often favor those (eg, secondary dominants). Non-diatonic chords requiring flats (chords from parallel minor, Neapolitans, augmented sixth chords, temporary modulations to distant related keys, etc) are maybe not as common as they were to become. And there is "relatively" little chromaticism comapred to later music anyhow, so that needing to correct it by hand seems not quite such a chore.
As you progress to the Romantic era, and then into jazz and popular music, harmonies that favor flats (borrowed chords, tritone substitution, etc) become increasing common. And the chromaticism becomes more common and more extreme, such that the propsect of needing to correct it makes MIDI inut look less attractive.
Anyhow, I don't have a MIDI keyboard handy, but I just tried it with the built in "Piano keyboard" (press "P" to display), and entering the note betweren F and G while in Bb *does* enter an F#. According to the algorithm I gave, it should be a tossup: F# is three steps sharper, Gb is three steps flatter. But in this particular case at least, it chose the #5 spelling, which is of course exactly what you want in the relative minor, even if it's six of one, half dozen of the other in the key of Bb.
In reply to It's also worth mentioning by Marc Sabatella
Quite true on most counts, athough if you want to see chromaticism that is '[like] an infinitely expanding universe' (Glenn Gould, being interviewed by Bruno Monsaingeon https://youtu.be/WSbjHvsUoo0 ), take a look at the last contrapunctus in Bach's Die Kunst der Fuge. ;o)
Anyway, I've finally gotten almost as fast with MuseScore (either with or without the midi keyboard) as I used to be back in my college days with a Speedball, copying Broadway parts to earn a few extra bucks for beer and smokes. So it's all good.