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Voices

    Not to be confused with human vocal Musescore Instrument, four-part SATB open score creation, or MuseScore Parts feature. ()[]{#displaying-voices}

    Overview

    Musescore Voices is the software feature that is also known as "layers" in other notation software. Each staff (a piano grand staff has two staffs) has exactly four Voices. It has nothing to do with pitch range. See also Glossary: Part chapter. Selected score items are highlighted with respect to their Voices: Voice 1 blue, Voice 2 green, Voice 3 orange and Voice 4 purple. Voice of single selected item is also displayed on the bottom left status bar. This article indicates

    Voices colored
    Voice of single selected item displayed on status bar

    Reasons to use Voices

    Assign sound to and muting voice
    Shown above Soprano assigned Oboe sound and Alto muted in Mixer. Score is O Come, O Come, Emmanuel. Translated John Mason Neale, arranged Thomas Helmore, transcribed Jojo-Schmitz.

    Limitations of Voices

    To select a note in a higher-numbered Voice than the current one:

    1. Use Alt + ↓, to move the selection to the bottommost note in the current Voice;
    2. Press Alt + ↓, to move to the higher-numbered Voice;
    3. Repeat any of the above steps, as necessary, until the desired note is selected.

    To select a note in a lower-numbered Voice than the current one:

    1. Use Alt + ↑, to move the selection to the topmost note in the current Voice;
    2. Press Alt + ↑, to move to the lower-numbered Voice.
    3. Repeat any of the above steps, as necessary, until the desired note is selected.

    Entering notes and rests

    To notate a passage of music using Voice 1 and Voice 2,

    1. Enter Voice 1 notes first: Make sure the app is in note input mode : the Voice 1 button becomes highlighted in blue in the toolbar. Voice selector Always enter lower numbered Voice first, in this example Voice 1. On inputting, some notes may have down-stems, but these will flip automatically when the Voice 2 is added.

      The following excerpt shows a treble staff with just the Voice 1 notes entered:

      Voice 1 notes

    2. Move cursor back to start of section: Upon finishing Voice 1 note entry, press the ← key repeatedly to move the cursor, note-by-note, back to the first note of the section; or alternatively use Ctrl+← (Mac:Cmd+←) to move the cursor back one measure at a time. Alternatively exit note input mode (press Esc) and click the first note.

    3. Enter Voice 2 notes: Make sure the app is in note input mode and that the Voice 1 note at the beginning of the section is selected. Click on the "Voice 2" button Voice 2 button (on the right of the toolbar), or use the shortcut Ctrl+Alt+2 (Mac: Cmd+Alt+2). Enter all the lower Voice notes (down-stem).

      The following image shows the above example after the addition of Voice 2 notes:
      Voices 1 and 2

    Editing notes and rests

    Automatic stem direction and override

    Staff with several voices

    Hiding or deleting rests

    Rests are automatically added to unoccupied lower-number Voices. To avoid,

    1. Use lowest Voice number possible in each staff. eg Beginner's error: for a Close/Closed score SATB, beginners often use Voice 3 for T (tenor) or Voice 4 for B (bass), this will create unwanted rest symbols. jump to tips.
    2. Hide rest(s) on a score to make them invisible in printing.
      • To automatically hide redundant rests,
        1. Right click an empty part of the measure, select Measure Properties.
        2. Check Share matching rests.
      • To hide rest(s) manually,
        1. Select rest(s).
        2. Press V or uncheck Inspector : Visible checkbox.

    See also the Remove selected range command which removes time segment.

    Advanced users can also delete rests in Voices 2, 3 or 4 (but not Voice 1) by selecting them and pressing Delete. Deleting them may entangle future editing workflow as note entry overwrites at least one starting note/rest. The easiest way to restore deleted rests is to exchange that Voice with Voice 1 twice, which is commonly performed on file imported from XML or MIDI.

    Exchanging Voices

    To swap notes of two Voices,

    1. Select score items.
    2. Select Tools → Voices → [voice pair].

    Works on measure - all notes and rests of measures within or touching the selected range (the blue rectangle).

    Moving notes to another Voice (change notes' Voice but not swap)

    To move without swapping,

    1. Ensure the app is in note input mode.
    2. Select note(s).
    3. Select a toolbar Voice button or press Ctrl+Alt+1–4 (Mac: Cmd+Alt+1-4).

    Notes merge into chords if their note value match and they are not tied, content overwritten otherwise. See also plugin Merge Voices : 4 into 1 by yonah_ag which automates note value adjustment.

    Merge four Voices

    Merging notes of four Voices, where rhythm matches, into one is covered in the Tools: Implode chapter.

    Separate chords into Voices

    1. Either:
    2. Select a toolbar Voice button or press Ctrl+Alt+1–4 (Mac: Cmd+Alt+1-4).

    To further separate into staffs, see Tools: Explode

    Assigning sound

    Sound in Musescore 3 is instrument channel based. Use Mid-staff sound (channel) change to assign a sound to a Voice.

    Tips for writing SATB scores

    See also