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chant composition

I'm trying to transcribe a manuscript where there is one line (solo) leading into the chant, then it becomes three parts (tenor solo line, baritone/bass harmony).  The second part poses no difficulty; I understand how to compose/layer those lines to get the desired effect.  My curiosity is how to set up that first bit so that it prints out as only that solo line.

Also, the notation currently is that of 'quarter notes without stems' ie. the black dots.  1 for a regular note, 2 side-by-side for a double-length note.  Maybe someone out there would know how to do this?  I need to line up the lyrics with this notation, if at all possible.
Thanks.

Re: chant composition

Reply #1 –
NWC doesn't internally support printing only some of the staves for part of the composition, and printing all of the staves for another part of the composition.

But it is easy to do. Copy sections of your composition, and paste them as graphics into a word processing document.

You can use "copy special", or file>print preview>copy>placeable metafile. I prefer the latter. The placeable WMF is a vector graphic that can be scaled and cropped. You would simply crop away the staves you don't want.

This is done on a page-by-page basis. I do it all the time, for SATB choral with intermitent descant.

I'll let someone else answer the other part of your question.

Re: chant composition

Reply #2 –
Thanks for your input... After playing around with NWC for a while I figured out how to get my desired black notes (the letter 'k' in the NWC font, at the correct font size, does the trick quite nicely, along with hidden place-holder notes).

It's too bad this has to be a work-around, but I can't complain.  NWC is still far, far more affordable than the other music software packages I tried out.

Re: chant composition

Reply #3 –
This method does work nicely until you need ledger lines for the notes.  It has been my experience that hiding the note also hides the associated ledger lines.  Be sure to add your request to the Noteworthy wish list.  I am hopeful that someday notes without stems may be a reality also.

Re: chant composition

Reply #4 –
...This method does work nicely until you need ledger lines for the notes.
I had to add the ledger lines as text items also.
Took a while to find a font/size that actually looks like a ledger line, though.
And then getting it placed correctly, OY!

Re: chant composition

Reply #5 –
Actually, I didn't have any issues with the ledger lines hiding when I hid the notes.  It really was a rather simple workaround.

Because the one voice part was relatively short, I merely hid the rests on the second (and third!) staff, then layered the second and third staffs.  It turned out rather attractively, a virtual copy of the manuscript, but more legible.