Skip to main content ↑ ↓
Topic: puttings notes on another staff (Read 2325 times) previous topic - next topic

puttings notes on another staff

I would like to know if there is a way to place notes on a higher or lower staff.  For instance, I have 2 staves, one treble and one bass.  For a few measures, my bass staff notes are very high which I want to put them on the treble staff.  Can I do it?  Another instance is to put only one or two of the notes of a chord in the higher staff and then make the stems for all the notes go together.  This is pretty common in some of the classical music pieces and I would like to see if there is a way this can be accomplished.

Re: puttings notes on another staff

Reply #1 –
Hi Doris,

NWC V1.75 has a new facility to hide the leger lines on notes. This can be used to give "crossover" notes, even with beaming. However, it will end up "sounding" the wrong note - so you have to do the hidden-sounded / muted-visible staff pairs trick to get both the visual and sounded aspects correct.

You also have to plan ahead regarding your staff spacing, since once you start the crossover stuff you can't change the spacing without having to redo all the crossed-over notes.

It's obviously still a fiddly proposition, but at least now a workaround is possible.

Re: puttings notes on another staff

Reply #2 –
You're talking about keyboard music, right? Where a part goes outside the range of its clef, and you want it to migrate to the other staff? What I do is write the notes in both staves, then make the one with leger lines invisible and inaudible. This way the "abandoned" staff looks empty, creating the visual impression that the notes have migrated up or down. Sometimes I add a little text arrow, using "Symbol" or "Wingdings" as a user font, to help the eye follow the part onto the other staff. Most keyboard players seem to find this look easy to follow, and it resembles what's often done in printed music when parts migrate.

Of course, one could keep on the staff, and change to the appropriate c clef....
 

Re: puttings notes on another staff

Reply #3 –
or you could use invisible rests in the empty staff.