Is there a way to hide notes but not the ties and slurs that accompany them without layering?
In NWC you can colour the note white, but that leaves a gaps in the staff where the note or stem intersects the staff lines. You can work around this by layering another staff over top, but your question said "without" layering. Your answer is therefore "no."
In NWC2 you can do it without layering, using an invisible note head and a stem length of 0.
Is it very strange to ask 'Why on earth would you want to do that?' If no, consider the question asked.
Rob, the reason is, I am transcribing a piece that has a section in 4/2 time that requires breves (double whole notes), which are displayed a Text due to the limitation of NWC not having working breves as an option. There are places where several measures are tied and slurred, and I need to show the ties. I've hidden the notes, but in doing this the ties and slurs are also hidden, and I was wondering if there is a way to unhide them leaving the notes hidden.
Very good, curiosity satisfied. I must admit you had me puzzled there. Then again, with the threads concerning breves going on, I might have guessed - but I did not.
ok - back to work now, what am I doing on the forum at this early hour? (indeed, curious again)
In NWC2, one can do this, to create slurs (not sure about ties) that swoop in response to the invisible (and layered) notation, rather than the visible notation. It's the closest thing to hand-drawing slurs. For example, slurs do not normally intersect note stems, but route around them. Once in a while, interesction produces a more compact (yet easily understood) appearance.