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Topic: Staff position control needed for slurs (Read 7225 times) previous topic - next topic

Staff position control needed for slurs

For using NoteworthyComposer with "four part harmony" notation, there definitely needs to be better control over the way slurs are positioned -- specifically, variable staff position on an individual slur basis.

Barbershop music requires layering. The lead and tenor tracks are on an upper staff with a treble clef, the baritone and bass tracks are below, on a lower staff with a bass clef. Treble and baritone parts always have stems up; lead and bass parts always have stems down.

The main problem is, with this software (version 1.70) slur marks are for some reason located very far from the notes -- sometimes way above the ends of the stems. This often causes problems with barbershop notation. For example, sometimes the slur mark for the baritone (stems up, remember) in the lower staff actually extends above the slur mark for the lead (stems down) in the upper staff, with both slur marks obscuring the lyrics in the middle.

Nearly changing the slur direction from "upward" to "downward" for the baritone (for example) won't help, because that will usually deposit the slur mark right on top of the bass notes.

What is needed is the ability to vary the staff position, such as is possible with "expression placement" -- on an individual slur rather than a universal basis -- to move the slur marks down closer to the note heads.

Alternatively, how about a toggle to let the slurs travel from head-to-head, the way ties do?

Re: Staff position control needed for slurs

Reply #1 –
And sloping slurs, please? Pretty please?

Peter

Re: Staff position control needed for slurs

Reply #2 –
I too write for 4-part singing. I use to put the notes for e.g. Tenor 1 (stems up) on one 1st staff and Tenor 2 (stems down) on the 2nd and then layer them together. Problems occurs with downward slurs which tend to interfere with the lyrics. In melismas, I put the two voices together on the 1st staff as “chords” and make all slurs here go upwards. I place the 1st (Tenor 1) note (stem up) of the melisma on the 2nd staff, and then fill out the remaining part of it with rests. I slur the whole “note-and-rests melisma” downwards (which makes the slur be put rather high up, beginning from the 1st note). I make the rests “invisible” and use the placement mechanism to move them downwards, until I get the slur where I want it (using layering).

Sometimes, I cannot use the 1st note because the length isn’t right, or so. I then use a rest in this position too. I don’t make this 1st rest invisible, as this makes the slur disappear as well, but I use the colouring mechanism to make it white and then move it upwards out of the staff, using the later invisible rests for pressing the slur downwards.

It’s a bit tricky (I hope I make this clear, English is not my 1st language), but after a while this doesn’t take too much time, and the printed result is mostly very nice. Nevertheless, I would very much appreciate an easier and more direct way of controlling the position of slurs (they are really too far away from the notes). I would also welcome a mechanism for shortening the stems of individual notes, in order to avoid low notes interfering with the lyrics.

I did put these proposals on to the wish list long ago, without success. Perhaps somebody who masters the English language better, should try again.

Best wishes,

Paul

Re: Staff position control needed for slurs

Reply #3 –
I don't know if this is already possible or not, but it would be nice to choose whether slurs appear above or below the notes, rather than anchoring them to the first note.

Re: Staff position control needed for slurs

Reply #4 –
Steve, this is already possible.

Best wishes,

Paul

Re: Staff position control needed for slurs

Reply #5 –
To do that select the first slurred note and press CTRL + E In the "Notes" tab, you've got a "Slur direction" drop list where you can choose "Upward", "Downward" or "Default".

HTH,

Yves

Re: Staff position control needed for slurs

Reply #6 –
Perhaps this makes the score to large vertically, but you can fix most of these problems by adjusting the upper and lower vertical size on the "Visual" tab of the staff properties dialog box (right click on a staff, scoot down to the last item, "staff properties" and click on it.

Cyril
 

Re: Staff position control needed for slurs

Reply #7 –
I definately thing we need better controll. Did some one put this on the Wish List?