Layering without overlaying

2004-09-22 05:23 am

Hello

Writing SA/TB music using paired layered staffs; my biggest headache is where e.g. one part has a minim while the second part has crotchets - when the parts are put together the display does not make the separate note lengths obvious - of course with a bit of thought the singers can probably work it out - particularly if it is the longer note which is printed - but is there any way of tinkering with the music so both note lengths are clear?

Ideally it would be nice to select which side of the stem a note should appear - you can select "stem up" and "stem down" but not "note left" or "note right". Or can you?

TIA
Trevor

Re: Layering without overlaying

Reply #1 – 2004-09-22 11:56 am

One of the properties of a note which can be set by the user is "extra note spacing". This moves the note to the right in increments. Thus, if you have to different notes of the same pitch you can shift one of them to the right.

Accidentals associated with the shifted note do not move, thus they are not dragged on top of the corresponding note from the other staff/staves in the combined layers. There is also a "extra accidental spacing" which I always have to fiddle with, I haven't internalized the rules for that yet.

One thing you should watch for. Suppose you have, for example, eighth notes (quavers), stems up, in one staff and a half note (minum), stem down, on the other aligned with the first eighth note. If you shift the half note you may also have to shift the SECOND eight note to prevent a collision.

The overall effect is the same as seen when you use the chord-building feature (CTL-enter) with the same set of notes.