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Topic: when writing more than one voice on a staff, why... (Read 3968 times) previous topic - next topic

when writing more than one voice on a staff, why...

Why can’t I put an eighth note rest beneath or above a quarter-note rest? Or a quarter note above or beneath a quarter-note rest?

Re: when writing more than one voice on a staff, why...

Reply #1 –
I suspect that you'd write that as an eighth rest followed by an eighth note chorded with an eighth rest, but that's not possible either: rests have to be shorter than notes in chords. For why? You'll have to ask NWC: I can't see any reason at all why this can't be done.

The work round is to use layering.

Re: when writing more than one voice on a staff, why...

Reply #2 –
I don't think that you CAN write more than one voice on a staff without using layering.  And even then you still only have one voice per staff with two staffs overlapped.  You can CHANGE the voice on the staff, but you can only have one at a time.

Re: when writing more than one voice on a staff, why...

Reply #3 –
As I recall, it was precisely the limitations of the "chorded" multi-voice approach that ultimately led to the development of layered staves. As a side-note, in at least one major release the layering function was marked "experimental," with no commitment to support it in future releases.

Thankfully, this excellent facility was indeed perfected and is supported along with the rest of the program's features. Also thankfully, the older "chorded" approach was left in, since there are many situations where it saves the need for an extra staff.

Re: when writing more than one voice on a staff, why...

Reply #4 –
For some time, I have used a combination of chorded notes and layering to achieve what SATB choral calls "moving notes." This is where there is a time delay (due to rest or extended note duration) between one voice and another.

If it can't be done on one staff, it can be done with layered staves. Be sure to place enough hidden rests to align the notes.

Re: when writing more than one voice on a staff, why...

Reply #5 –
Also thankfully, the older "chorded" approach was left in, since there are many situations where it saves the need for an extra staff.

And, indeed for many applications, particularly with "flagged" notes, layering would not display these correctly when used in chords.

Bob

Re: when writing more than one voice on a staff, why...

Reply #6 –
What are flagged notes?

ARU

Re: when writing more than one voice on a staff, why...

Reply #7 –
"A Registered User" wrote
What are "flagged" notes?

Those notes shorter that 1/4 (crotchet) which have a curly tail (flag) attached to the note stem. When these are beamed (Ctrl-B) the flag is replaced by one or more bold lines connecting the note stems.

hth.,

Bob