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Topic: Adding staff in mid song (Read 2809 times) previous topic - next topic

Adding staff in mid song

In my situation, the song I'm working on starts with a solo part, then goes to a four part chorus (all with accompaniment). When I begin, I've got one staff for the soloist, plus 2 for piano (total of 3). When I reach the "chorus" section, I need 1 staff for tenors, 1 staff for the basses plus two for the piano (total of 4).

I've searched through the forums and user tips sections looking for a clue, but no luck. Any ideas??

Thanks!
++ Paul

Re: Adding staff in mid song

Reply #1 –
I'm afraid NWC doesn't allow you to start new staves anywhere except at the beginning of the song, so if you need staves for the chorus parts, you'll have to start them at the beginning, and pad them with lots of rests.

Maybe a visit to the wish list will bear fruit - eventually!

RObin

Re: Adding staff in mid song

Reply #2 –
Sure as Robin says, start a staff at the beginning, but if you just want the sound just use a semi-breve rest in between local repeat signs with no. of repeats to synchronise, but if you want print out together ,its' the hard yards. You could of course opt to put the tenor and bass notes in the chorus part as 'chords', but if the lyrics are different you will have to enter them as text. PS.check your print preview before you print because text as shown in the editor does not always position the same in print.

Re: Adding staff in mid song

Reply #3 –
One of the useful features of NWC is that it allows you to mute notes as well as make them invisible.

[OT]
In fact, my most famous composition "White River", consists entirely of notes with these two properties.
[End OT]

Invisibility is also a property of other constructs in NWC. You just start the stave from the beginning, but make it invisible for the parts that you dont want to show on the page.

Re: Adding staff in mid song

Reply #4 –
Clarification: NWC1.75 allows objects such as notes, rests, bar lines, staff signatures, and text to be "hidden." You can place such objects in the music, and allow the notes to sound when player (if you wish), but they won't print.

However, the staff lines themselves cannot be hidden. You will still see them on the printed page. That's not the effect that is desired, here. What Paul wants to do, I believe, is have just one staff showing during the solos, unaccompanied by extraneous staff lines.

Paul: That can't be done directly within NWC1.75. But the work-around is very direct. I do it all the time for SATB choral music (which has the occasional solo, or unison part). Indeed, I believe that NWC was originally intended to work this way:

You can create metafiles from Print Preview. A metafile can then be placed into a word processing program, such as MS Word or Works. There, you can crop what you don't need, and re-position the metafiles.

For example, suppose the composition is a song which starts as SATB (two staves: treble and bass clefs), has a solo part (one staff, treble clef), then finishes with SATB again.

Create the composition as you normally would. During the solo, place rests in the bass staff, so that things remain aligned.

Use the "force system break" feature, if necessary, to ensure that the solo part begins and ends at the page margins.

On a page that changes from SATB to solo, or vice-versa, make  two (or more) metafiles. When you place them into a word processor, crop the unnecessary staff from the solo, then move the staves around until the look right.

If the solo is extended, you may find it tedious to create numorous metafiles and crop staves. In this case, you can use NWC's Page Setup to hide the entire bass staff. Then, Print Preview will allow you to make metafiles that show only the treble staff.