Re: Entering Chord Names
Reply #6 –
It has occurred to me that a "blow by blow" account of one way to do the chord thing might be in order.
So, I've decided to give a brief account of how I use the staff layering facility to create consistent parts for my church music team.
- Start the new work - I have a template already prepared that has appropriate staves, font selections etc. to save me some time.
- Enter the "Vocal staff" - this staff has an instrument assigned and contains the melody. When entering this staff (and most others) I do NOT enter any text that is common to all the other staves. NB. IT DOES NOT HAVE LYRICS
- During the entry of the "vocal staff" I copy it (usually once it is finished) to my "Lyrics staff"
- NB the lyrics staff is always muted
- Once the lyrics staff has been copied from the vocal staff I mark EVERYTHING Print|Never
- The lyric staff is now ready to have added to it:
- Lyrics
- Metronome mark(s)
- Rehearsal marks
- "other" text common to all staves
- Rests made visible with Global_Mod (Rest Visibility=)
- Chords (normally center justified at next note/bar) NB if there are chords on rests I usually use crotchet (quarter note) rests unless I need batter granularity, then I will also use quaver (8th) rests. Semibreve and minim (whole and half) rests usually end up putting the chords in a less than optimal position
- Rests moved "off" the page with Global_Mod (Rest Opts.VertOffset=2000)
- Enter the piano staves
- enter any other parts that may be in my source document
- (*optional) create Bass guitar part if not already entered from source
- (*optional) create a drum part if not already entered from source
- create parts for trombone and flute on their respective staves if not already entered from source
- create/enter any other optional parts that may be required for this piece
- Layer the vocal and lyric staves with all others "turned off" and preview the print layout - adjust as necessary for a pleasing result - includes setting
- Staff metrics
- adjusting margins
- forcing system breaks
- positioning of some chords
- making space for chord symbols in n-time bars if necessary
- adjusting staff heights
- etc..
The process just completed constitutes my lead sheet...
Then:
- Layer lyrics staff with Trombone part instead and check and adjust as above
- Layer lyrics staff with Flute part instead and check and adjust as above
- Layer lyrics staff with any other parts that may be required instead and check and adjust as above
- Print all parts by layering each part with the Lyrics staff individually as above and printing...
- Overprint parts with a WP document that has our numbering system numbers for the piece in it as well as the part name (Trom etc.) as headers. This document includes page x/n (page x of n pages) info and has as many pages as the part being printed - usually between 1 and 3 - I try to limit parts to 2 pages wherever possible.
*this is usually for my benefit - our bassist and drummer normally do not use any parts I may create.
Note, this file is saved REGULARLY usually every 8 or 10 bars during note entry.
The above process is modified slightly if I need to create say, a trumpet or sax part. Normally you will want the chords on a trumpet or other transposing instrument part to be appropriate to the key of the instrument. In these cases I will create additional "Lyrics" staves from the original created in the process above. These staves will be transposed (music and text chords to keep things consistent) to the appropriate key for the instrument in question.
If it is for a trumpet part for my personal use, I often won't bother with the transposed lyrics staff, just noting instead that the chords are in concert so I don't forget...