How to beam notes with rests between

[john s. smith (jss)]

Hi,
Can someone please tell me is there a way to beam the short notes in the bass in the example pic? Can the beaming of the notes be done with the rests between?
Thanks
-John http://www.notation.com/discus/messages/32459/37032.jpg

[Sherry Crann (sherry)]

Howdy John,

Whilst you can't beam over rests, you can do the following if (1) you like the sound of the file as it is, and/or (2) you don't mind the notation looking a tad bit different:

1. If you like the sound of the file, be sure that in Piano Roll you have the "Edit as notated..." (middle) button "on". It is by default, but just in case you changed it http://www.notation.com/discus/clipart/happy.gif

2. In "select" mode, in the Notes and Rests palette, select the notes you want to beam (or use the Staff/select arrow button, and then Region/Convert region to selection of notes).

3. After the notes are selected, click the 16th button, to change all the note notations to 16th notes (rather than 32nd notes). The performance of these notes will still sound the same, just the notation is changed.

4. With the notes still selected, go to Notes and Rests/Add accents (6th button, second level).

5. Click the "Staccato" (dot) button to add the staccato dot to all the selected notes. This tells the instrumentalist to play these notes in a staccato fashion, like the actual performance of the file sounds.

Hope this helps!
Sherry

[john s. smith (jss)]

Hi Sherry,
Thanks - that will do what I want with the beams.

Not really connected but I always seem to generate many extraneous rests all over the place. Sometimes this is fixed by changing the stem direction (the up-down) stem button seems useful for this. But even then I gets rests I can't delete. Is there a magic way to zap them?

I mention this here as my beaming experiments seems to generate quite few more "sticking" rests :-)

Thanks again
-John

[Sherry Crann (sherry)]

Howdy John,

When I do a "live recording" of my music into Composer, I always seem to have lots of those little rests, too. I usually just do the above procedure that I suggested, mostly because sometimes I do adjust the note durations http://www.notation.com/discus/clipart/happy.gif I think that for me, it's because keyboard is not my primary instrument, and I seem to focus more on getting the attack placed right than on the proper sustain of the note.

I have a feeling that with some keyboards, the "bounce" in the feel of the keys probably contributes to the same effect for folks who are regular piano players. The keys are "stiffer", meaning they're more apt to bounce back up than to stay depressed, thus contributing to the "ubiquitous rests" look in the score.

One other technique that you can use is in the Transcription Dialog (or Format/Retranscribe if you've already opened the file). You'll see an option in the lower right of the dialog to "Remove rests smaller than..." and you can choose your value. If you want to universally remove small rests, that's the quickest way.

ttfn,
Sherry