[rrayner]

One of our Notation Forum stalwarts recently made mention of a solution to a problem that has bothered me for years. In Jazz/Swing Band music, there are frequently situations where you have repeated measures and you only want part of the band to play the first time through the repeat, with others joining in the second time through the repeat. I am embarrassed to not be able to give proper tribute to the respondent that gave me the solution. Perhaps they will chime in and be recognized.

In the past, when I had this situation, I would have two copies of the score: one for printing that showed the written repeats properly; and a second copy (for capturing as a midi file) that had the repeat written out -- part of the band playing the first section of this now longhand repeat, and the others joining in on the second section. Needless to say, this was a librarian's misery.

The tip I picked up was to turn the volume down to 1 (with GraphOverNotes - hint: 0 sometimes causes trouble) on the parts that are to be played only the second time through the repeat. Then in the last measure of the repeat (or last measure of the first ending), make certain the volume is at the level you want the 2x only players to be.

In the sample included below, I have used a snippet of a big band piece I am working on. For this purpose, I have the Alto playing the melody line solo the first time through the repeat and the Baritone joining in unison an octave lower the second time through the repeat. I set the Baritone volume to 1 from measure 1 through to the next-to-last note in measure 3 (Bb3). Then, I set the volume of the last note in measure 3 (F#4) to 71 (I want the Alto voice to be the louder of the two). Having done this, the Baritone's F#4 plays at the proper volume, and because the volume for the Baritone is now turned on, when the repeat goes back to measure 2, the Baritone and Alto are now in unison -- no need to keep multiple versions of the score.

This trick may be well-known to other Notation users, but this is the first exposure I have had to the idea. I hope it is a help to others.

Ralph Rayner