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Old 05-23-2016, 05:40 PM
SATB2STAVES SATB2STAVES is offline
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Question SATB score writing

Is it possible to write for SATB on two staves and be able to write separate lines of lyrics for each part? Soprano and Tenor above the line and Alto and Bass below the line.
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Old 05-24-2016, 03:02 PM
dj dj is offline
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Default Re: SATB score writing

Hi,

I've done that, but you can't use the standard lyric entry for the upper lines.

Use the Free Text tool to enter the lyrics into the upper line and position them as you need to. It's probably best to do it in one bar phrases and position them separately.

With a two hundred page vocal score for an opera that could be tedious, but for smaller pieces, it's fine.

The lower lyric lines, of course, can be entered using the standard lyric too.

Hope that helps.

David
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Old 07-14-2016, 02:53 PM
flyingtadpole flyingtadpole is offline
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Default Re: SATB score writing

I'm in the middle of scoring large slabs of an opera and its 300 pages, not 200... Here's how I handle the problem. bear in mind I'm writing and scoring in English, so the words have to be both heard and understood (!) Because of that little issue (!) there aren't many places where there's a need for 4 sets of lyric lines for the chorus. If it's that bad, I'll treat SATB as if they were four additional soloists and give each their own line.

But generally: I try for a single lyric line: professional singers are capable of reading where their notes are . (Although I really wish Composer had a simple means for handling stems in both directions on a shared/single pitch. ) Where additional help is needed to split between SA and TB, I will give TB its own lyric line below the TB stave. Often, there just needs to be a hint to a part, and that can be done simply by identifying ("sops.") or, a little more complicated, making use of the multi-verse lyric feature, just being careful to place lyric words in the right place.

I have yet to resort to using the Free-text solution. Perhaps this means my music is insufficiently complex!
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Old 07-18-2016, 07:01 PM
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Sherry C Sherry C is offline
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Default Re: SATB score writing

Hey Tim,

Quote:
Originally Posted by flyingtadpole View Post
I really wish Composer had a simple means for handling stems in both directions on a shared/single pitch.
You can have notes with a double-stem- but you do have to add each note separately in a different voice. Eg. add a Lower voice C, then add an Upper voice C on "top" of it.

ttfn,
Sherry
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Old 07-19-2016, 12:30 AM
flyingtadpole flyingtadpole is offline
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Default Re: SATB score writing

Quote:
Originally Posted by Sherry C View Post
notes with a double-stem.... add each note separately in a different voice.
I do that when I absolutely have to...but it's then impossible to separate one voice from the other or turn it back into single voice. That means re-entering the entire lot. (example: Sop and alto sing a long--10 bar--unison melody of coloratura semiquavers as a bridge in the middle of a solid block of four-part harmony. The sound comes out too thin and the musical director sez "That would be better in close harmony". It would be nice just to click on all those double-stemmed semiquavers to convert to single stem upper voice only, and then add a lower voice harmony, rather than having to delete the lot and start again.
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Old 07-19-2016, 12:45 AM
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Sherry C Sherry C is offline
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Default Re: SATB score writing

Hi Tim,

Quote:
Originally Posted by flyingtadpole View Post
I do that when I absolutely have to...but it's then impossible to separate one voice from the other or turn it back into single voice.
Gack - that's a bug. The intent is to be able to select the note and then click the "Single voice" button to take it to single voice. However, I just tested that and see that a "Cannot add note...." error message comes up.

I will report that for fixing. Sorry for the inconvenience!

ttfn,
Sherry

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Last edited by Sherry C; 07-19-2016 at 04:27 PM. Reason: add task number
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