Alternating Time Signatures (4/4 + 3/4)
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- Joined: Sat Aug 21, 2010 9:46 am
Ok so I've got this lovely little piece which is basically in 7/4. But because of syncopation and ties and other stuff it's hard to read, so I think it would be better to split the bars into alternating 4/4 and 3/4 bars.
A few years ago I played in West Side Story and in the famous piece "America" it switched between 6/8 and 3/4. Instead of writing the time signature every bar at the beginning of the piece it just have 4/4 + 3/4 (as in a large addition sign in between theme) which clearly meant that the time signatures switch the whole way through the piece.
So I was wondering how I could do that for my situation here because I don't want a page where ever bar has to have a time signature at the beginning.
PS: This is my first post on this site, let's see how it goes, got high expectations though.
A few years ago I played in West Side Story and in the famous piece "America" it switched between 6/8 and 3/4. Instead of writing the time signature every bar at the beginning of the piece it just have 4/4 + 3/4 (as in a large addition sign in between theme) which clearly meant that the time signatures switch the whole way through the piece.
So I was wondering how I could do that for my situation here because I don't want a page where ever bar has to have a time signature at the beginning.
PS: This is my first post on this site, let's see how it goes, got high expectations though.
This plug-in from the Sibelius plug-ins Download page might help. I haven't used it, but it may give you the opportunity to make the bars without the time signatures every bar.GoodLukeing wrote: Instead of writing the time signature every bar at the beginning of the piece it just have 4/4 + 3/4
http://www.sibelius.com/download/plugin ... ategory=10
You can create a Time Signature such as 4+3/4, and that might do what you want. With a bit of fiddling about you can also make a 4/4 + 3/4 Time signature using Create > Text > Special Text > Time Signatures. In that case you have to make (and position) the + sign separately.
Hard to say without seeing the score, of course, but if it's just for the sake of clarity of reading, have you considered simply adding extra or dashed barlines to each bar to isolate the 3/4 and 4/4 sections?
You can create a complex time sig quite easily, as per my example. Pages 186 to 188 in the Reference should help you.
And creating the 4/4+3/4 is quite simple. I created the 4+3/4, hid it and inserted the text time sigs in its place. The + was done in Technique text and slid into place, then font size increased a little. Took about a minute.
Depends on how many bars you have to do, I suppose!
Andy
You can create a complex time sig quite easily, as per my example. Pages 186 to 188 in the Reference should help you.
And creating the 4/4+3/4 is quite simple. I created the 4+3/4, hid it and inserted the text time sigs in its place. The + was done in Technique text and slid into place, then font size increased a little. Took about a minute.
Depends on how many bars you have to do, I suppose!
Andy
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Ok, well I tried the plugin. While it is a useful plugin for multiple time signatures it still writes out all the time signatures everytime they change and didn't give an option for 4+3/4. Oh well, worth a shot.
Yeh so far I've been doing editting stuff like that, hiding every single time signature, moving the first notes at the beginning of the bar to the left so there are no weird spaces and then redrawing the initial time signature. It's just when you've got tons of bars and instruments it isn't the most efficient way.
So I guess I haven't helped my efficiency at this stage, but thanks for the help anyway guys.
For first post on this forum I was surprised how quickly people replied, thought I would wait a week minimum because a forum dedicated to Sibelius is a fairly specific demographic.
Yeh so far I've been doing editting stuff like that, hiding every single time signature, moving the first notes at the beginning of the bar to the left so there are no weird spaces and then redrawing the initial time signature. It's just when you've got tons of bars and instruments it isn't the most efficient way.
So I guess I haven't helped my efficiency at this stage, but thanks for the help anyway guys.
For first post on this forum I was surprised how quickly people replied, thought I would wait a week minimum because a forum dedicated to Sibelius is a fairly specific demographic.
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- Joined: Sat Aug 21, 2010 9:46 am
Oh ok sorry, I misunderstood the comment. My sibelius booklet thing only goes to page 140ish because it's from Sibelius 4 and I have only gotten upgrade cds since then.
So are you saying that you just create a 7/4 bar and hide it, put a 4+3/4 text over it then add barlines in between to divide the 7/4 into 3/4 and 4/4?
I don't know how to create fake barlines in between the bars though, when I mess around with the Create>Bar stuff it usually just hides the real bar or changes it's look to dotted or final or whatever. How am I meant to create the fake bars?
So are you saying that you just create a 7/4 bar and hide it, put a 4+3/4 text over it then add barlines in between to divide the 7/4 into 3/4 and 4/4?
I don't know how to create fake barlines in between the bars though, when I mess around with the Create>Bar stuff it usually just hides the real bar or changes it's look to dotted or final or whatever. How am I meant to create the fake bars?
Well, if you buy the plug in mentioned you should have no worries.
To answer your question from my last post, you just create a barline, don't try to insert a bar or anything like that! Create>Barline and then choose.
You should have the Reference with your upgrade, but it's not printed (I think you can buy it from Sibelius and I much prefer a real book that I can look at away from the computer). Go Help>Documentation>Sibelius 6 Reference.
To answer your question from my last post, you just create a barline, don't try to insert a bar or anything like that! Create>Barline and then choose.
You should have the Reference with your upgrade, but it's not printed (I think you can buy it from Sibelius and I much prefer a real book that I can look at away from the computer). Go Help>Documentation>Sibelius 6 Reference.