Bar count for repeated measures

• Oct 9, 2024 - 18:30

As a 'cellist (amateur) we often have lots of repeated measures in a part. It would be really helpful there was a bar count option.

See page from the Nutcracker! (60 bars of identical note-sequences.)

Using Lyrics is frustrating as it wants to have a word on every note! Also Lyrics don't work with rests. Using text is similarly frustrating as one has to do the count manually.


Comments

In reply to by Jojo-Schmitz

When I use Lyrics, they jump the rests, and only take characters where the notes are (which is what you'd expect with a Lyric). In the example I posted, there are 6 notes per bar - so that's a lot of spaces needed to manually do the bar count, to move from bar to bar. Many bars have more notes, too!
Another point is that one really wants the bar count in the middle of each bar. There isn't always a note in the middle of the bar, so number placement is untidy. Of course one can move the number, but that can result in even more higgledy piggledy number location!

Or show measure numbers on all measures (see above) and adjusted the measure numbers at the places you want them to start with 1 again, via that measure's properties, by setting the measure number offset to minus the previous measure's number

In reply to by Jojo-Schmitz

These might be more appropriate examples of the problem (also from Tchaikovsky, Nutcracker Suite). Few orchestral parts are so boring to play that the whole piece is filled with repeated measures! But some do overdo it, and it is very easy to lose the place, if repeated bars aren't numbered.
I use MuseScore to improve clarity of the parts, and also page turns (particularly during the early days of Covid, when getting back together, but only by using separate stands). Numbering every bar is unnecessary, and doesn't help clarity.

Attachment Size
MeasureCounting.png 308.36 KB

In reply to by Jojo-Schmitz

Measure numbers cannot be used for this. The measure count of the entire score would be reset every time this technique is used.
Not to mention that it would be impossible when e.g. the 1st and 2nd trumpet start their repeated measure count at a different measure.

Gould p. 578: It is very helpful to number bars of repeated material, wheter the material is notated in full or with repeat-bar signs
We need something like https://musescore.org/en/handbook/4/measure-and-multi-measure-repeats (number consecutive measure repats) , but for written out repeats.

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