Ad libitum rhythms

I am trying to put an ‘ad libitum’ part against normal measures, using feathered beams to show the patterning. Does anyone know if this is possible i.e. notes whose nominal ‘quaver’ values do not add up to the time-signature?

The easiest way is probably to figure out how many “beats” you actually need, then construct a tuplet that contains that many beats (e.g. 10:4 if you need 10 beats in a bar of 4). Then use the tuplet’s bracketing property to hide the bracket and its numbering property to hide the number.

You can always use hidden tuplets…

Of course - thank you! Still getting used to how to hide things.

Use the properties panel : choose a hidden bracket and a hidden number. You can create a macro for this to be very quick!

If you weren’t sure on what the final number of notes you would have in your “ad lib” passage, I think you could also set that bar to be an “open” time signature, then hide the time signature, rather than using a hidden tuplet. Return to the original meter in the following bar and hide that one as well. That way you can add notes of whatever rhythmic values you want in that one bar and it should still look the same in the end.

Thanks again! all very useful.