Hi everyone, I’m looking for a way to solve a specific notation issue. In a string quartet score, I need to add an extra “percussion” staff (single line) below each instrument to indicate percussive hits on the instrument’s body.
I would like the instrument name to be centered between the two staves. Additionally, the name should remain visible on the single-line staff even when the main staff is hidden (similar to the “group name” functionality in Finale).
I have attached an example of the layout.
I tried adding an extra staff, but I couldn’t find a way to change it to a single-line staff.
I also tried modifying the instrument definition (e.g. Violin) to add a second staff, but again, I was unable to change only that specific staff to a single line.
It would be extremely helpful to at least be able to change the extra staff to a single-line staff, even if only for graphical purposes.
If I had to do this, and assuming that playback is not important, I would create a player holding multiple instruments, first trying with Violin and a single-line percussion.
If this doesn’t work, try with a vibraphone or marimba (5-lines) and a single-line percussion.
For then name, use the name of the player, but it may not become centred anyway, I fear … I will give this some more thought and get back to you. Hopefully someone more knowledgeable will chime in.
I would use a separate voice on the instrument staff, assign it x-noteheads, and suppress playback. I would then use a hidden staff to supply the sound.
I think there are many good solutions like this. But if you start from the premise that you need a separate percussion stave, you end up down the rat hole of worrying about positioning staff labels.
The OP asked for a multi-staff instrument where one staff is 5-lined and one is 1-lined, something that both Sibelius and Finale can do quite easily. Yes, non-idiomatic, non-semantic, non-everything, but it just works.
Here’s the file. It’s two section players. The lower one is playing a modified 1-staff violin. Just can’t get rid of the 1 and 2. Works with single players, too.
I tried your solution, but unfortunately, in the second system, if I hide one of the two staves, it automatically displays the staff number for the visible one (as you can see in the photo).
At this point, I don’t think it’s possible to hide the automatic numbering…
