I forgot to ask about creating a minor augmented chord like “Am+”. I looked through the “Chord Symbols” section in Engraving Options, but there’s no mention of minor augmented chords. Can you help?
You could change the #5 glyph to the + but you would still need to enter the #5 into the popover. e.g. you would type Am#5 into the popover but the result would be Am+.
I’m not sure if there is a method to create a new chord i.e. to be able to type m+ and get m+.
EDIT: I have just seen this, which might be the answer?
@FredGUnn, am I on the right track?
Thank you for helping me with the Am(+5) chord. I guess for now I’m stuck with the Am(+5) chord even though I don’t want the parenthesis, but that’s ok. However, is there a way I can make the (+5) an little larger? My eyesight isn’t the best and I need to read the chords well. Thanks for your patience!
I believe setting this two settings in Engraving Options as such will give you what you want, but I could be wrong since I haven’t really needed to use any custom chord symbols:
However, is there a reason the chord symbol has to be an augmented minor chord? Having an augmented third (C to E#) is pretty unusual in any chord spelling, and I would probably notate the chord symbol as F/A.
I need a raised 5th, not a raised third. I usually type Am+, but Am+5 is ok too. So I’ll settle for Am(#5) but need the (#5) to be bigger. Thanks for listening.
I was also briefly confused before I realised that the augmented third ryan is talking about is not the third of a chord, but the third between the third and the fifth in the chord. That’s the augmented third in the Am+5, and why he’s suggesting to spell the chord as F/A instead of Am+.
As I previously mentioned there are Engraving Options settings available for Am+5 now, you don’t even need to make a custom chord symbol. You can of course make Am+ with just a few clicks too so there’s no need to settle for Am(#5) if you don’t want that.
Depending on context, I likely would as well, but if you want to emphasize the movement of the natural 5th to the augmented, I think #5 or +5 is fine too. Here’s the Gm7 to Gm7(#5) to Gm6 part of I’ll Remember April for example:
I suppose I am the product o f fairly (perhaps more than fairly) strict “classical” theory instruction, but when I write chord symbols, I figure making the symbols as simple as possible for sight reading overrides my sense of harmonic theory.
I feel the same way about key structure and note names for transposing instruments, using chromatic alternatives for passages when the concert key would take certain instruments into passages with multiple double flats and sharps.
Fred, you mentioned that with a few clicks I can create Am+. This is want I’m used to, so can you teach me how to do this? I would appreciate this very much.
Sure, basically just follow the instructions the @DanielMuzMurray linked to earlier in the thread. You want the settings @ryanpetriello mentioned plus these two most likely:
In any case, play around with Engraving Options until this is your starting point:
I am NOT going to go here and edit this +5 as that will be a global change that will affect every single +5 no matter where it appears (unless those have also been overridden):
Instead, I’m going to create a new custom suffix. Find some unused popover syntax that you will remember. I’m using Amp here for A minor plus. Enter that in Project Default Chord Symbol Appearances and you’ll get this message:
Select Am+5 as the existing chord to base it off of:
Select the suffix and hit the Edit Component pencil:
Delete the mp and build the suffix the way you want it to look:
Now you can enter it into the score using the popover syntax you specified:
Fred, thank you so much for your advice. I hope I can follow your instructions. I’ve never tried something this deep before. Wish me luck! Thanks again!