Multi-staff Instruments

Initially, the ScoreManager presents each Instrument as a single row, no matter how many staves that Instrument contains. A piano, for example, usually includes two staves, a treble clef staff for the right hand and a bass clef staff for the left hand. SongWriter allows you to edit the staff-specific settings for each of those staves individually. Click the expand triangle next to the Instrument name provides access to each staff.

SongWriter presents multi-staff Instruments as an expanding set of rows:

The individual staves of a multi-staff Instrument include the Drag icon . This allows such staves to be reordered within the multi-staff Instrument (e.g. piano left hand above right hand).

Deleting staves from multi-staff Instruments

SongWriter offers a delete button (X) not only for Instruments, but for staves within multi-staff Instruments as well. When the delete button for a multi-staff Instrument’s staff is clicked, the staff is removed from the ScoreManager and the score. The original Instrument and any other staves in that Instrument remain. If the last staff in a multi-instrument staff is deleted, the Instrument is also removed.

Changing multi-staff Instruments to single-staff Instruments (and vice versa)

When you change a multi-staff Instrument to a single-staff Instrument (e.g. Piano to Flute), SongWriter converts the top staff to the new Instrument and changes the lower staff to an undefined "Blank Staff" Instrument, retaining all the original music.

Changing a multi-staff Instrument to a single-staff instrument does not remove any staves.

The lower staff is changed to its own undefined treble clef "Blank Staff."

The new undefined Instrument can be edited like any other Instrument, changed or deleted as required. In all other respects, for example, regarding automatic channel/bank assignment, this new undefined staff is handled exactly as if a new Instrument had been added. If the original Instrument is a 3-staff instrument, like Organ, SongWriter changes the top staff and creates two 'Blank Staff' Instruments.

When you change a single-staff Instrument to a multi-staff Instrument (e.g. Flute to Piano), SongWriter removes all mid-score Instrument changes in favor of the multi-staff Instrument. All notation remains in the top staff.

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