Instruments and system markings

Overview

The Layout panel (formerly called Instruments) gives you control over your instruments, the position of system markings, and some basic stave properties without having to leave the score view. All of the instruments in your score will appear in this panel.

Accessing the panel

Open the panel by clicking on the Layout tab:

If the tab is not visible, show it by selecting View -> Layout, or by pressing F7.

Managing instruments

Adding instruments

Open the Instruments dialogue:

1. Click the Add button at the top of the panel.

2. Choose Add instrument from the popup.

You can also open this dialogue by pressing I.

See Choose instruments for information on using the dialogue.

Deleting instruments

Select an instrument and click the remove button at the top of the panel, or press Del. This removes the instrument entirely, along with all the music it contains.

Reordering instruments

Select an instrument and click the up/down arrow buttons at the top of the panel to change its position in the score. Alternatively, drag the instrument up or down using the mouse.

Renaming instruments

Click the cog button to the right of an instrument to show instrument name settings. Name on main score is the long name, usually used at the beginning of a score, and Abbreviated name is the short one, often used after the first system of a section. These can also be edited via Staff/Part properties. Part name is used at the top of a part.

To hide instrument labels entirely or control where the long and short names are used, use the settings in Format -> Style -> Score -> Instrument labels, rather than deleting the names here.

Replacing instruments

To replace an instrument in the Layout panel:

1. Click the cog button to the right of the instrument's name.

2. In the popup that appears, click Replace instrument.

3. Select your desired replacement instrument in the dialog that appears.

4. Click OK.

Managing staves

The Layout panel can also be used to add staves to an existing instrument and configure some of their basic properties.

Initially, the panel only shows an entry for each instrument. To show the individual staves of an instrument, expand the instrument by clicking the small black triangle to the left of the instrument name. Staves are usually labelled according their default clef (for example, a piano will have a 'Treble clef' and 'Bass clef')

Adding a staff to an existing instrument

1. Expand the instrument by clicking the arrow button to reveal its staves.

2. Click Add stave.

The new staff is part of the same instrument but its notation is completely independent of its other staves. To create a staff which stays in sync with the notation of an existing staff, add a linked staff instead.

Adding a linked staff to an existing instrument

Staves that are linked together will keep their notation synchronized, so any change on one staff will be reflected on the other(s). However, the staves can have different staff styles, which makes this useful for creating staff notation alongside tablature notation for guitar, banjo, ukulele, etc.

To create a linked stave:

1. Expand the instrument by clicking the arrow button to reveal its staves.

2. Click the cog button to the right of the staff's name.

3. Click Create a linked staff.

4. Click the cog button on the newly-added staff to configure it, for example to change the Staff type, if required (see Configuring staves, below).

Deleting staves

1. Expand the instrument by clicking the arrow button to reveal its staves.

2. Select the staff you wish to delete.

3. Click the remove button at the top of the panel, or press Del.

This will only work when an instrument has more than one staff. To delete the last staff, select and delete the instrument itself.

Reordering staves

To change the order of staves within an instrument, select a staff and click the up/down arrow buttons at the top of the panel to move it, or drag it up or down using the mouse. Staves cannot be moved between instruments.

Configuring staves

You can configure some properties of individual staves by clicking the cog buton to the right of the staff name:

• Staff type allows you to choose between a Standard staff and a variety of predefined tablature types.

• Small staff makes the staff small ('cue-size'). The size for small staves can be configured in Style -> Sizes.

• Hide any measures that do not contain notation (cutaway) will prevent the staff from being drawn for any measures which are empty. See Cutaway staves for more details.

For more information about stave customisation, see Stave/part properties.

Managing system markings

System markings are items like tempo marks, rehearsal marks, voltas and jumps, which apply to all instruments in the score. By default they are shown at the top of the system, but in larger scores are often duplicated at least once further down. In orchestral scores, for example, it is common to duplicate them above the strings.

You can control where these markings appear via the Layout panel. Every score has one 'instance' of system markings at the top, which cannot be moved or deleted, but you can add extra instances and position them freely.

In a blank score, the instances are listed simply as 'System markings' in the panel, but as you add markings to the score they will update to list which types of markings are shown there. You can configure which types of item you want to show at each position.

If your score uses big time signatures (above or across the staves), these will also be treated as system markings, and will appear wherever you create a system markings instance. See Time signatures for information on how to choose these styles.

If you want to specify specific positions on the score where measure numbers will appear, these can also be treated as system markings. See Measure numbering position for more details.

Adding a instance of system markings

To add a new system marking instance:

1. Open the Layout panel.

2. Select the instrument above which you want the markings to appear.

3. Click the Add button.

4. Choose System markings from the popup.

If you do not select an instrument first, the new instance will appear at the first available space from the top of the score.

Deleting an instance of system markings

Select a system markings instance and click the remove button at the top of the panel, or press Del.

Moving an instance of system markings

Select a system markings instance and drag it up or down to a new position, or use the up/down arrow buttons at the top of the panel.

If you move one instance on top of another, the one being moved will replace the other, since two cannot exist at the same position.

It is possible to show system markings below the bottom of the system by dragging an instance below the bottommost instrument. (This is not possible if the score only contains one instrument.)

Configuring which types of system markings to show

To choose which types of markings to show at a given position:

1. Click the cog button to the right of the instance in the list.

2. In the popup, click the eye buttons to toggle visibility for each item type.

By default, all types are shown everywhere.

The available item types are: tempo, gradual tempo change, rehearsal mark, system text, system text line, volta, jump, play count text, measure number and time signature (if you are using large time signatures).

System markings and parts

System markings cannot be configured in parts. There is only a single instance, shown at the top, with all types of marking visible. You can still make individual markings invisible in parts in the usual way.

Hiding instruments and staves

To hide or unhide an instrument, click the eye buttons to the left of the instrument label. This hides the instrument and all its staves completely.

To hide or unhide a specific stave:

1. Expand the instrument by clicking the arrow button to reveal its staves.

2. Click the eye button to the left of the staff.

Hidden instruments and staves are not deleted, they are just hidden throughout the whole score and will not affect its layout. You can still create parts for hidden instruments.

A hidden instrument will not play back, but hidden staves will. If you wish to hide an instrument but still hear it, do one of the following:

• Unmute the instrument in the Mixer.

• Hide all of its staves individually, but don't hide the instrument itself.

Control whether instruments are automatically muted when hidden via **Preference -> Audio & MIDI -> Toggle track mute by showing/hiding instruments in the Layout panel**.

If you only wish to hide instruments or staves when there is no music for them on a given system, see Showing staves only where needed.