My Score Formatting Style
Sun Aug 17 2025Chords
Size up the chord symbols on parts to 13pt (12pt default for the score).?
Custom Styles
Load and save custom styles. Format > Load style....
My style file A:/Charts/_MuseScore4/Styles/ElliotReedJazz.mss
Display vs. Playback Staves
Use extra staves within the instrument for playback and display staves. Only the visible staves will play sound.
Both staves sound, so this is a bad idea. One instrument for playback and one for display.
Feel
- Even 8ths
- Swing
Header Styles
guitars-on-stands-in-sunlit-room
| Property | Font | Position | Size | Style |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Title | Calibri | Center/Top | Bold | 28pts |
| Composer | Calibri | Right/Top | Normal | 10pts |
| Lyricist | Calibri | Right/Middle | Normal | 10pts |
| Year Composed | Calibri | Right/Bottom | Normal | 10pts |
| Part Name | Calibri | Left/Top | Bold | 12pts |
| Style | Finale Jazz Text | Left/Middle | Normal | 12pts |
Page Styles
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Top and Side Margins | 0.31in |
| Bottom Margin | 0.1in |
| Staff space | 0.75in |
Text Elements
Phrasing
- Repeat for Solos
- After Solos
Lyrics
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Font | Calibri |
| Size (score) | 11pt |
| Size (vocal part) | 12pt |
| Follow staff size | Checked |
| Style | Normal |
| Align | Center, Baseline |
| Color | Black |
| Frame | None |
Mixer
| Part | Instrument | Sound | Reverb | Panning | Volume | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vocal | Bassoon | SoundFonts: Bassoon | - | 0 | 0 | |
| Clarinet | Clarinet in Bb | SoundFonts: Clarinet in Bb | ||||
| Lead Sub | Trumpet | SoundFonts: Trumpet in Bb | ||||
| Violin | Violin | SoundFonts: Violin | 5% | -30 | 0 | |
| Lead Guitar | Acoustic Guitar | SoundFonts: Nylon String Guitar | 5% | -10 | 0 | |
| Rhythm Guitar | Acoustic Guitar | SoundFonts: Nylon String Guitar | 10% | 30 | 0 | |
| Bass | Acoustic Bass | SoundFonts: Bass | - | 0 | 0 | |
| Drums | Drums | SoundFonts: | - | 0 | ||
Performance Notes
Staff text required for each instrument, e.g. “Violin Solo”.
- Capitalized (lower case for and, for, in etc.)
- Full Word
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Font | Edwin |
| Size | 10pt |
| Line spacing | 1li |
| Follow staff size | Unchecked |
| Style | Bold |
| Align | Left, Top |
| Color | Green (#407840) |
| Frame | Rectangle |
| Border | Green (#407840) |
| Fill color | Green (#407840, Alpha channel 16) |
| Border thickness | 0 |
| Thickness | 0.25 |
| Padding | 1 |
| Corner radius | 25? (currently resets to 0) |
Arrangement Notes
Staff text usefull for each instrument (but not required), e.g. “gtr solo”.
- No Capitalization
- Abbreviated Words
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Font | Calibri |
| Size | 10pt |
| Follow staff size | Unchecked |
| Style | Bold, Italic |
| Align | Left, Top |
| Color | Green (#407840) |
| Frame | None |
Staves
When creating an extra stave for a part (to display hits, or one-off notation):
-
Put the staff under the same instrument in Layout and define the staff by right clicking and set staff/part properties.
-
You can set the number of lines, hide clefs, time signature, and key signature (in Advanced style properties).
It has to be done on every part.
Hits Staff
in Advanced style properties
- Uncheck
Show clef - Uncheck
Show time signature - Uncheck
Show key signature - Lines: 1, Line distance: 0
This allows rhytmic notation on a single line staff
Swing
When loading a style file, the swing feel amount is loaded with it. I always update the style to match the current format, which overwrites the swing setting. A text element with swing amount set will override the loaded style, so that should be in every score for playback consistency. Make invisible.
Symbols
| Symbol | Context | Size |
|---|---|---|
| Segnoe 𝄋 | Alone | 26pt |
| Coda 𝄌 | Alone | 22pts |
| Coda 𝄌 | In Text | 14pts |