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I have this:

measure of music with several notes and a rest at the end

but I want the rest at the beginning of the measure. How do I do that?

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2 Answers 2

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Unfortunately, there's currently no option in MuseScore to move notes horizontally, nor is there anything akin to an "insert" mode.

As such, the best solution here will be a simple cut-and-paste work around. Select all of the pitches you want to keep, copy them, and paste them (in this case) starting on the second eighth note of the measure. Then, replace the opening of the measure with an eighth rest.

See also https://musescore.org/en/node/11944, a discussion which reaches the same conclusion.

If this feature is really necessary for you, there are two things you might consider:

  1. Since MuseScore is open source, you could technically program the feature you're looking for. Especially if you're fluent in C++ and/or Qt (the languages used to write MuseScore), this may be an option for you. (Note that the discussion above mentions that this might be a waste of time, and I don't completely disagree.)
  2. Another option would be to switch to a notation program that does have this feature. One possibility would be LilyPond, a free and open-source program that uses text-based input. Thus if you have a string of three eighth notes followed by a rest (c8 e g r) but you want to put the rest first, all you have to do is move it: r8 c e g.
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  • Its so strange...
    – Anders Lindén
    Commented Sep 5, 2018 at 16:39
  • @AndersLindén It does seem like an option to be included, I agree. See my edit for some further discussion.
    – Richard
    Commented Sep 5, 2018 at 16:48
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I just tried this and was able to simply drag the rest to the beginning of the measure. Using v1.3r5702

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  • Yikes, Musescore is already on version 2.3.2 (I have that version). It seems that your version is pretty outdated.
    – Dekkadeci
    Commented Sep 6, 2018 at 5:28
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    This no longer seems possible in MuseScore 2. Ian, does moving the rest actually push the remaining pitches later in the measure, or is it just a visual fix where the rest, still at the end of the measure, is just visually moved to the beginning? That is to say, does moving the rest this way affect playback?
    – Richard
    Commented Sep 6, 2018 at 9:53
  • I admit that it is quite old, and that is a very good question which I should have thought of checking, myself! So I cranked it back up and added a whole note in the following measure. It appears that the movement of the rest is merely cosmetic as you can still hear it between the quarter note and the whole note. So probably the ability to move that rest is a bug in my version which was later corrected. Thanks for the additional conversation on this.
    – Ian Moote
    Commented Sep 6, 2018 at 11:04
  • @IanMoote No, thank you! That's great to know. And welcome to Music: Practice & Theory!
    – Richard
    Commented Sep 6, 2018 at 11:11

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