Grouping Elements and Group Editing

[paulalndwhr]

Idea: Grouping Elements

I believe that elements should be able to be grouped together similarly to the way it is done by most graphic design programs: You may group together multiple elements to allow you to move them all, toggle their visibility or apply other styling simultaneously.

Why I believe this might be helpful

I am trying to engrave my music more rigorously. At the same time, I want to test certain engraving differences with different ensembles without the hassle of toggling the visibility of each item separately. Certain text fields I want to edit can not be distinguished by "Select similar...": I may have expression texts espr. in more spots than I want to toggle.

I want to find a proper balance between precision and a clean, easily digestible appearance and do not have the proper intuition what I need to display for the performers. I believe that my intuition is good enough to categorise information into similarly important/precise groups. I just cannot tell which of them are necessary for the players. My music tends to be a bit rhythmically confusing, especially in small ensembles it is not always obvious who should take the responsibility to lead the group, slowing them down collectively.

I believe that instructing them to lead either by using text above the stave or using Schoenberg's Hauptstimme and Nebenstimme might clarify who has leading duties. Simultaneously, I am afraid that over specific instructions in some places might result in a stronger feeling that somebody else has those duties when no specific instruction is present.

Therefore, I want to try many iterations of the same score with them. Yet, I want to maintain both versions of the score and do not save them in different files - I still want all possible changes to be reflected in both versions. I believe that grouping elements and allowing me to group toggle is the simplest way to achieve this. I am aware that this increases complexity for first time users and that it might generate a lot of confusion if this feature was overlooked by an inexperienced user.

Therefore, I am openly welcoming the discussion for better implementations of a feature that would achieve the same!