Option for ties to avoid staff lines

[rpatters1]

Your idea

I would like a Tie style setting that automatically adjusts outer-placement ties, so that their curves appear in the center of a staff space. This would also apply to downward ties on the first ledger line above and upward ties on the first ledger line down. The goal would be that the center of no tie would ever closely coincide with a staff line.

Problem to be solved

Elaine Gould addresses this issue starting on p. 61 of Behind Bars.

Consider the following examples from MuseScore 4.4.2 (treble clef):

The tie on the A in the first chord coincides with a staff line, as do the ties on the C in the second and the G and D in the fourth. All of these would look better if they were about 0.5sp further from their noteheads.

It looks like inner placement of ties is already taking into account whether the notehead is on a line or a space. We need a similar option for outer placement.

Prior art

I accomplished this in Finale with a plugin, but it was not an ideal solution. A built-in solution would be better.

Additional context

This request is related to #20539, but I'm not sure whether that issue is still relevant for 4.4. (Doesn't the "Auto" setting resolve it?)

Checklist

• [X] This request follows the guidelines for reporting issues
• [X] I have verified that this feature request has not been logged before, by searching the issue tracker for similar requests

[oktophonie]

Are you saying the you want these ties to be drawn entirely within a space (i.e. to not cross lines)?

[rpatters1]

Some of the examples in Gould show them not crossing lines. In wider spaced scenarios, crossing lines is inevitable. It think the more important point is that the apex (nadir) of the curve be in the middle of a space. The endpoints can be adjusted as needed.

FWIW: my Finale plugin simply moves the endpoints out by 0.5sp, which covers most situations for me.

[rpatters1]

I should clarify: the more important point is that the apex (nadir) of the tie should not coincide with a staff line. When it is inside the staff, that means being in the middle of a space. (Or when it is pointing towards the staff from the first ledger line.)