Hey John,
I'm glad that workaround gave you an alternative, or more accurately was in line with the method you came across yourself... but as you implied, it is a bit "messy" and there should be a more direct way of doing it (at least in theory).
Have you confirmed what I already suspected, in that Notion only allows for 2 voices (upper and lower)? That seems kind of "wonky" to me, as music scores often make use of multiple voices on the same staff. Not all music is "monophonic".
If you come across a more elegant solution in the future, please update your thread. I'd be happy to see what you came up with.
Cheers!
RJ (Robert)