Dear Sherry and George

Notation being the wonderful programme it is, there's actually more than one way of skinning this cat.............I started off using the 4-button onscreen staff controls for this sort of situation, but now I find I use the staff > setup route, and then check or uncheck the 'show' and 'mute' boxes as appropriate.
This also has the advantage that you can dispense with the onscreen 'Staff controls' , and so create more screen room for whatever score you do want to see.

Another 'wrinkle' which may be of help to you, George, is to insert an extra 2 or 3 blank bars at the beginning to give you a few seconds to get your hand(s) from one place to another. Obviously, if you wish, you can also insert an audible count-in in one or more of thes bars.

Sincerely

Ian G.