TUTORIALS
Tip: Show guide bar numbers and instrument labels
- When working on a large score with several instruments, it can be difficult to orientate yourself – especially when zoomed in.
- Show guide instrument labels and bar numbers by opening the View menu and enabling the relevant option in the Bar Numbers sub-menu.
- By default, guide bar numbers and instrument labels are switched on for working in Galley View, but it is also possible to enable them for Page View.
- Guide instrument labels and bar numbers do not print.
Tip: Swap music between voices or staves
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- Swap the contents of two voices by making a selection, right-clicking (or opening the Edit menu) and choosing Voices > Swap Voice Contents.
- Swap the music on two staves by making a selection, right-clicking (or opening the Edit menu) and choosing Paste Special > Swap.
Tip: Add harmony to a melodic line using Chord mode and Lock to Duration
- Double-click the start of an existing melodic line of music.
- Engage Chord mode and Lock to Duration both found in the Notes toolbox.
- Chord mode can be engaged using the key command Q, and Lock to Duration using L.
- Enter your harmony using either the computer keyboard or a MIDI keyboard.
- Use Space to advance the caret; the new notes are aligned to the existing rhythms.
Tip: Using the Scissors tool
- Use the Scissors tool to cut tie chains into separate notes.
- During note input, use the Scissors tool to split notes at any position. Move to a position on the rhythmic grid using the left and right arrow keys and when you activate the Scissors tool all notes, chords and explicit rests at that point will be divided in two.
- You also use the Scissors tool by pressing U.
Tip: Working with ties
- In Write mode, make a selection containing notes of the same pitch, and press the Tie button in the Notes toolbox of the left side of the window to tie those notes together.
- You can use the tie button during note input to create durations of any length, by toggling it on before you enter the note.
- Notes do not need to be adjacent to be tied.
- You can tie notes to other notes of the same pitch even if they are in a different voice or staff.
- When you tie notes together, they will be combined into one note with a duration totalling the individual note lengths. Depending on the prevailing Notation Options, this may cause the newly-tied note to be rewritten (for example, a dotted quarter note tied to an eight note may end up being written as a single half note). In order to have control over the divisions in the tie chain, enable Force Durations in the Notes toolbox, or press O. If you wish to revert the tie chain to using the Notation Options, simply uncheck the Force Duration button.