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Notes & Measures

I've been doing music via lots of software packages for many years beginning with Deluxe Music Construction on my Amiga (am I aging myself here?).  My wife bought me NoteWorthy for Christmas, so bear with me through the learning stages.

Does a staff always have to begin at measure 1?  For instance, with SATB music, it's common to have several measures of intro before beginning the SATB score.  Of course I can start the SATB with the intro and enter rests, but I'm wondering if I can add/remove a staff at any given point as needed?

Second question: Is there a quick way to place notes?  I find selecting a spot, then hitting enter one more key stroke than I want to do.  I want to use my left hand on the hot keys to select my note, then use my right hand to point and click to place it.

Third question: Is there a quick way to edit an already-placed note?  Say if I want to change the note's dynamics, I'd like to click the note and make the change.  Or say if I goofed and want to move a note from a C to a B, I'd like to be able to simply click and drag it rather than delete and re-add it.

Re: Notes & Measures

Reply #1 –
Hi Don,

Does a staff always have to begin at measure 1?

Pretty much, you can start at 0 but this is not what you're after.

<snip> but I'm wondering if I can add/remove a staff at any given point as needed?

Unfortunately, no.

Many users actually output to DTP or WP software via metafile (copy and paste from print preview) and further manipulate there but I don't have that need so I don't use that method.

Is there a quick way to place notes?

Yes.  I normally use my left hand to select note duration (number keys on the typewriter pad) and my right hand on the cursor arrows, enter key and the other keyboard shortcuts in that region.  E.G. . = dot, / = tie, ; = slur - there are others.

Up arrow moves the insertion point up one note, down arrow moves down 1 note.  <ctrl> - <up> moves up one octave and obviously <ctrl> - <dn> moves an octave down.

Right and left arrows do as you would expect, and <ctrl> - <right> and <left> moves a bar left or right.

<Shift> left or right will highlight an element (does not have to be a note) or group of elements and <ctrl><shift> - <arrow> will move the selection up or down.  This is how you could change a B to a C for instance.

As you can see, the fastest way to enter notes is via the keyboard.  In fact, for the most part you would be best advised to forget you even have a mouse except for the few occasions that it is convenient to use it.

Is there a quick way to edit an already-placed note?

Yes, highlight as suggested above and press <Alt><Enter> - this will take you to the notes (or any element for that matter) properties and you can pretty much change anything.  The only real exception to this is when entering chorded notes <Ctrl><Enter> - if you make an error you really need to delete the wrong note <Ctrl><BS> and re-enter

There is also a user guide on the Scriptorium that is very useful.

Hope this helps,
Lawrie

Re: Notes & Measures

Reply #2 –
Oops,

Sorry Don, I forgot to mention 2 very important keys:
<Space> for rests and
<tab> for barlines

I operate both with my left hand.

Lawrie

Re: Notes & Measures

Reply #3 –
Thanks Lawrie, I can see this is going to take some getting use to, but I can see the advantages of using the number pad.

I'll have to try out your editing techniques.  Can you edit one note out of a chord as well?

Thanks for the tip on the User Guide, too, I'll check it out.

Re: Notes & Measures

Reply #4 –
Editing a note out of a chord is easy.  Just to put it in perspective, when you create a chord, you put the cursor on the space or line where you want the note and then press Contol-Enter to add a note to the chord.  Well to delete a note from the chord, just put the cursor back on the line or space for the note you want to remove, then just press Ctrl-Backspace.

Hope this helps,

John

Re: Notes & Measures

Reply #5 –
You can remove a note from a chord, as stated, but you cannot edit the note within the chord. So a note that's already there cannot be altered by adding a sharp or a flat. You can edit the whole chord only. But you can alter the chord by removing the note and inserting the right one, or with the right accidental or length.

Re: Notes & Measures

Reply #6 –
Also on the numeric keypad the accidentals with 7, 8, 9, and barline  *.

Re: Notes & Measures

Reply #7 –
I have entered over a thousand SATB songs (hymns) using NWC as an intermediate step in creating audio CD's for use with printed hymn books.  I have found it convenient to use 5 different staves, one each for SATB and one for rhythm.

IF for some reason I want a printed copy, after entering all the parts, I then "layer" the SA and TB and hide the rhythm staff.

This technique simplifies chord construction/entry--for me anyhow.

Re: Notes & Measures

Reply #8 –
As to the numeric keyboard -- if you turn NUMLOCK off (as I do), then you have the four arrow keys, an enter, and the + and - keys change the note value up or down.  Thus if the current note value is a quarter note (crotchet) the + key shifts to a half note (minum) or the - key to an eighth note (quaver).

Then the left hand can cope with space and tab, with a little shifting the accidental keys on the upper row, the control and alt,and ",", "." etc.

I find the arrangement of the arrow keys much more user friendly than the ones between the main keyboard and the numeric.
 

Re: Notes & Measures

Reply #9 –
G'day again Don,
glad to have been of some assistance.

As you can see from the other replies there are many techniques that different people use but the thing they have in common is that they are all keyboard oriented.

In addition, in many cases the standard Windows editing keys are also available.  E.G. <Ctrl><c> to copy a selection, <Ctrl><v> to paste it etc.  It helps immensely knowing the standard shortcut keys.

Lawrie