I am using NWC to write music for violin. I should like to include special notations for the bow movement. Is it possible to insert special characters designed for that purpose or, if anyone knows about any font available that could be used to insert such caracters ?
Up/down-bow markings are available in the "Boxmarks" font, as well as other musical fonts (available on the Scriptorium).
I loaded "boxmarks" font, but in trying to apply it, it seems so cumbersome, to open and close the windows each time. Is it possible to move an "up" and "down" bowing symbol onto the notworthy menu and use it from there?
You could create one up-bow symbol and one down-bow symbol then copy them to where they are needed.
I usually have special characters (from the various user fonts) set in a separate group of staffs at the bottom of my score. In somewhat simplified terms, when I need one, I jump down there, and just copy/paste to where I want to place it.
That's the concept. For me, it's a little more complicated. The easiest thing was to use six font staffs, one for each user font I want. I have 3 text entries in each, width not preserved, with all the entries in each of these staffs set to the same userfont. One entry is the alphabet in lower case, the second is the alphabet in UPPER case, and the third is all the numbers, with and without the shift.
I copy the right figure (all 26 characters) then edit out the ones I don't need. That leaves me with the right symbol on the staff I'm working with, and I just go back to it and copy it as needed, rather than going back to the 26 character strings on my userfont staffs.
They say that math and music are often related. To put bow direction in the staff, I use a math font (WPmathA.ttf). You can download it off the web. Click on File, Page setup, Fonts, User 1, Modify. Select the math font, style and size. Click OK to get back to the staff. You only need to do this once. Back at the staff, place the cursor where you want the bow symbol, press x (for text), expression (alt 155 for bow down, alt 119 for bow up), display font (user 1). OK.