Adding Notes with the Mouse

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Adding Notes with the Mouse

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There are two quite different ways to add notes with the mouse in Composer.  The first way is the most obvious way: point and click. Choose a note duration value from the Note Palette, or use a keyboard shortcut such as "4" for quarter note and "16" for 16th note.  Then click the mouse where you want it to be added. This point-and-click method for adding notes "feels good" because as you move the mouse around, the notes snap to the grid of a Beat Ruler, which lets you know with more confidence where the note will be added when you click the mouse.

 

You can also use the Virtual Keyboard to add notes with your mouse. As above, you choose a note duration value from the Note Palette, or use a keyboard shortcut such as "4" for quarter note and "16" for 16th note. To set the cursor for where to begin adding notes, just press the "K" key on your keyboard and click in the score.  Now when you click a note on the Virtual Keyboard, it will be added to the score at the point where the cursor was, and the cursor will move forward to the next location for that duration. You can change the duration for the next note to be added by selecting it from the Note Palette, or using the keyboard shortcuts.  You can use the Virtual Keyboard along with just pointing and clicking in the score to place note pitches.

 

The second method of adding notes with the mouse is not so immediately obvious because, for one thing, you may not have seen this feature in other music programs: the Sequential Note Entry Method. With this method, the duration of a newly added note is determined by where you add the next note. Initially, the duration of a newly added note extends to the end of its measure, and on to the end of the next measure. This is probably not the duration you intend for the note. However, as soon as you add the next note after the first note, the duration of that first note will be "cut" so that it ends where the newly added note begins. The term "sequential" is used here to suggest how one would add notes sequentially, from left to right, in the score, where each note usually follows the previous.  (It's easy, however, to create chords with multiple notes, as well as to include rests between notes.)

 

TIP:  Many Composer users tend to initially overlook this useful Sequential Note Entry Method, because the Note Duration Palette draws their attention first, and they quickly develop the habit of point-and-click for adding notes. However, many users have discovered the Sequential Note Entry Method with delight and wish they had been using it all along.  We suggest that you briefly try it out so that you can decide whether it suits your working habits.