Modify a Note, or a Selection of Notes

The Notes menu w ill only appear w hen a note has been selected. Some commands behave differently depending on the current mode and some are only available w hen the score is in Edit mode .

As w ell as appearing in the main program menu, these menu commands are usually available as a context menu w hen you right-click the mouse on the score.

Read more below about how the 'mode' affects Notes Commands below . Notes Commands

Pitch Raises or low ers the pitch of the selected note(s) chromatically.

Accidentals are automatically applied for the new pitch, taking into account the current key signature.

See Default Enharmonic Entry Spelling (Insert Menu) for

information on the enharmonic spelling of the new pitch (flat or sharp).

Octave commands raise or low er the pitch of the selected note(s) chromatically by a w hole octave.

See the Keyboard Shortcuts for this function.

Volume Raises or low ers the volume of the selected note(s).

Choose Volume...

Opens the Note Volume Dialog so you can set the volume for the selected notes note (default 64).

See the Keyboard Shortcuts for this function.

Change Duration Allow s you to change the duration of selected notes.

The duration of the notes can be modified incrementally using the Duration: Increase/Decrease commands. If you w ould like

MidiIllustrator to include dotted durations in the choice of increased or decreased durations, see the Include dots w hen incrementing duration of selection option in Editing options.

Note durations can only be increased if there are no conflicting notes ahead of the note to be lengthened (see exceptions to this rule in Edit Mode, below ).

See the Keyboard Shortcuts for this function.

Note Duration Increases In Edit Mode

In Edit Mode, MidiIllustrator w ill try to shift 'conflicting' notes in a

given measure to the right in order to make w ay for note

lengthening operations. Notes are only shifted w hen necessary, specifically:

If there is rest space to the right of a note to be lengthened, this space w ill be taken to accommodate the new note length.

If there is no space, or not enough space to the right of the note to be lengthened, then MidiIllustrator w ill check see if there is room at the end of the note's measure to accommodate the new note length.

Notes 'in the w ay' of the operation w ill be 'shifted' as far as possible into the rest space at the end of the measure, and the note w ill be given the desired length if possible.

MidiIllustrator uses a 'best possible' approach in duration changes. If, for example, you w ant to increase a quarter note to a w hole note duration, but there is only room for a half note, then the half note value w ill be set (instead of simply failing the operation).

Shift Notes The Shift commands can be used to move the selected notes in the follow ing w ays:

Up a staff: notes w ill be moved to the next visible staff above their current staff.

Dow n a staff: notes w ill be moved to the next visible staff below their current staff.

Forw ards: notes w ill be nudged to the right by a small amount.

Backw ards: notes w ill be nudged to the left by a small amount.

In all cases note durations are unchanged.

See the Keyboard Shortcuts for this function.

Synchronise Selected Notes

Allow s the synchronization of selected notes by attack time, duration or both. All notes in the selection w ill take on the appropriate qualities of the first note in the selection (identified w ith a different selection color).

See the Keyboard Shortcuts for this function.

Stems Sets the stems of all selected notes to point up or dow n.

See also Stem Direction in Voices.

See the Keyboard Shortcuts for this function.

Voice Sets all selected notes to Upper Voice, Low er Voice or Single Voice.

See Voices for more information.

See the Keyboard Shortcuts for this function.

Enharmonic Spelling These commands leave the pitch of the selected notes

unchanged, and only alters the w ay the notes are displayed. The various spellings w hich are available (depending on the particular key/pitch):

Double Sharp Sharp

Natural Flat

Double Flat

Note that any accidental in the spelling w ill only be show n if it has not already been displayed on the staff line earlier in the measure (normal notating rules), or if the Show Courtesy Accidental option is enabled (see below ).

See the Keyboard Shortcuts for this function.

Accidental Note accidental commands w ill alter the pitch of the selected note(s).

Accidentals other than courtesy accidentals can only be altered in Edit Mode .

The accidentals w hich are available (depending on the particular key/pitch) are:

Double Sharp Sharp

Natural Flat

Double Flat

Show Courtesy Accidental

With this option enabled, any accidental in the spelling of the note pitch w ill be show n even if it has already been displayed on the staff line earlier in the measure (normal notating rules w ould not repeat the accidental, thus keeping the score uncluttered).

If for example, the entry note is Bb on a staff w ith a key signature of F major, w here all B notes are flat as standard, then no flat accidental w ill be show n to the left of the Bb note unless Show Courtesy Accidental is enabled.

Note that the Show Courtesy Accidentals option in Score Options w ill override any 'per note' courtesy accidental setting, and w ill display accidentals (as appropriate) next to every note.

See the Keyboard Shortcuts for this function.

Ties Disable Tying on Selected Notes (Performance Mode Only) Allow s the enabling or disabling of automatic tying on selected notes. When tying is disabled, even notes w hich should be tied because of their sound duration w ill only be displayed as a single untied note. This option is useful for simplifying the notation in some cases.

This command is no longer available once the score has entered Edit Mode (see Editing a Song for the First Time).

Tie Notes Together (Edit Mode Only)

Ties together (or unties) contiguous selected notes of the same pitch.

To tie two or more notes:

1.All the notes to be tied must be selected (using the mouse or keyboard)

2.The notes must be the same pitch, voice and staff 3.There can be no space (gaps) between them

To remove a tie, select the tied note(s) and reverse the command.

Connecting notes of different pitches (creating slurs) is detailed below in Slurs.

See also Keyboard Shortcuts.

Slurs MidiIllustrator automatically manages the layout of slurs you create in the score.

To create a slur, select the first and last notes in the desired range. Then choose the Create Slur command.

All notes of the same voice in the selected range of staves w ill be considered w hen MidiIllustrator calculates the path of the slur.

Notes of other voices are ignored, allow ing you to have

overlapping slurs in multi-voice passages. Slurs can cross staves.

If slurs cross from one system or page to another system or page, MidiIllustrator w ill automatically calculate the path of the slur around other notation, terminating and restarting the slur as necessary at the end/start of each system.

Any number of slurs can be created from one note over another note, but only one slur can start and end betw een the selected starting and ending notes.

The slur w ill be positioned above or below the range of notes depending on the optimal path. You can force the slur position to either above or below the notes using keyboard shortcuts.

MidiIllustrator w ill try to modify slurs w hen you make changes to the notation how ever if the starting and ending notes are deleted or moved to positions w here a slur cannot be draw n, the slur w ill be automatically deleted.

To remove a slur, select the either the first or last note in the slur range and choose the Delete Slur command.

Connecting notes of the same pitch (creating ties) is detailed above in Ties.

See also Keyboard Shortcuts.

Finger Numbers (Manual and Automatic)

Finger numbers can be assigned to notes and chords in one of three w ays:

Manually using commands in the Notes Menu or w ith Keyboard Shortcuts

Automatically for a selection of notes using commands in the Notes Menu or w ith Keyboard Shortcuts w ithout the need to open the Fingering Analysis dialog

Automatically for the entire score, a range of staves, or a note selection using the Fingering Analysis dialog

Valid finger numbers are from 1 to 5, starting w ith the thumb (1) on each hand through to the pink (5). To assign fingering manually to one or more notes: Select the notes to be updated, and apply the finger command 1-5. To remove any fingering, apply finger command 0.

To assign fingering automatically to one or more notes: Select the notes to be updated and choose an automatic fingering command:

Automatic Fingering

Finger numbers are assigned to selected notes in the context of their position relative to one another and relative to other notes nearby in the score

Automatic Fingering - Ignore Unselected Surrounding Notes Finger numbers are assigned to selected notes in the context of their position relative to one another but ignoring other notes surrounding the selection. This allow s you to set fingering for a particular melody or musical idea w ithout having other notes influence MidiIllustrator's fingering calculations.

You can read more about automatic fingering analysis and how assigning finger numbers enables other MidiIllustrator features

such as Performing Hands.

Delete... Read about the different w ays to remove notes from the score.

Essentially, the typical delete and backspace commands apply to the nearest note at the cursor position (Edit Mode) or to all notes at the cursor position (Performance Mode) w hen the Shift key is depressed w hen deleting.

Note that tie notes and tuplets are treated differently when deleted.

See the Keyboard Shortcuts for this function.

Reset Original Values of Note

Reverses any changes made to selected notes and returns them to their ‘original’ values. ‘Original’ refers to the qualities the note had w hen it w as originally notated from a MIDI file, the ‘raw ’ data.

Note Beams and Custom Beaming

Beams are handled automatically by MidiIllustrator.

Understanding How Instructions are Interpreted Depending on the Current MidiIllustrator 'Mode'

Note: This information only applies to certain versions of the program .

When you make changes to notes individually or as a group, the final result w ill depend on a number of factors; most importantly the current Mode.

In Performance Mode, MidiIllustrator w ill automatically try to present the music as clearly as possible w hen you edit the notation using Notes menu commands. The effect of the note editing commands is tempered by the Transcription Options of the score you are editing.

For instance, if you have opted to simplify the presentation of the music by ‘forcing chords’

or ‘preventing tie notes’ then these presentation guidelines w ill override manual editing changes.

How ever, in Edit Mode, your instructions w ill be follow ed very closely by MidiIllustrator w ith little or no automatic 'correction' or intuitive decision making (for example, automatic selection of voice w hen you alter the length of a note so that it overlaps other notes).

See more about the different MidiIllustrator Modes.

View the Help Contents Page. Visit the MidiIllustrator Website at http://

w w w .MidiIllustrator.com.

2.2.2.2.1 Make Changes Quickly w ith Context Sensitive Menus

Several of the menus w hich appear in the main program menu are usually available as context menus w hich appear at the current mouse position w hen you right-click the mouse on the score, providing easier access to the commands you need most often.

In general, the commands available in the context menu are the same as the commands available in the dynamic menu entries in the main program menu w hich change w ith the state of the score.

For example: if you select a range of notes in your score, the main program menu w ill dynamically show the Notes Menu. Right-clicking one of the notes in the selection w ill also show the notes menu as a context menu at the mouse position. Some extra entries such as clipboard commands may be added to a context menu to help w ith common activities.

View the Help Contents Page. Visit the MidiIllustrator Website at http://

w w w .MidiIllustrator.com.

In document MidiIllustrator User Manual (Page 66-71)