Add staff below active staff. Adds a new staff just below the active staff.
The Staff menu
All of these commands work on the currently active staff.
Add staff below active staff. Adds a new staff just below the active staff.
Duplicate active staff. Adds a new staff that is a duplicate of the active one, including all
its contents.
Delete active staff. Removes the active staff. This is undoable.
Extract an orchestra part for active staff. This creates a new music window and places in
it a copy of the contents of the active staff. It also combines any adjacent whole-measure rests, creating multiple rests as is customary in orchestra
parts. The original staff is left untouched.
Merge another staff with active staff. After choosing this command you'll be asked to
click the mouse anywhere within the lines of the staff you want to merge with the active one. The contents of the other staff will then
be copied into the active staff, combining with the notes already there. This is a good shortcut for creating a multitrack staff.
For a good example, see any of the Bach Chorales in the Songworks music library - we created the keyboard reductions in those windows by merging the
upper two and the lower two staves.
Ideas.
Generate new melody idea with chords. Songworks has a melody generator that is capable of some interesting tune ideas.
If you're feeling lost for inspiration, try using this command repeatedly until something appears that gives you an idea. You can change the nature and
the length of the idea with one of the other commands in this menu: we recommend keeping the ideas fairly short because the computer will tend to wander
from idea to idea anyway (it doesn't know when it really has a good one).
Generate a new melody idea for existing chords. If you have some chord changes in mind, enter them as
chord symbols and let Songworks try coming up with some tune ideas that might go with the chords.
Generate a chord progression. Let Songworks invent just a chord progression and come up with tune ideas yourself.
Invent chords for the current score. There are many different ways to harmonize any melody. Songworks will do its
best to come up with chords that it thinks would work with your tune. Feel free to move chords around afterward, or change them - your tastes may differ. But if the tune
very straightforward you may find that the program comes up with just about the harmony you had expected to hear.
Adapt active staff's melody to fit existing chords. Songworks will leave the rhythm alone, but will try to
modify pitches to better agree with the chord symbols.
Generate new melody using existing rhythm. This one is interesting for its application to lyrics. You can, for
example, use the Record feature with just a single pitch, tapping the rhythm of your lyrics. Then use this command to generate a melody that follows that rhythm.
Melody options... Brings up a window in which you can choose the scale, length, etc. of the melody idea. The clef, key, and
meter will be those of the staff that receives the idea.
Chord options... Allows you to choose from different types of harmonization ideas.
Start recording to active staff. Begins recording in "real time" using the metronome. If the Autonotation Option "Record to
two staves" is on this command will read, "Start recording to active staff and the staff below it." The metronome will begin ticking, and you can use any of the
input methods to play music. When you end the recording by pressing the spacebar, the music will be drawn in the staff. The program decides which notes are for each staff
by checking the "keyboard split" point - notes below that go to the lower staff, notes at or above it go to the upper one. Without the "record to two staves" option everything will go to just
the active staff.
Record new rhythm for active staff's melody. This is useful in particular if you don't know how to write music at all and don't have
sufficient keyboard dexterity to play the tune you have in mind. Or if you want to use a microphone to sing the tune. You can first enter the notes all as plain
quarter notes (or any other note value) and then use this feature to tap out the desired rhythm without any need to be able to also play the correct pitches at the same time.
Autobar active staff. Puts in barlines as needed, and breaks into tied pairs any notes that would cross a barline. This is
not always mathematically possible! If you've accidentally put in a really odd combination of note values you may end up with a long series of tied 32nd-notes, etc. If so, Undo, fix the error, and
try again. If you really want a non standard measure here and there, enter the barlines manually.
Autobeam active staff. Beams together any notes that can be beamed (eighth notes and less). Beaming is done by beat, to keep the
beat structure clear. If you have a series of eighth notes in 4/4 times, for example, they will be beamed two at a time. For more elaborate beaming patterns, do it manually with the
beam tool.
Autostem active staff. Sets the stem directions so that higher notes have their stems down, and lower ones have their stems up. In the case
of a beam group, all the notes of the beam group will follow the direction of the first note. You can manually change that if you desire, using the stem direction tool
and the beam tool.
Autointerpret accidentals of active staff. The keys of the piano can have different names, though it plays the same note in each case. However, the
musical difference between, say, D# and Eb is actually very important. It affects the understanding of the harmony and on certain instruments even can affect the pitch. If you have imported a MIDI file (MIDI files
make no distinction between D# and Eb) or otherwise have entered a melody whose spelling is a mystery to you, this command will attempt to put things right. However, getting it really right for sure
may require some music lessons. Fortunately, most popular melodies confine themselves to the notes of a single scale and if you have the correct key signature this issue will not pop up.
Transpose/Transform. These are useful in composition.
Transpose all or selected (real) with new key signature. A "real" tranposition is an exact one: the tranposed melody sounds exactly like
the original, but begins on a different pitch. When you choose this command you'll be asked to either pick a new key signature, or else pick a new starting note for the
passage. In most cases you'll probably just pick a new starting note, since the most common reason for transposition is to get the melody to an appropriate range
for singing. If you pick a new starting note Songworks will calculate what the new key signature would be and will enter it for you. Like all the other transforms this command
acts on either all the notes in the active staff, or if any are selected just on the selected ones.
Transpose all or selected (real) but no new key signature. This does the same thing as the above command, but without entering a new key signature.
Transpose all or selected (tonal - stays in same key). A "tonal" transposition keeps the direction and shape of the melody, but some intervals
will come out slightly different because it keeps to the notes of the same key. For example, the major third C-E if transposed tonally to begin on D will become a minor third, D-F. Tonal tranposition is a very
common device for varying melodic passages - the listener hears something very similar, but not quite the same.
Invert all or selected (real). Turns the passage "upside down" - an upward major third becomes a downward major third, and so on. Because this is
a "real" transformation it may leave the key.
Invert all or selected (tonal). This turns the passage upside down, but doesn't leave the key. This is, like the tonal tranposition, a common device for
varying a melodic passage while retaining a connection with the original.
Reverse all or selected. Turns the melody pitches around backward ("retrograde"). As with the other transforms, this affects only pitches, not rhythm.
Reverse all or selected, with real inversion. Combines real inversion and reverse. This will leave the key.
Reverse all or selected, with tonal inversion. Combines tonal inversion and reverse. This will take you pretty far from the original melody, yet
there's still a connection.
Set staff transposition. Some instruments are transposing instruments - they sound at a different pitch than is notated. A Bb Clarinet, for example,
will sound the note Bb when reading a written C. An F horn sounds the F below middle C when reading C. Usually in an orchestra score these parts will be written at the transposed pitch, and the conductor just needs
to know when reading them that they are actually going to be heard at a different pitch than is written. If you have a composition in C major that includes a Bb clarinet, you're going to want to write the clarinet's
part in D, so that when the clarinet player reads a D the C will be heard! And you'll want Songworks to understand this so that it plays the part at the tranposed pitch. So if you are writing music that includes staves
for transposing instruments, use this command to set the appropriate transposition interval. You'll find that if you do this Songworks will also help out with note entry: whenever the transposed staff is the
active staff the screen piano will tranpose too, so that you can enter notes the way they sound, and they'll appear on the staff as they should be written. And when you listen to all the parts together you'll hear
them as they would sound when played.
Set staff appearance. You can cause a staff to be drawn with just one line, or with no lines. You can specify that notes will appear with percussion note heads (X)
instead of the normal ones. You can also specify stick notation (stems only) or note heads only (no stems). You can choose to X heads for notes instead of normal note heads (as in percussion notation) or shape notes.
You can also choose whether the staff will stop printing when it runs out of music, or will continue
to be printed on each page even if empty.
Store recorded volume levels in active staff. If you used a MIDI input device to record a tune, this will set the "MIDI volume" (attack velocity) of each note
to match those you played on the MIDI device. MIDI volume is not the same thing as the volume control on an amplifier - it's supposed to represent the speed with which a pianist's fingers strike the key. A higher
attack velocity not only makes the note louder, it also creates a harder, harsher tone on most MIDI playback devices.
Set volume for all or selected notes. Again, what you're setting here is "MIDI volume" unless you are using sampled instruments.
Clear Spreader/Shrinker adjustments in all or selected items. A quick way to clear all such adjustments in a staff.
Define voiceleading in active staff. If you got mixed up when entering music with multiple tracks this gives you a chance to change. This
command is inactive if the staff has only one track anyway.
the track numbers of notes that share a stem with others of the same value.
Hide text controls for active staff. Hides the text handle for the staff.
Show staff instruments. Hides the instrument names at the left of each staff, providing a little more room.
Set default articulation. Notes by default will be played with a little "air" between them. Or you can choose to have them play at exactly their full length.