Situations which require additional techniques

The notes may not always appear in the score as you expect them to, initially. This is because there are a number of situations which require special techniques and settings.

Below you can find a list of some of these and where to find more information about handling them:

  • Notes at the same position are considered to be part of a chord. To get independent voicing notes with different stem directions, such as for vocal material, you need to use the polyphonic voicing feature.

    Figure: Without and with polyphonic voicing

  • If two notes beginning at the same position have different lengths, the longer one is displayed as a number of tied notes. To avoid this, you can either use the No Overlap feature or polyphonic voicing.

  • One note is often displayed as two notes with a tie. Please note that this is merely the way the program displays this note; only a single note is “stored”.

    Figure: This single note in the Key Editor is displayed as two tied notes in the Score Editor.

  • Normally the program adds ties where necessary (if a note stretches over a beat), but not always. For a “modern” notation of syncopated notes (fewer ties) use the Syncopation feature.

    Figure: The same note, without and with syncopation

  • If you find that you want a long note to be displayed as two or more tied notes, you can achieve this with the Cut Notes tool.

  • If two notes on the same position are too close to each other or if you want their order in the part reversed, you can do this without affecting playback.

  • If a note has the wrong accidental, this can be changed.

  • Stem direction and length are automatic, but you can change them manually if you want.

  • If you are scoring for piano, for example, and you need a split staff, there are special techniques for this.