Turning notes into harmonics

You can turn existing notes into artificial and natural harmonics. Harmonics can represent the sounding, touched, or stopped pitch.

Prerequisite

  • You have input the notes you want to turn into harmonics. However, the pitch you should input depends on the harmonic type you want to use.

    • For natural harmonics, we recommend that you input the desired sounding pitch.

    • For artificial harmonics, we recommend that you input the stopped pitch.

  • The lower zone is shown.

  • Properties is selected in the lower zone toolbar.

Procedure

  1. Select the notes you want to turn into harmonics. You can do this in Write mode and Engrave mode.
  2. In the Properties panel, activate Type in the Harmonics group.
  3. Choose one of the following options:
    • Artificial

    • Natural

Result

The selected notes are turned into harmonics of the corresponding type. If the corresponding playback device has dedicated sounds for harmonics, the selected notes automatically use those sounds. The sounding pitch of artificial harmonics in playback is also changed accordingly.

  • Artificial harmonics represent the second partial by default. They are shown with a diamond notehead indicating the touched pitch an octave above the selected notes. On tablature, the stopped fret is shown on the left and the touched fret is shown on the right in parentheses.

  • Natural harmonics represent the sounding pitch by default. They are shown with a circle symbol above the selected notes. On fretted instrument notation staves, natural harmonics appear as black diamond noteheads. On tablature, the fret of the touched pitch is shown, if it can be calculated; if it cannot be calculated, a pink question mark is shown.

Example

The following examples show the default appearances of natural and artificial harmonics on different staves.

Figure 1. Artificial harmonic on notation staff (any instrument)
Figure 2. Artificial harmonic on tablature
Figure 3. Natural harmonic on non-fretted instrument staff
Figure 4. Natural harmonic on fretted instrument notation staff
Figure 5. Natural harmonic on tablature
Figure 6. Natural harmonic on tablature that cannot be calculated

After Completing This Task

You can change the partial for harmonics. You can also change the appearance of natural harmonics and the style of artificial harmonics.

If you want to turn harmonics back into normal notes, deactivate Type in the Harmonics group.