Changing/Adding rest notes.

• Aug 9, 2013 - 19:12

Hi all. Like every other beginner, I'm struggling a little with this whole automated rest note business. It makes sense, but I can't seem to understand how to do this.

My first scenario is, I have two eighth rests side by side, so how do I change that into a quarter rest?

My second scenario is, my initial measure has a whole rest, so how do I add a quarter rest as the first note, a quarter note as the second note, then a half rest as the last. I'm assuming the half rest will be automated for me, but the hard part is actually telling musescore to insert a quarter rest at the beginning.

Along these lines, I see the Rest icon in the Note Entry toolbar, but it's only a quarter rest, and if I click it, nothing happens. So how do I use this toolbar, and can I pin an eighth rest to that toolbar?

I tried reading over the documentation and searching the forums, but I couldn't find the proper article for it, so I apologize for not being a good querier :( Any help would be much appreciated!


Comments

It helps to stop thinking that MsueScore is doing anything "automatically". It does *exactly* what you tell it - nothing more, nothing less. You just have to realize that this means, nothing you do to one note or rest will affect the start positions of any other notes or rests. So, if you have an eight rest you want changed to a quarter rest, simply click it and press the "quarter note" duration icon - or equivalently, press its shortcut (5). Doing this turns the eighth rest into a quarter rest, leaving every single other note in the measure at exactly the same time position it was before - except of course the eighth note that followed it, because it has now been swallowed up by the quarter rest you just created.

Similarly, if you want to insert a quarter rest, simply put your cursor at the place you want it, enter Note Entry mode, and enter the rest exactly how rests are always entered: select duration icon. press rest icon (or use shortcuts).

Perhaps if a symbol other than the actual quater rest symbol was used in the toolbar to indicate that the duration symbol just selected is for a rest, not a note, would help. Maybe something like a person sleeping in a bed or whatever else could indicate a rest.

If you are using a keyboard with numeric pad, my advice is to forget the notes and rest icons altogether and just use the keyboard for entry. Ditto for accidentals, dots, Voices - learn the keyboard shortcuts, hide the Note Entry toolbar and you will have more screen space and enter music more quickly.

To change two eighth-note rests to a quarter-note then you just click on the first rest and press 5.

To enter the other example you mention, click on the whole rest, press 5 0 C 6 0 and then just keep entering your notes and rests in a steady stream.
5 - set duration to a quarter-note
0 - enter a rest instead of a note
C - enter the note C (the duration remains quarter-note until you change it)
6 - set duration to half-note
0 - enter a rest
...and this takes you to the next measure to continue with your note entry.

See the section in the handbook: https://musescore.org/en/handbook/note-input

In reply to by pressefr

Normally you don't need to enter it; it is already there by default. And it reappears if you remove everything else form the measure. But there is also a command to convert any explicitly-entered rests to a measure rest - Ctrl+Shift+Delete (sorry, I originally wrote Ctrl+Delete, which is incorrect).

In reply to by pressefr

If you select a rest on the first beat of the measure and press ctrl+shift+delete the measure will turn into a measure rest. Also, you can usually select the measure and press delete (or del) and the measure will turn into a measure rest. Measure rest is the proper name of the whole rest you are asking about. It looks like a whole rest, but has the value of the measure. I've even seen this used for 12/8 measures, but not always.

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