Dotted note entry...

• Jun 1, 2018 - 18:43

Wish list: routine for extended dotted note-pair entry. Automatically toggles value from dotted to not and back. (example: dotted-quarter to eighth, back to dotted-quarter to eighth...ad infinitum). For any natural dotted pair.

This would make dotted jigs, mazurkas, schottisches, etc., much easier!

Example: "Bauer's Favorite Clog" This is a note entry nightmare!

Baur's Favorite Clog.jpg


Comments

This is a perfect place to use MuseScore's Re-Pitch mode. You can enter any dotted 8th 16th notes you want. Select the two notes and press R to duplicate them until the measure is full. Select the measure and press R until your score is full. You can then use the Re-Pitch mode to change the notes. When the rhythms change temporarily, just enter the notes on top of the other notes and the copied rhythm will be replaced.

In reply to by mike320

I just ran across the 're-pitch' mode thing a bit earlier (I watched a video)...but haven't ever tried it, didn't 'connect the dots' to use it for dotted entry.

I have a couple pieces I need to get done tonight that are heavily dotted and I was sweating 'em out. I guess I'm going to get schooled in re-pitch!

Thanks!

In reply to by madsmith

If you're using the keyboard, re-pitch is extremely simple. Press the note name then up if you need a sharp accidental or down for a flat. If you don't have accidentals, just start pressing note names. They're all at the finger tips of your left hand.

FWIW, another way to enter long strings of dotted pairs is to enter them as eighths, then leave note input mode, click the first note, press dot right right dot right right dot right right dot right right etc.

In reply to by mike320

To each his own, of course, but now you've got me wondering as to what you think the age correlation might be. Eg, do you think you are both older than me or younger than me, and why you think that would be relevant (people in certain ranges prefer alternate note input modes to using the cursor keys?). Don't worry, I'm not offended in the slightest, just curious :-).

For the record, I'm 53...

In reply to by Marc Sabatella

I guess you and I are the same age, 53. Maybe I'm just not coordinated enough to do the key sequence you suggested repeatedly without eventually pressing the arrow or dot the wrong number of times. (That's probably why I was never a good Sax or Piano player, but I was a very good Tuba player). A mistake in pressing a dot or arrow could cause the process to be slower than entering the notes and rhythm in one pass, one note at a time. It takes much longer to fix a mistake than it does to do it right.

The most important point in all of this in my opinion is that there are a variety of options available in MuseScore, and each user needs to find the best method to do what he wants to accomplish. Other users may not like this input method at all, but that's no problem, they can enter it using another method. If madsmith said he had a midi keyboard, I would have suggested one of the real-time methods because those seem to be the easiest method for this particular score. As you know, there are other scores where a real-time method would make no sense, such as when there are a lot of tuplets.

In reply to by mike320

LOL, I'm 61...but have been poking in repetitive stuff in other programs for 20 yrs or more. In TablEdit, you have to hit control sequences and then poke the notes around the staff with the up/down key to position it. Ctl + . then up, up, up, up. F4, down, down, down, Ctl + ., etc, etc. I could use the mouse to position the notes but much faster via keyboard entry. Easy to make mistakes, easy to get out of sequence, etc.
With MuseScore, I simply populated the entire score with a dotted sequence of "B" notes (middle line of the staff) and then went for the 2nd most used sequence (a triplet figure) and then to the dotted + 8ths etc. Once I had cut and pasted all the rhythms in, I simply followed your instructions to replace the notes...so easy!

I finished up TAB for my 16 scores yesterday and spent a little time with formatting. This would have taken me weeks in that other program. I did it in MuseScore in just a few days (with y'all's help!).

I am about to undertake a project that will have me converting whole 19C banjo books in to TAB. The only reason I would go for that is that you guys have shown me the easier path!

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