change note value but keep duration?

Here is a feature I would love (although maybe it's already there and I haven't found it): with my cursor on an eighth note or eighth rest, I press the D key and MuseScore makes it an 1/8 note D regardless of the note duration currently chosen at the top. Then if I move my cursor to the right and that's a quarter note, I press C and MuseScore makes it a quarter note C regardless of the note duration currently chosen at the top. In other words, I'd like a quick way to change the pitch of a series of notes one at a time while leaving their durations alone, maybe by pressing alt or ctrl with the note letter. (I know that shift-letter already does something else.)

Is this possible? I know that I can do it for a single note when not in note entry mode, but when my cursor moves to the next note the selected duration is the one I just entered, and I'd like to easily change the pitch of that next note without affecting its duration if its different from the previous note.