Violin/Strings Fingering Entry Mode

• Mar 26, 2021 - 18:11

Hello,
I need to enter lots of Violin fingering/shift changes (a number with a circle).
The only way I can find to do this is via drag/drop which i find is slow and error prone.

Could a way be made to 'switch' to Finger entry mode and the numeric keys (0,1,2,3,4) will now allow you to add a Fingering to the selected note. If SHIFT is held down then the fingering would be circled. Pressing the left/right cursor key would then advance to the next note.

Best regards,
Jeff


Comments

First, drag & drop is indeed not very efficient, so it's almost never the best way to enter anything form the palette. It's almost always better to select the note or notes you want to apply a symbol to, then simply click the palette icon.

For fingering, as noted, there is a special method to enter fingerings rapidly by hitting Space to move from note to note then just type. The circles are normally entered via a frame on the number, added via the Inspector. If most of the numbers you will enter are circled, then easiest to just use the Inspector to customize the fingering text style to add the round frame (do it to one, then hit "Set as style".

But, many fonts also include pre-circled numbers you can add via the Special Characters palette (press F2 to display, then Unicode tab, Encloed Alphanumerics block). Edwin doesn't have these but FreeSerif does. You can drag these to your own palette for easy reuse, just click to add it while editing text (e.g., in "fingering mode"). This might be the better choice if some of your fingerings need circles but others don't.

In reply to by Marc Sabatella

Hi Marc,
Firstly may I just say thanks for the reply and it's a pleasure to be part of a project that is truly 'live and kicking'!

I have experimented with your suggestions (finally discovered the special pallet after a while!) but it does not suite my needs exactly. This is because, for me anyway, having to go back and enter the circle 'shifts' is in itself error prone and time consuming and it is more accurate to resort to 'drag drop'.
However, I appreciate that you can never please everyone and that a new feature could break a load of other things accidentally.

Therefore I would like to make my feature request a little more generic, and hopefully of more use to others, thus-
Could it be possible to assign an unused short cut key to a specific pallet entry? i.e. right click on a 'Fingering' entry and choose properties. From the 'Cell Properties' window, add a 'add shortcut' box similar to the existing shortcut method in preferences? This short cut could then be active in note entry mode.

Keep up the good work.
Very best,
Jeff

In reply to by ViolinStudentsParent

Someday we do hope to make it possible to assign shortcuts to individual palette elements.

I suspect, though, that you are misunderstanding something about my suggestion, as actually, what I am suggesting makes it possible to work with mostly shortcuts (eg, cursor keys to select notes) then a simple click to add the fingering. If you attach a sample score and explain in more detail what you are trying to do and how you are currently doing it, we can better explain how to do it more efficiently.

In reply to by Marc Sabatella

Hi Marc,
Thanks for the reply. I understand the method you describe and it is an improvement on what I have been doing. As requested, I will describe as exactly as possible what I am trying to achieve.

Preamble (sorry if this is obvious, I'm just trying to be thorough)-
On stringed instruments, there can be many ways to play the same piece of music.
Violin fingering is particular to each student and teacher i.e. a teacher may adapt fingering to suit a particular student's hand size, skill etc.
On stringed instruments, a circle around the finger number denotes a "shift" i.e. the hand moves to another position. You will note from the attached sample, e.g. Bar 23-24, 39-40 that "shifts" are minimised i.e. generally, you have fewer circled fingering guides than un-circled.
Requirements-
1. During a violin lesson for my daughter, I act as a scribe, taking notes as quickly as possible to assist with practice sessions another time. During these lessons it is quite typical for her teacher to add new fingering. The teacher will work out the fingering note by note, saying 1, 3, 4, 3 shift, 1, 2 etc. And I would mark the notes with 1, 3, 4, (3), 1, 2 and so on. The difficulty here is that I am not quick enough to add the circle to the 3 finger so the only way to remember that the shift was on the 3 is to write it down on paper and add the circle later and that is a particularly error prone part of the process.
2. Sometimes the fingering will change. This will typically be a shift is now made a note or two earlier so all fingering after the new shift becomes invalid and has to be deleted and re-input. It's pretty easy to select a range of notes then 'All similar elements in Range Selection' to delete them. I then proceed with step 1 to input the new fingering.

I hope that explains what I am trying to achieve!

Best,
Jeff

In reply to by ViolinStudentsParent

OK, I see, some fingerings have the circles and some don't. And that you are trying to enter the numbers really fast. Probably the easiest way to do this would be to just device your own shorthand - no need to resort to paper! - like typing 3s to mean circled 3. Then later at your leisure you can go back to fix those.

The problem with a special feature just for this unusual use case is, it would disable the normal function of Shift+3 as a way of entering the # symbol on a US QWERTY key, or whatever else it does on other keyboard layouts. So it makes your case easier but breaks normal typing for everyone else.

That said, if you are on Windows, you can use a program like AutoHotkey to program your own special shortcuts for the enclosed alphanumerics. And if/when MuseScore ever supports custom keyboard shortcuts for individual palette cells, you could add them this way as well. Probably also a plugin could be created and activated by shortcut to add the circle frame to any selected text. So lots of ways that this could eventually be improved, without breaking things for others.

BTW, to select a range of fingerings, easiest is just click one, shift+click another.

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