Editing notes
I am new to this program and cannot work out how to change an existing note or rest. If I have a bar with, say, 4 crotchet notes in it how to I change the bar to have 2 crotchets and a minim. I'm sure the method is simple but I've been through the manuals and can't find any reference to the problem.
Thank you
Paul
Comments
To change the duration of a note or a rest, (1) click on it to select it, and (2) click on the icon on the Note Input Toolbar (near the top of the screen, starting with the capital "N") that represents the desired duration. Alternatively, you can select the note or rest and then use a keyboard shortcut for the new duration (such as, for example, 3 to change to semiquavers).
Note that the selection has to be of an individual note or rest. (For example, you can't select four crotchets of a measure to change all their durations simultaneously to a different value.) This concept extends even to chords: to change the duration of a chord, select just one single note of the chord before assigning the new duration.
To answer your specific question, you would select the third crotchet of the measure and then either (1) click on the minim icon on the Note Input Toolbar or (2) enter the keyboard shortcut 5.
stevebob reply is precise and complete when one wants to change the duration of single note.
In many cases, however, such a change is instrumental to change a small passage, either breaking a single longer note into several smaller or whatever else: in these case, I found the easiest thing is simply to overwrite the notes to correct:
1) Select the first note you want to correct
2) Enter Edit Mode (pressing [N])
3) Write the new version of the passage overwriting what is already there.
4) Remaining in Edit mode, it is possible to move the cursor back or forward with the [Left] and [Right] arrows to edit different points of the same staff.
5) Press [Esc] to exit Edit mode when done.
Please note that MuseScore only has Overwrite mode, no Insert mode exists (borrowing the terms from word processing), so no specific command is required to start overwriting, just write the new version normally.
M.