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When we say "quick", we really mean it. Putting music into Noteflight isn't complicated, and there isn't a lot that you need to know to get started. Here's the quick scoop:

• Click the "New Score" button at the top of the page to create a score. Select "Private" for a score that only you can see, or "Public" for a score you intend to share with others.


• Select objects and measures by clicking or dragging. The prelude to doing anything with an object in the score is always to select it. You can select a note, rest, barline or other notations by clicking on it directly: You can also select a measure specific to a part by clicking in a blank space: And you can select a section of the score across all parts by clicking in the measure number bar above the score: You can also select time ranges by clicking and dragging horizontally.


• Enter notes with the mouse by clicking next to the blinking cursor (if you don't see the cursor, click the place where you want it to appear): By holding the mouse down after you click and dragging from side to side, you can change the duration of the new note, making it longer or shorter:

  After entering a note, click buttons in the Editing Palette to adjust it:



• Enter notes with the keyboard using the letters A through G, and the special keys [Space] and [Backspace]. After entering a note, you can adjust it:
  • - + = add a flat, sharp or natural
  • [ or ( makes a note shorter
  • ] or ) makes a note longer
  • , . make ties and dots
  • [Up] and [Down] adjust a note's pitch.


• Add measures by moving the mouse above any measure and clicking one of the (+) icons:


• Delete measures by moving the mouse above any measure and the (-) icon:


• Add parts by moving the mouse to the left of any staff and clicking one of the (+) icons:


• Move notes or measures from side to side by selecting them, then dragging them horizontally and releasing them in the place you want them to appear. For example:


• Use the Sharing panel to publish or share your score with other Noteflight users and on the web.

All changes that you make to the score can be undone and redone, including changes to the set of selected objects or measures. (Undo/redo of selection changes is handy in complex edits since it can take some work to select exactly the things you want). The Edit > Undo and Edit > Redo menu commands perform these important functions. When you pull down the Edit menu, these menu items also show the names of the actions that they will undo or redo if selected: Up to 20 prior changes are maintained in the edit history.

The keyboard shortcuts [Ctrl/Command]-Z and [Ctrl/Command]-Y are also available for these commands.

The current score may be saved using the File > Save command, also accessed by the keyboard shortcut [Ctrl/Command]-S. If there are no changes that need to be saved, this command is disabled.

Scores are saved automatically when you stop working for a while, or after a predetermined time limit. If you try to leave a page with unsaved work, Noteflight asks you to confirm first, in order to avoid losing your changes.

You may save your own copy of any score using the File > Save a Copy command. The new copy will have the same name as the old one, preceded by "Copy of...". It will belong to the same folders as the original score.

Noteflight keeps a record of document copies for purposes of tracking intellectual property rights. When you save a copy, the copy has internal tracking data that identifies the original document.

Documents can be printed with File > Print. This displays a print dialog whose contents depend on what operating system you are using, and what printer you are using.

The File > Page Setup command allows you to choose the paper size and orientation used for your score. Note that this does not force the printer to use the same settings -- you will still have to choose the settings that match the document when you print.

On Mac OS X and Linux, printing is also the best way to convert a score into Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF), by choosing the Save As PDF... option in the print dialog. On Windows, please use one of the various PDF printing options available.

You can add a note in two main ways: by using the mouse, or by using the keyboard. Using the mouse is easier when getting started, but most people find that using the keyboard is far quicker once they learn the ropes.

To add a note with the mouse, select the place where you want the note to appear and move the mouse cursor over the area just to the right of the blinking insertion point (the thin vertical line). As you move the mouse up and down, a gray note head appears under the mouse pointer to show where a note will be placed if you click: Clicking the mouse button then adds the note head to any note or rest at that position. If any single note or rest is already selected when the note was added, the newly added note takes on the time duration of that selected object.

To control the duration of a new note using the mouse, hold the button down after entering it and drag to either side. The cursor will change and its horizontal will start to control the length of the new note. Dragging to the left makes the note shorter; dragging to the right makes it longer:

After you add a note, you can also use the Editing Palette to adjust it:

At any point, you can drag one or more selected notes vertically with the mouse to change its pitch. Dragging moves all notes one staff line or space at a time (diatonic transposition).

You can also drag one or more selected notes from side to side with the mouse to change where they fall rhythmically within the bar. While you are dragging, the cursor will change to a small note and an orange bar or gray outline will travel with the mouse to show where the selected notes will be placed when the mouse button is released:

To add a note with the keyboard, select the place where you want the note to appear and type a note name (A through G). The note will be added to the location following the blinking insertion point (a new note will be created if there is no note there already), and the insertion point will move ahead to the next note. Type several note names in sequence to enter the successive notes of a melody. Use the [Shift] key to add more notes to the same location, forming a chord.

The following keys are generally useful for keyboard entry:

• Delete (on Windows, Backspace) deletes the current selection and moves the insertion point backwards.
• Left and Right move the insertion point one note to the left or right, also moving the selection if needed.
• Space inserts a rest instead of a note and moves the insertion point ahead.
• R repeats the last-entered note with the same duration.

Newly entered notes are always added at the pitch nearest the last note entered, with no accidentals. You will often need to adjust a note after it is typed. As you type, or after selecting some set of notes, use the following important keys to adjust the pitch of each selected note:

• Up and Down transpose the note up or down by a staff line or space at a time respecting the key signature and accidentals in effect.
• [Shift]-Up and [Shift]-Down transpose selected notes up or down by a chromatic step, adding sharps or flats as needed. Sharps are preferred when transposing up, flats when transposing down. If you don't get the accidental you want, transpose one extra half-step and then come back in the opposite direction.
• [Ctrl]-Up and [Ctrl]-Down transpose the note up or down one octave.
• The -, +, and = keys toggle a flat, sharp or natural respectively.
• The _ and * keys supply a double flat or sharp.

Also use these important keys to adjust the duration of each selected note:

• The [ and ] keys (also ( and )) make the note shorter or longer respectively.
• The , key toggles a tie on the selected note.
• The . key toggles an augmentation dot.

Noteflight Crescendo supports MIDI controller entry of notes, using the separate Noteflight MIDI Adapter program. Click here to go to the Noteflight MIDI Adapter download page.

When the Noteflight MIDI Adapter is running you can enter notes into any Noteflight score using the MIDI controller, any time that you would use the mouse or computer keyboard to put in notes. Click the measure or note where you want the notes to appear, then just start using your controller.

If no location is selected in the Noteflight score, Noteflight will simply play the notes it receives from the MIDI controller. This is useful for trying out ideas before entering them.

One convenient way to enter music into Noteflight with MIDI is to place one hand on the computer keyboard and use the other hand to play notes on the MIDI controller. You can then enter notes with MIDI, and alter the rhythm using Noteflight's keyboard shortcuts. Here are some of the most useful shortcuts:

Noteflight also supplies some convenient MIDI shortcuts that give you the ability to control rhythm using the MIDI controller only:

Selecting music is one of the most important operations in Noteflight, because it is the prelude to many other kinds of editing that affect the score. Understanding how selection works is fundamental to using the capabilities of the Score Editor.

Whenever you have a selection, you can use any of a wide variety of commands that affect the selection. Commands that operate on individual notes or objects (like deletion or transposition) will affect every object that is within the selection. Commands that operate on ranges of measures like Change Time Signature works against the measures that encompass the selection. And commands that affect the structure of the score like Cut, Copy and Paste will operate in different ways depending on the kind of selection you are working with (see below).

There are three different ways to select parts of a Noteflight score so that you can apply other operations to them afterwards:

Object selections contain one or more notations like notes, rests, barlines or chord symbols. After making this kind of selection, the next editing action (like transposition or deletion) is applied to each object that is selected.

Very often there is only one selected object, the new note or other symbol that you just created by clicking or typing. In this case, you will not need to select it before editing it, since it already is selected.

You can select objects by simply clicking them with the mouse: When the mouse is over an object that can be selected in this way, it "glows" a little bit and the mouse cursor changes to a pointing hand.

For selecting several different objects, use the [Ctrl/Command] key while clicking to toggle individual objects' selected state on or off: Double clicking a chord selects the entire chord.

After you have selected more than one object, any editing action will apply to all the selected objects. For example, using the Editing Palette's "sharp" function on the above selection will yield this result:

Note: the Left and Right keys provide a quick way to select the object to the left or right of the current selection.

Score selections are defined as a range of one or more measures in the score. Use a score selection for applying actions to an entire section of the score, and also to insert or remove sections of the score itself. Deleting a score selection removes part of the score entirely without leaving a gap, while pasting a score selection splices a new section of score in between two existing measures. A score selection always begins and ends at a bar line.

You can make score selections by clicking the numbered "measure markers" that appear above each measure when one's mouse is over a system: Clicking in a measure marker and then dragging horizontally selects a range of the score, rather than a single measure. Double-clicking any measure marker selects the entire score.

You may also [Shift]-click a measure-marker to extend a score selection in some direction.

Staff selections are defined in terms of a time range rather than as a collection of separate objects. A staff selection's starting point lies on some note within a bar, and ends on some later note within that bar or a subsequent one. Additionally, staff selections (as their name suggests) apply to some set of selected staves, for the duration of their time range. Staff selections are good for apply some edit to all notes that lie in a particular time range on some set of staves, or erasing a time range in the score. Copying and pasting a staff selection is the best way to copy music from one staff (or set of staves) to another.

You can make staff selections by clicking in the staff within any measure, away from any notes or other objects: Clicking in the staff and then dragging horizontally selects a range of measures on that staff, rather than a single measure.

To select an entire staff throughout the whole score, you can also click the gray "staff marker" that appears to the left of the starting point of each staff: Double clicking in any staff also selects that entire staff .

[Shift]-clicking measures or objects can be used to extend the time range or staff range of an existing selection:

Note: the [Shift]-Left and [Shift]-Right keys provide a quick way to extend the current selection into a staff selection that is one object longer or one object shorter.

At any point, you can drag a score or staff selection with the mouse to another place in the score. This operation can move the selected music forwards and backwards in time (if you drag from side to side) and can also move music from one staff to another (if you drag up and down).

The first step in dragging a selection is, of course, to select something! Once you've done that, place the mouse over the highlighted region, hold down the mouse button and start dragging. What happens next depends on what kind of selection you made.

If you selected a single object, then an orange bar will travel with the mouse to show where the dropped object will go:

If you made a staff selection or a multiple object selection, then a rectangular outline will travel with the mouse to show where the dropped music will go. Dragging horizontally will move the music to a new place in the score, but keep the part(s) the same:

If you select music within a single staff, you can move selected music from one staff to another by dragging vertically:

If you make a score selection, you can drag an entire section of the score horizontally to rearrange entire measures or groups of measures. While dragging, an orange bar in the measure-number area above the score shows where the dropped material will go:

You can also drag one or more selected notes from side to side with the mouse to change where they fall rhythmically within the bar. While you are dragging, the cursor will change to a small note and an orange bar or gray outline will travel with the mouse to show where the selected notes will be placed when the mouse button is released:

Holding down the [Ctrl/Command] key while doing this drags a copy of the selected notes and leaves the original in place. The cursor looks different in this case:

Of course, sometimes you don't want anything selected at all. You can always clear the selection by clicking in the white space outside of any staves, or typing the [Esc] key.

Sometimes you want to apply a specific operation to only a subset of the objects in some range of the score: perhaps only the notes, or only chord symbols. If so, then the Filter Selection command on the Edit menu is your friend. It offers you the ability to narrow the current selection to include only certain kinds of objects:

• Only notes
• Only objects in the upper voice
• Only objects in the lower voice
• Only chord symbols
• Only performance text
• Only expression text
• Only slurs and lines

Once selected, a note, chord or rest or other notation can be manipulated with the editing palette. This palette is only shown when there are one or more objects. Its contents depend on what kind of objects are selected. The palette moves around to position itself near the first selected object, but you can move it yourself to any location you like.

When one or more notes are selected, the palette has two parts: the Basic Palette and a set of Advanced Palettes. Normally the Advanced palettes are closed, and the Basic palette is shown by itself:

Editing actions available from the Basic palette include:

	Sharps, flats and naturals
	Rhythm duration changes
	Addition of lyrics, text, expression/dynamics or chord symbols
	Fermatas, augmentation dots and ties
	Deleting selected objects

Clicking on any of the tabs at the bottom of the Basic palette allows you to choose an Advanced palette to work with. We'll describe these Advanced palettes one at a time.

Select notes or chords prior to clicking the actions on this palette, which include:

	These buttons add an articulation symbol to the selected notes including accents, bowing and open/closed.
	The Slash symbol converts the selection to use a slash notehead and advances the note entry cursor. The / key is a shortcut for this action.
	The Segno symbol adds a segno symbol to the musical form at the current selection.
	The Coda symbol adds a coda symbol to the musical form at the current selection.
	The Repeat Ending symbol adds a repeat ending to the musical form at the current selection. You can double-click the number to edit it. Multiple numbers separated by commas are allowed.
	This button adds system text at the current selection. System text is like regular text, except that it is associated with all parts in a measure, and it always appears above the topmost part in the score. The [Shift]-T key is a shortcut for this action.
	This button toggles the currently selected note between a plain note and a double-dotted note (one and three-quarters of the length that the note would have without the double-dot).
	This button creates a caesura on the selected note, used to denote a substantial pause in the music.
	This button creates a breath mark on the selected note, used to denote a pause where the performer draws breath or pauses briefly.
	This button adds, modifies or removes an arpeggio on the currently selected chord. Arpeggios may be notated without an arrow (in which case they are played upwards) or with an arrow going up or down. Noteflight does not currently support cross-staff arpeggios in keyboard music.
	These buttons add/remove a mordent or inverted mordent. Noteflight does not play mordents, but they are commonly performed as a short two-note trill above or below the main note respectively.
	These buttons add, modify or remove a turn or inverted turn. Clicking once adds a regular turn, while clicking again converts it into a delayed turn that is performed a short time interval into the note. Clicking a third time removes the turn. Noteflight does not play these ornaments.

Select notes or rests prior to clicking the actions on palette, which include:

	A full range of note shapes, including some without stems.
	The Cue icon allows you to toggle the size of notes or rests to a smaller size used for parts that indicate what some other instrument is playing, called a "cue".
	The Stems Up and Stems Down icons allow you to toggle the direction of note stems to force them to always go up or always go down, instead of being automatically positioned by Noteflight.

Actions available from this palette affect a range of music in a staff, usually more than a single note. Select the range of music you want to affect by dragging, selecting measures, or shift-clicking before choosing from the following:

	Hairpin dynamics for crescendo and diminuendo
	Slurs
	Trills
	Multiple Measure Rests
	Lines representing ranges of music for crescendo (cresc.), diminuendo (dim.), accelerando (accel.), ritardando (rit.) and let vibrate (l.v.)
	A wavy line indicating vibrato.
	Lines that cause the music to be sounded one octave lower (8vb) or higher (8va) than written.
	Pedal notation permitting all notes to ring indefinitely.
	General purpose dashed or solid lines.
	General purpose brackets.

Once you create a line, you can select it and drag either end back and forth to control its length and position. Some lines like hairpins and slurs can be placed at an angle, while others are always straight.

Actions available from this palette affect the pitch or rhythm of notes:

	Double accidentals
	Number of tremolo lines
	Control over beaming in either direction (see Working With Beams)
	Grace notes and appoggiaturas (see Grace Notes)
	Creates a new double-note tremolo starting with the currently selected note
	Creates a special tie coming into notes that are at the beginning of a repeat ending or coda.
	Creates a glissando starting on the given note.

Actions available from this palette are used on guitar tablature staves:

	Connect this note to a following note on the same fret, via a bend or release. The keyboard shortcut ~ (tilde) also works for this purpose.
	Connect this note to a following note on the same fret, via a slide. The keyboard shortcut \ (backslash) also works.
	Apply a hammer-on or pull-off slur between selected notes, or to a selected note and the following note
	Apply palm muting to a range of selected notes
	Let a range of selected notes ring freely
	Apply a quarter-tone alteration to selected notes
	Play selected notes by tapping the strings
	Indicate that a given note or chord is to be picked or strummed in a Down or Up direction.

Actions available from this palette are used to apply colors to notational symbols, or to hide them:

	Apply a color to the set of selected notations.
	Hide the selected notes or symbols. Think of this as a "transparent color". You can restore hidden symbols to visibility by changing their color to black, or any other opaque color.

The Edit menu contains the all-important triad of commands Cut, Copy and Paste (with keyboard shortcuts [Ctrl/Command]-X, [Ctrl/Command]-C and [Ctrl/Command]-V respectively). These commands allow selected music to be copied or removed from one location and placed or inserted into another.

Cut and Copy place the selected music into an invisible "clipboard". Once that has been done, a different selection can be made, at which point the Paste command may be used to insert the contents of that clipboard at the starting point of the selection.

Cut and Copy completely replace the former contents of the clipboard.

Paste inserts the clipboard contents into the score, usually at a different location from where Cut or Copy were previously used. The way in which Paste works depends on the type of selection that was in effect when the clipboard was created.

If the clipboard was created from a Score Selection, then the pasted bars are inserted into the score just prior to the first bar in the selection. Existing bars are moved over to make room for the pasted measures; nothing is erased.

If the clipboard was created from an Object or a Staff Selection, then it can be thought of almost as a "recording" of the selected music. The Paste command overlays this "recording" on top of the selected staves, beginning at the starting point of the selection. First any existing music that would be overlaid by the pasted material is removed, and the score is extended with additional measures as needed. Then the pasted music is placed into this freshly cleared area, without changing any of the existing barlines, key signatures or time signatures. If the new material has a different relationship to the barlines than the original, it is re-beamed and notes may be broken up and tied across barlines to preserve their rhythmic values.

If the clipboard was created from a staff selection, it must be pasted into the same number of staves that it was cut or copied from (although they can be different staves of course!).

A special case of using Copy and Paste is when a section of music is to be repeated, possibly with some modification. Repeated music is very common, ranging from a single note to a melodic theme to entire sections of the score.

To make this operation easier, there is a special Edit > Repeat command (shortcut key R) which duplicates the selection and immediately pastes a copy of the selection after itself, without affecting the contents of the clipboard.

To change the key of one or more notes in your score, select some music and use one of the entries on the Edit > Transpose menu, which offers a number of options:

• Up Scale Step and Down Scale Step (shortcuts: Up and Down). Move the selected notes up or down by one staff position, using the current key signature. This type of transposition is most useful for music with no accidentals.
• Up Half Step and Down Half Step (shortcuts: [Shift]-Up and [Shift]-Down). Transpose the selected notes up or down by a chromatic step adding sharps or flats as needed. Sharps are preferred when transposing up, flats when transposing down. If you don't get the accidental you want, transpose one extra half-step and then come back in the opposite direction.
• Up Octave and Down Octave (shortcuts: [Ctrl]-Up and [Ctrl]-Down). Transpose the selected notes up or down one octave.
• Up Interval and Down Interval. Transpose the selected notes up or down by the interval that you choose. This is the only transposition command which will affect the key of selected chord symbols.

The Edit > Enharmonic Change command will "flip" the accidentals of all selected notes, changing sharps to flats and vice versa, without changing the pitch of the notes. It is very useful when correcting notes imported from MIDI.

You can add a new measure to the score by selecting a measure and clicking one of the "+" icons that appears to the left or right of its measure marker; this adds a new measure before or after the selected measure respectively:

Another way to add measures is to make a score selection, use the Cut or Copy command, and then use Paste to insert the score selection after the measure containing the current selection.

Yet another way to add measures is to make a score selection and use the Repeat command to duplicate it. The new copy is placed directly after the original.

To delete one or more measures from the score, create a score selection by clicking a numbered measure marker, then Shift-click elsewhere in the score to extend the selection to more measures if needed. Then press the [Delete] key, or use the Edit > Delete menu item.

To clear out the contents of a measure without removing it from the score, create a staff selection by clicking in the staff area of a measure and using Shift-click in another staff area to extend the selection if desired. Then press the [Delete] key, or use the Edit > Delete menu item.

To add a new part to the score above or below any existing staff, move your mouse to the left of any staff and click one of the "+" icons that appears: A popup is then displayed allowing you to choose a new instrument sound:

You may select any instrument and click the Play button to hear what it sounds like. Clicking OK inserts the selected instrument as a new part at the requested position. (Note that in the free version of Noteflight, choices are limited to the Basic tab of instruments.)

Some instruments such as the piano will add two staves to the score, both of which belong to the same instrument. This is known as a grand staff, denoted with braces.

The same popup displays controls that affect the key of a transposing instrument. There are three such controls:

• Instrument key selects the key in which the instrument actually sounds (if the instrument's key is Bb, then a C on the instrument produces a Bb in concert pitch). These transpositions are conventionally below concert pitch, not above it.
• Instrument octave supplies a number of octaves by which the instrument's actual sound differs from concert pitch, in addition to the transposition defined by the instrument key.
• Score octave supplies a number of octaves that the score itself will be shifted relative to the instrument's actual sound. Unlike the instrument octave, the score octave is always applied regardless of the current Transpose parts setting.

Other controls available on this dialog include:

• Name gives the full name of this part, as shown in the label to the left of the first system.
• Abbreviation gives the abbreviated name of this part, as shown in labels to the left of systems after the first one.
• Break barlines below part causes barlines across the whole system to include a break after this part. This is commonly used in vocal parts, or on the bottom part of a "choir" of parts for a related group of instruments.
• Use instrument name causes changes in instrument selection to reset the part name to the same as the instrument's name.

Basic and Crescendo Instruments

There are two collections of instruments available: Basic and Crescendo. The Basic collection contains a small number of instruments drawn from public domain samples, while the Crescendo collection contains licensed samples of over 50 professionally recorded sounds covering a wide range of instrument families. Users of the free edition may only create and edit scores with the Basic collection, while users with a Crescendo subscription can create and edit scores with the expanded Crescendo collection.

A score is always played back using the instruments it was created with. For example, if you create a score using Crescendo and share it with other users, they will hear the music with the Crescendo instruments, even if those users are not Crescendo subscribers.

However, if you share a Crescendo score for editing purposes, users with non-Crescendo accounts who edit the score can only use the Basic instrument set to make changes. Likewise, when a non-Crescendo user saves a copy of a Crescendo score, the score is converted to use Basic instruments.

In score listing pages, Crescendo scores are distinguished by the yellow Noteflight Crescendo icon:

To change the instrument for a set of staves, select the staves to be affected and select Staff > Change Instrument... from the menu. If you select multiple adjacent staves and change their instrument, you'll get a grand staff-type brace to show that these all belong to the same instrument.

To remove a part from the score, select an entire staff by clicking the "staff marker" to its left or double-clicking one of its measures, then press the Delete key or select Delete from the Edit menu. Note that you cannot remove all parts from a score; at least one part must remain.

Part names are supported in both long and short form. The long form is only used on the first system in the score. You can edit any part name by clicking in it and typing. The display of part names is optional and can be toggled using the View > Show Part Names menu item.

The name of a part has nothing to do with its sound. You can name a part completely differently from its sound; likewise, changing a part name won't make it sound different; use the Change Instrument command for that!

Some parts are for transposing instruments, whose parts are written with notes at some fixed interval from concert pitch. Noteflight can optionally show these parts at their transposed pitch, so that they can be read directly off the chart by performers without having to transpose from concert pitch. Noteflight scores can even be edited in this mode, using transposed note names and accidentals. In the following transposed view, the clarinet part is transposed to the instrument's key of A, yielding a different key signature from the other parts:

To view all such parts at their transposed pitch instead of concert pitch, toggle the View > Use Concert Pitch menu item off, or click the Concert pitch checkbox on the toolbar at the bottom of the screen: This setting is saved along with your score, although anyone viewing the score is free to change it (much as with the zoom scale)

The "Drum Kit" instrument uses a 5-line percussion staff with a fixed set of assignments from staff lines to drum sounds. With this staff, stems are forced up or down to correspond to parts of the kit that are played with the hands and feet respectively; also, note head styles are defaulted appropriately for cymbals.

Single-line and two- or three-line staves for orchestral percussion are not yet supported but are planned features.

Noteflight Crescendo allows you to work with individual parts, allowing you to print or edit one part at a time even when your score contains multiple parts. You can also work with any other combination of parts from within a score. This feature is sometimes called "part extraction".

A popup is displayed when you click the icon on the bottom toolbar. This popup allows you to pick which parts you want to show and hide:

The checkboxes next to each part determine whether that part is displayed in the score, or in a printed copy. Clicking the Individual button for a part causes that part alone to be displayed, hiding all the others. The Print Individual Parts... button is a special convenient shortcut that prints each part in the score, transposed for its instrument, on a separate set of pages (a command with the same function is also available on the File menu). The Show All button resets the display to show all parts in the score again.

Parts are shown on the screen in concert or in transposed pitch depending on whether or not the Concert Pitch button is checked. If you want to view or edit parts in the keys of transposing instruments, be sure to uncheck this option.

This feature is useful in a number of situations:

• Printing out parts for multiple players in an ensemble piece. If you are writing a string quartet, for instance, you might want to print out four parts: Violin I, Violin II, Viola and Cello, without changing your score in any way. The Print All Individual Parts command is particularly useful for this case.
• Updating and re-printing a single player's part after you change it.
• Editing a set of one or more related parts without the visual clutter of the other parts. For example, you might want to view or print just the reed section of a band arrangement.

Whenever individual parts are selected for viewing, a special group of Document Layout settings is used: the Parts tab. This is useful because individual parts are generally shown with a larger staff size than ensemble scores; also, the system breaks from the ensemble score generally are not useful in an individual part. See the description of the Document Layout command for more information.

The feature works for any score, whether or not it has was created with Noteflight Crescendo. Note that the set of parts that have been selected for display is not saved with a score. To prevent confusion, whenever you open a score, all the parts will be displayed.

Creating a New Tablature Part

Crescendo includes a number of guitar and bass instruments that can be used in both standard and tablature notation. For these instruments, tablature notation can be selected in the instruments dialog by picking the instrument with the word "(Tab)" after it:

Currently only the standard tuning of these instruments is available. Future versions of Crescendo will support alternate tunings.

How Tablature Is Displayed

Noteflight can show tablature in two ways. By default, Noteflight shows rhythmic information like stems, flags, rests, ties, beams and dots:

This makes editing simple because notes in a tab staff work a lot like notes in a regular staff. Noteflight can also leave this information out, which results in a more traditional style of tab that is easier to read but which does not communicate the rhythm of the music:

You can switch between these modes by using the View > Show Guitar Tab Rhythm menu command. Our suggestion is that you create and edit your tab music with the rhythm displayed, since it gives the most complete information about your music and makes editing simpler and clearer. You can turn it off later when you are finished editing, if you prefer not to show the rhythmic information to people viewing the score.

Putting Music into a Tablature Staff

There are two ways to create music in a tab staff: you can enter it directly into the tab staff using the mouse and keyboard, or you can copy and paste music from a regular staff into a tab staff (drag/drop works too).

Direct note entry. Entering the music directly requires that you specify the string and fret number for each note. The first step is to create an open string note ("fret 0") on the string of your choice, at the place in the measure where you want it. You can do this with the mouse by hovering over the string where you want the note to appear, and then clicking:

The keys F1 through F6 and A through F also work in the same way, causing a new open-string note to appear on the corresponding string number.

Dragging the note up and down will increase or decrease the fret number. You can also simply type the fret position using the number keys on the keyboard:

You can create chords by repeatedly clicking with the mouse in the same place and entering the notes in the chord, or by using the [Shift]-F1 through [Shift]-F6 keys ([Shift]-A through [Shift]-F also work):

Copying between regular and tab staves. This method is a good way to enter a tab part if you already have the music in regular notation, or if you are more comfortable editing on a regular staff. You can simply use the Copy/Cut/Paste functions to move the music, or you can select and drag music from a regular staff to a tab staff:

When you copy music from a regular staff, Noteflight will automatically pick strings and frets for the copied notes, using a simple automatic method. While this method is predictable, it does not always produce a correct result: the music will usually require some manual adjustment to strings and fret positions. See below for more information on editing notes, strings and frets in tab notation.

You can also copy music in the other direction: from tablature to regular staff. In some cases you will find that notes are not "spelled" correctly after such an operation because when you enter a note on a tab staff, Noteflight can't tell what regular staff line the note belongs to.

As you can see from the above example, the result is two staves with the same music; one in tablature and one in conventional music notation. This is often a helpful choice when preparing parts for performers with different kinds of music-reading skills.

Changing Frets, Strings and Octaves

There are two important ways of editing tablature music in Noteflight. One way is to make notes higher or lower in pitch by changing their fret number. The other way is to move notes to a higher or lower string on the instruments, while keeping each note's pitch the same.

Changing frets. The Up and Down arrow keys will move all selected notes up or down by a single fret. Dragging selected notes vertically does the same. If only a single note is selected, you can also simply type the fret number that you want. Transposing a note too low to play it on the given string will cause a regular round notehead to be displayed instead of a fret number.

Changing strings. The [Shift]-Up and [Shift]-Down arrow keys will move all selected notes up or down by one string, adjusting the fret of each note to keep its pitch the same. This is a very valuable tool for adjusting the fingering and hand position used to play a given set of notes on a fretboard instrument. For example, here are two passages containing the same notes. The second passage has exactly the same pitches as the first, but played on lower strings and in a higher position on the neck:

As with fret changes, if you move a note to a string that is too high in pitch to play it, a round notehead will be displayed instead of a fret number.

Changing octaves. The [Ctrl/Command]-Up and [Ctrl/Command]-Down keys will move all selected notes up or down by an octave. Together with changing frets and strings, this operation can be very useful in arranging parts for guitar and bass.

Working with Bends, Releases and Slides

One of the most important aspects of guitar and bass tabs is the ability to notate bends, releases and slides that apply to one or more notes played in succession on a single string. Noteflight makes it easy to work with these notations, by treating them just like ties.

To notate a bend, release, or slide involves several steps. You can perform them in any order you like:

1. Create a sequence of notes on a single string representing all the "rhythmic points" in a bend, release or slide: all the places where the bending or sliding will start, stop or change direction. You don't have to worry about pitch at this point.
2. Select each note that is the starting point of a bend, release or slide. Use the appropriate tool on the Guitar Tablature Palette to choose the way that this note connects to the next note.
3. Adjust the pitch of each note to the pitch that you want to bend, release or slide to at that point in the music.

Let's see how this works in more detail with a couple of examples.

Creating a sequence of notes in a bend/release. Here we see a sequence of notes on a string that will make up a bend from an initial note to a higher pitch, then release back again. The notes are initially all the same, but this is just a starting point for defining the bend.

Next, select the initial note, which will be bent to the second note. Use the button on the Guitar Tab Palette to apply the bend. A dotted line will appear connecting the first note to the second note. It's not a bend yet, but that's coming shortly:

Now, click and select the note that is being bent to -- in this case, the middle note of our sequence -- and adjust its pitch upwards. The [Up Arrow] key will work nicely for this purpose:

To add a release (if that's what you want), apply another bend/release to the middle note of the sequence, so that it will release to the last note which is lower. (The same tool works for bend and release -- the only difference is the direction in which the pitch changes.)

Doing exactly the same thing with the slide action results in a slide between the notes, rather than a bend:

Other Tablature Editing Features

Muted notes may be indicated by using the cross ("x") notehead from the Note Heads Palette.

Please see the description of the Guitar Tablature Palette for more information on symbols applying to guitar tablature such as lines, palm muting/let ring lines, taps and pick/strum direction.

A number of important functions are available on the Editing Palette when you select a Barline:

• Add system text above the barline
• Change the style of the selected barline
• Specify the start or end of a repeat
• Specify system or page breaks to format the score

To change the barline style, click one of the style icons on the editing palette with the barline selected. The dashed line specifies an invisible barline. (An invisible barline can be hard to select again, but it is possible -- you'll know it when you see the barline palette reappear!)

To cause a repeat to start or end at the given barline, click either of the two repeat icons on the editing palette. Each icon independently toggles the corresponding type of repeat (start or end); a barline may simultaneously start and end a repeat. The type of barline is forced to the appropriate appearance by whatever combination of repeats applies, ignoring any specific style that you may have set earlier.

(To start a repeat on the first bar of a score, you currently have to add an extra bar at the beginning, place the start of a repeat on what is now the barline before bar 2, and then delete the temporary bar 1.)

You can affect the number of times a repeated section is played by including a direction like Play 3 Times, Repeat 2 Times or 3x as text within the repeat.

Numbered Repeat endings

To create a repeat ending in a measure, use the Repeat Ending button on the Symbols Palette, then double-click to edit the number. It will automatically be formatted to look like this:

You can format this number in different ways, including combining multiple ending numbers with commas (for lists) and hyphens (for ranges). Here are some examples:

• 1.
• 2.
• 1,2.
• 1,2,3.
• 1-3.

Musical Form Directions

The segno and coda symbols can be added from the Symbols Palette. Placing these symbols into the document will affect playback, in conjunction with Performance or System Text containing directions such as "D.C. Al Coda" or "D.S. Al Fine", and so on.

Performance or System Text can also refer to elements of the musical form, and Noteflight will understand these correctly and play them back properly. Supported elements include:

• Repeat (number) times
• Play (number) times
• (number)x
• To Coda
• Coda
• Fine
• D.S. or D.C.
• D.S. or D.C. Al Fine
• D.S. or D.C. Al Coda
• D.C. Al Segno

To use a coda or segno symbol in Performance or System Text, you may include the special sequences {coda} or {segno}.

To use an accidental in Performance or System Text, you may include the special sequences {sharp}, {natural}, {flat}, {double sharp} or {double flat}. Also, key names like Ab (A flat), G# (G sharp) or F= (F natural) will be automatically formatted to use the corresponding accidentals, just like with chord symbols.

To use a note value in Performance or System Text, include the sequences {sixteenth}, {eighth}, {quarter}, {half} or {whole}. The word "dotted" can be included before the note value, for example {dotted quarter}.

To cause a line or page break, click either of these two icons on the editing palette. Clicking an icon when the break already is in place removes it.

Adding line and page breaks is frequent enough that there are some keyboard shortcuts available. To force the next measure to start on a new system, select anything in the preceding measure (including the barline at its end) and hit the [Enter] key. To force the next measure to start on a fresh page, use [Shift]-[Enter] instead.

Sometimes when creating sequences of musical examples a system or page break separates sections of music that do not belong to the same piece. In this case it is desirable to hide the "cautionary" changes in time signature, key signature or clef that are usually shown at the end of a system. Clicking this icon on the editing palette, or using the Score > Hide/Show Cautionaries menu command, will hide or show such cautionary changes. The [Ctrl]-[Enter] keyboard shortcut also works.

Barline breaks cause a particular part's barlines to stop at the bottom staff line without crossing the gap to the next part below it. This is desirable for vocal parts and also to create visual groupings of parts for brass, strings, etc.

To add a barline break, select measures in any number of parts that should receive a barline break use the Staff > Add/Remove Barline Breaks menu command.

In some cases you may wish to change the visual width taken up by a particular measure in the score for reasons of clarity or aesthetics. Noteflight determines the width of any given measure using a complex set of calculations, but you can "inflate" or "deflate" the result of these calculations by manually adjusting this width.

To do so, simply drag a measure's ending barline from side to side. This adjusts the measure's width and causes the measure to take up proportionally more or less room in the score layout.

In the special case of dragging the last barline in the score, this causes the last line of the score to become shorter or longer. This is useful when the last line contains only one or two measures.

Once you have made such changes to a measure, they will persist. You may remove a custom width setting for some measure by selecting the measure and using the View > Reset Measure Layout command.

Sometimes it's desirable to hide entire staves from systems, most often for silent passages when an instrument or part doesn't play anything for some length of time. To do this in Noteflight, select a range of measures and use the Staff > Hide/Show Measures command. When all of a staff's measures are hidden in this way and there are other staves on a system, the "hideable" staff will disappear entirely. Staves that contain a mixture of hidden and non-hidden measures will display normally, although in an editing view the hidden measures will be shown as gray as a reminder that they are eligible for hiding.

To change an existing key signature, click it. To apply a key signature to the entire score, use the Staff > Change Key Signature... command. (If you only want to affect a range of measures, select those measures first.) A dialog allows you to specify the new key signature in terms of sharps or flats to apply to the selected range, and to also say what scale you are using:

The labels under each choice give the name of the key for the scale that is selected, which by default is Major. Change the scale to another choice such as Minor or Lydian and the labels will change accordingly.

There is one special button labeled ?, which means a key signature with no accidentals and no specified key. This key signature is considered atonal, and will have no accidentals even in a transposed score.

To change a key signature and all the bars following it up to the next key change, or the end of the score, simply click the key signature to edit it.

To change an existing time signature, click it. To apply a time signature to the entire score, use the Staff > Change Time Signature... menu command. (If you only want to affect a range of measures, select those measures first).

A dialog then appears which allows you to specify the new meter to apply to the selected range:

Clicking the common time or cut time symbol buttons on the right allows you to specify these symbols to be used for the time signature instead of the normal number fraction form. When selected, these automatically force time signatures of 4/4 and 2/2 respectively.

There are three modes for time signature changes:

• Normal (the default): the time signature in the selected measures is changed to the specified number and type of beat, and the visible time signature is adjusted to reflect the change.
• Pickup: a single pickup bar is created with the specified number and type of beats, and contains the portion of the selected music immediately preceding the last barline in the selection. The visible time signature is not adjusted.
• Hidden: the time signature in the selected measures is changed to the specified number and type of beat, but the visible time signature is not changed.

There are a number of situations in which measures do not have as many beats as the current time signature implies. The most common case is a pickup bar or anacrusis in which the music starts in the middle of a bar.

To create such a feature in Noteflight, use the Staff > Change Time Signature... command to change the time signature of the bar to the actual number of beats that you want to appear in the bar, and select the button labeled Pickup. This causes the measure to contain the desired number of beats, but leaves the notated time signature as it was before.

Let's look at these steps in a little more detail. First, select the measure that you want to turn into a pickup measure:

Next, change the time signature using Pickup mode. Here, we select a time signature of 1/4 because we want a pickup measure consisting of a single quarter note:

The result is a pickup measure with a single beat of music, but which preserves the overall 3/4 time signature of the piece:

To apply a clef to a range of measures, a portion of some staff, or even a single note, make the appropriate selection and use the Staff > Change Clef... command. A dialog is offered allowing selection of the clef to be applied to the range:

To change the clef for an entire staff within the score, click that staff's clef at the start of any system.

To change the clef for a specific sequence of music beginning with an existing clef change and continuing up to the next clef change, click the clef change notation at the start of that sequence.

Clef changes may be cut, copied, pasted and deleted. To cut, copy or delete a clef change, first select the surrounding material (a clef by itself cannot be selected). When pasting, the Score Editor makes the appropriate changes, inserting clef changes as needed to preserve the correspondence of the music and the notation.

Tuplet grouping such as triplets, quintuplets, and so on can be added by entering or selecting the note that will become the first note of the tuplet and then using one of the actions on the Score > Create Tuplet menu to create the tuplet. You can also type the number of the tuplet on the keyboard (3, 4, 5, 6, 7) as a shortcut.

The type of tuplet that gets created in this way depends on the length of the note that is selected when you create it. If you want an eighth-note triplet, first make an eighth note or rest and then create a tuplet from that note. If you want a quarter note triplet, first make a quarter note/rest and then create a tuplet from it.

Here's what the situation looks like both before create an 8th note triplet:

The following common tuplet groupings are available with these menu and keyboard actions:

• 3 -- triplets (3:2)
• 4 -- quadruplets (4:3)
• 5 -- quintuplets (5:4)
• 6 -- sextuplets (6:4)
• 7 -- septuplets (7:4)

Custom tuplet ratios will be available in a future release.

A tuplet acts like a "mini-measure" in that it contains a certain span of musical time. Just as with a measure, Noteflight will limit the number of notes you can put inside the tuplet to the correct time span, and will also fill the tuplet out with rests as needed to maintain its proper length. So working with the notes inside, say, a quarter-note triplet is just like working with the notes in a bar with a 3/4 time signature.

There are several ways that tuplets can be removed. The most straightforward way is to delete the rest at the beginning of the tuplet. (If there's already a note there, first remove the note to make a rest.) You can also delete the contents of the measure containing the tuplet, but that may remove a lot of other material as well. Finally, Noteflight automatically removes a tuplet if you make its initial note or rest last the entire length of the tuplet, since it is not meaningful to use a tuplet grouping on a single note.

Grace notes are special notes that are played as ornaments before a regular "main note" that they are attached to. They look like regular notes, but are smaller and their stems generally point up. There can be any number of grace notes preceding a main note.

The most common type of grace note looks like an eighth note with a slash through it, and is played very fast just before the beat of the main note that it is attached to. If there is more than one grace note, the whole group is written as a beamed group of sixteenth notes with a slash through the beam. Grace note groups, like single grace notes, are played very fast just before the beat.

The other type of grace note is called an appoggiatura and is played at its regular length, delaying the start of the main note that it's attached to. Appoggiaturas are not common in modern music but are quite frequently seen in classical music.

To create a grace note, first create a regular note: and then click one of the grace note icons on the Advanced Pitch/Rhythm Palette . You'll see a result like this: If you create another grace note, it will form a group with the first one: Finally, adding a main note looks like this:

Grace notes are frequently slurred to the following notes. If you create a slur starting on a grace note, it will automatically slur the grace note (or group) to the main note. If you create a slur starting on a note that is preceded by a grace note or group, the slur will automatically include any grace notes under it.

The keyboard shortcut to make a grace note is [Ctrl/Command]-G.

The toolbar contains a numeric metronome marking that controls the playback tempo for different parts of the piece. You can change both the rhythmic unit of the beat (eighth, quarter, half, etc.) and the number of beats per minute.

This control can be used in several different ways:

• If nothing is selected, the tempo control affects the tempo in effect at the beginning of the piece, and places a tempo marking there:
• If a range of music is selected, the tempo control affects the exact measures of the piece in that range:
• If a tempo marking alone is selected, the tempo control affects only that one tempo marking.

Adjusting the rhythmic beat unit used by the tempo is done by clicking the note in the tempo control, which displays a small popup menu:

The tempo may only be changed if the score can be edited by you. If the score is not editable, then the tempo appears as a fixed number that cannot be altered. However, anyone can adjust the playback speed regardless of the saved tempo: see adjusting playback.

You may specify that a piece should be performed with the second eighth note of each quarter note delayed by a variable amount, to achieve a jazz swing feel. Use the Play > Swing Eighths... command to display a dialog that allows the amount of swing to be specified. The degree of swing may only be changed if the score can be edited by you.

The percentage of swing refers to the displacement of the second 8th note in each quarter-note group from exact time. At 0%, there is no deviation and the playback will be in "straight 8ths": At 33%, the deviation is one 3rd of an 8th note, meaning that the same passage will be performed like this: At 50%, the deviation is half an 8th note -- that is, the passage will be performed as:

Noteflight can play a score in several ways, using either its built-in instrument library, a YouTube video, or a MP3 file on the web:

• From the beginning
• From a particular measure
• From the first measure in which something is selected.

To play a score from the beginning, you can select the Play > From Start menu item, or click the Play button on the toolbar, or press the P key on the keyboard. Expect a short delay before playback as Noteflight begins to convert your score into audio data.

A very useful option for listening to scores is to start playback from a specific measure. Move the mouse over the numbered "measure marker" above that measure, and a small play button appears in the marker. Click the button, and playback starts from that measure:

Playing a score from the first measure containing selected notes is also a useful feature. To do this, select the Play > From Selection menu item, or press the [Shift]-P key on the keyboard.

While playback is active, a triangular pointer moves continuously along the top of the score to show the current playback position within the music, and the toolbar changes to display a Stop button. You may stop playback at any time by clicking the Stop button, by clicking anywhere in the Score Editor, by using the Play > Stop menu command, or by pressing P again.

When playing a score from the beginning, repeats, endings and other aspects of musical form are played back in the correct sequence dictated by the form. Repeats without endings are taken twice. If you start playback from a measure inside a repeating section, playback will begin at the first occurrence of that measure within the form.

It's often very useful to be able to hear a single instrument or staff for playback. To do this, select exactly the staff you want to hear by double-clicking in a measure, or clicking/[Shift]-clicking the "staff markers" to the left of each system. When an entire staff is selected in this way, playback is restricted to only the selected instrument.

In the toolbar at the bottom, next to the tempo indicator, there is a slider that adjusts the playback speed to go slower or faster than the marked tempo. You can slow the piece down to half the normal tempo, and speed it up to twice the normal tempo. Unlike the actual tempo, this adjustment is never saved in the score. It's a little like the Zoom function in that it is only a temporary adjustment to what the user is hearing.

You cannot adjust the speed while the music is playing; playback stops as soon as the speed is changed.

This toolbar button adjusts the overall volume of playback for your score. It pops up a small slider that lets you move the control up to make the score louder, down to make the score smaller.

Noteflight Crescendo allows you to make adjustments to the how the instruments in a score are played back as audio. You can adjust the volume of each instrument individually, change its stereo position, and temporarily mute or solo parts to control which instruments are included in playback.

A popup is displayed when you click the icon on the bottom toolbar. This popup allows you to change the playback settings for each part in your score:

In the picture above, all parts are shown in their normal, default settings. Changes to any setting will be saved as part of a score, and will be heard by anyone who plays the score back, whether they are a Crescendo user or not.

Let's examine each control one by one:

The volume slider changes how loud a part is played. Moving the slider to the right makes it louder, moving it to the left makes it softer.

The pan slider changes where a part is located in the stereo mix. Moving the slider left or right will move the instrument left or right in the mix.

Clicking the mute checkbox turns off the selected instrument in the audio mix.

Clicking the solo button mutes all instruments except the selected instrument.

The Master Gain slider controls the volume of all the instruments together.

Noteflight allows you to play back any YouTube video or MP3 audio file on the web, to create a multimedia presentation and also as a way to allow any musical performance to accompany a score for playback. In order to do so, Noteflight provides measure mapping, a procedure in which you play the video or audio all the way through and manually tap a key or the mouse button to indicate where each measure of the score starts. Once you have done so, playback from the score works the same as with built-in instruments, but using the external media instead. You can also start playback from any point within the video or audio, and the score will follow along correctly.

The following types of external media are supported by Noteflight:

• YouTube Video. Any YouTube video can be synchronized to a Noteflight score. The video will appear along with a play button and position slider in a pop-up window when the score is viewed. If the score is embedded, the video can optionally be shown above the score.
• MP3 Audio. Any external MP3 audio file can be synchronized to a score. A play button and position slider will be displayed for the audio when the score is viewed, or optionally shown above the score in an embed.

Both of them work exactly the same way, by following these steps:

1. Open the Noteflight score that you wish to synchronize.
2. Click the Sync with Audio/Video icon in the toolbar.
3. Find the video or audio you want to use, and copy its web address (URL) into your clipboard.
4. Paste the web address into the Synchronized Audio/Video panel and click the Load button.
5. Perform measure mapping by playing the audio or video back, tapping the Mark Next Measure button at the start of each measure.

Let's go through these steps in more detail. You can also view a demonstration video of the process.

Open Click the Sync with Audio/Video icon in the toolbar, and paste the web address of your YouTube video or web MP3 into the blank entry field provided:

Now click the Load button. After a brief pause, the panel will enlarge. If you are specifying and show the video, along with a position slider and several other controls:

At this point, you are ready to begin showing Noteflight where the measures are in the video or audio. To do this, click the Play button in the Synchronized Audio/Video panel and click the Mark Next Measure button every time you come to the beginning of a measure (including the first measure!). This can be a bit tricky sometimes, and to make it easier to get to exactly the right spot, Noteflight provides a field where you can type an the exact time within the video or audio for the next measure before marking it. Note that the video/audio does not actually have to be playing in order for you to mark its current position as the start of a measure. Also, as a convenience, once you have clicked the Mark Next Measure button, you may simply tap the space bar to mark subsequent measures.

As each measure is marked, a tick mark will appear on the slider to show where the mark occurs within the video or audio. There can be quite a few ticks:

You can go back over parts of the score and redo your marks. Whenever you click Mark Next Measure, all marks after the new mark are removed so you have a clean score to work with. This can also be done manually with the Clear Following Marks button.

In the case of a score with repeats or a complex musical form, you can jump around within the score as the video plays. In this case, first check the box labeled Enable Measure Clicking. This allows you to mark any measure by clicking it, giving you the freedom to mark measures in any order. By default this is turned off, to avoid accidental marking when you are clicking the score in order to edit it.

Note the checkbox titled Use track for score playback. This checkbox is normally selected, which means that your audio or video will be used for all score playback. However, sometimes you might want to still use Noteflight's built-in playback for your score, for example if you are transcribing audio into a score, or if you want to compare the notated music with the audio/video track. In this case, clear the checkbox. The score's playback functions will then use Noteflight playback to synthesize the music in the score. The play controls in the sync panel will still use the recorded track, however.

Two different display modes are available via menu commands: View > Page Layout which displays a fully justified page layout whose systems flow from page to page, and View > Strip Layout which displays a horizontally scrolled continuous strip with a single system. These modes may be selected from the View menu.

In Page Layout mode, you edit the score using the exact format in which it is printed: Editing in this mode is the best way to remain aware of the printed look of your score, and to see at all times how measures flow from system to system and page to page. As you edit, however, music may jump from system to system as Noteflight determines where system and page breaks occur.

In Strip Layout mode, the score is presented as a continuous horizontal strip: This mode sacrifices faithfulness to printed output, but in return delivers a visually smoother experience and somewhat faster editing response.

A score can be displayed at a range of magnifications, to see multiple pages at a glance or to zoom in on tiny details. To control the view magnification, use the Zoom slider on the toolbar at the bottom of the screen:

It's important to understand that changing the magnification does not change the printed size of the music: it only magnifies it on the screen.

Document Layout Settings

A group of settings controls the appearance of the document, which can be modified using the View > Document Layout... command, which displays this popup:

There are three tabs: Size/Spacing, Formatting and Parts.

Document Layout: Size/Spacing

Here's what's on the Size/Spacing tab:

• The note size slider controls the distance between adjacent staff lines in pixels at a zoom scale of 100%. This note size is a "master setting" that determines the size of many other elements of the document including notes, fonts, and so on. It also supplies the units for the following two settings.
• The staff spacing is the distance between staves in the same system, in staff line units.
• The system spacing is the minimum distance allowed between systems on the same page, in staff line units.
• The system stretch is the maximum extra spacing that Noteflight can add between systems on the same page, in staff line units.
• The first staff spacing is the extra space above the first system on the first page of the score, in staff line units.
• The note spacing setting allows you to control the overall density of the music layout.
• The checkbox Automatically space staves and systems lets Noteflight decide how much vertical space to put in between staves and systems, based on the contents of the music. It also affects the vertical position of lyrics.

Document Layout: Formatting

This tab controls the formatting of various elements in a score, including chord symbols, measures and measure numbers, part names, and guitar tab rhythm.

• The checkbox Center chord symbols causes chord symbols to be centered above each note instead of left justified.
• The checkbox Keep chord symbols apart causes Noteflight to push notes apart to make sure that chord symbols do not overlap.
• The Show measure numbers setting controls whether a measure number is displayed at the beginning of each line.
• The default choice of Number measures automatically assigns the number "1" to the first complete measure in the score. However you may choose Start numbering at: in order to explicitly control the number of the first measure in the score (complete or otherwise).
• The Show part names setting determines whether part names are shown or not.
• The Show guitar tab rhythm setting determines whether flags, ties and dots are shown in guitar tab parts.

Document Layout: Parts

This tab controls the display of parts that are selected for viewing or printing using the Noteflight Crescendo features for individual parts.

The note size slider is exactly like the same slider on the Score tab, only it controls the display of selected parts instead.

The checkbox labeled Use system breaks from score determines whether system breaks defined in the score will affect the display of selected or individual parts. By default this box is not checked, meaning that they have no effect. Typically one would not want to respect system breaks in an individual part because they would have been defined for the way that the entire score looks, not a single part.

Noteflight supports up to two melodic voices in a staff, although by default there is usually only one voice. The number of voices can vary from measure to measure in the same staff. Any single measure contains either one voice or two voices, from start to finish.

To directly add a second voice to some measure, select something in that measure and use the Staff > Use Upper Voice (shortcut U) or Staff > Use Lower Voice (shortcut L) commands to add the new voice. The stems of any existing notes are adjusted into two-voice format, and a selected whole-measure rest appears in the new voice that you just added. The blinking cursor for adding new notes will also shift up or down to show you which voice you are working with:

You can now start to enter notes in your new voice with the mouse or keyboard. In general, once you have two voices in a measure, new notes or rests will always go into the voice you currently have selected. If you continue entering notes into the next measure using a second voice, that voice is automatically added to the new measure as well.

Changes you make to a voice are almost completely independent of the other voice, except for the visual layout of the measure, and for the effect of voice-independent symbols such as clef changes. You might as well be working with two different measures that are superimposed on top of each other.

To move between voices without losing your place, you can use the very same Staff > Use Upper Voice (U) or Staff > Use Lower Voice (L) commands. If the specified voice already exists, these commands simply select a note or rest in that voice in the same rhythmic location as the currently selection.

Rests in a multi-voice measure are displaced to reflect which voice they belong to. If you want to move them for greater clarity, recall that rests can be dragged up and down or moved with the arrow keys.

Sometimes there are silent passages within a two-voice measure in which only rests for a single voice need be notated. To achieve this effect, you can move the rests for both voices exactly on top of each other.

To remove a voice from a measure, select any note or rest in that voice and make use of the Staff > Remove Voice command, or use the keyboard shortcut M. The entire voice is removed from that measure.

A number of kinds of text can be added to Noteflight scores: general text, lyrics, dynamics/expression text and chord symbols.

General text can be placed in or near any bar, and has many different uses. Performance instructions like ritardandos, as well as formal elements such as D.S. al coda are entered as general text in Noteflight. General text can also be used as a way of adding comments throughout the score.

General text may be added at any position by selecting any object at that position, and then clicking the performance text icon on the Object Editing Palette, or using the Score > Text > Performance Text menu command, or typing the T (text) keyboard shortcut. Here is an example:

When editing general text, a blinking cursor appears in the place where the text goes, and you can type the text there. Double-clicking an existing piece of text allows you to edit that text.

General text can contain multiple lines. Pressing the [Enter] key while typing general text will advance the cursor to the next line:

If you want to change the position of general text, drag it in any direction with the mouse, or select it and use the [Command/Ctrl]-Left, [Command/Ctrl]-Right, [Command/Ctrl]-Up, [Command/Ctrl]-Down arrow keys.

Playing Techniques and General Text

General text is also used to communicate instructions on instrument playing techniques. In particular, Noteflight Crescendo supports special meanings for the terms pizzicato, spiccato and arco. When used in general text for a stringed instrument, either in full or in their commonly abbreviated forms, these will cause the appropriate string technique to be heard on playback. This example illustrates the use of both abbreviated and fully written forms:

System text is just like general text, except that it is not associated with a particular staff, but with a point in the score. System text is always shown above the top staff, no matter which staves are currently displayed.

You can add System text at any position by selecting an object there, and clicking the system text icon on the Symbols Palette, or by typing the [Shift]-T keyboard shortcut.

Lyrics can be added to any note in a score by selecting it, and then clicking the lyrics icon on the Object Editing Palette, or using the Score > Text > Lyrics menu command, or typing the [Ctrl/Command]-L keyboard shortcut.

When editing lyrics, a blinking cursor appears in the place where the lyric syllable should go, and you can type the lyric there: When you are finished typing the syllable, type one of these characters:

• Space finishes this syllable and begins the first syllable of a new word on the following note.
• - (hyphen) finishes this syllable, and continues the current word on a new syllable under the following note, with a dash between the syllables.
• _ (underscore) finishes this word, and shows a extension line to the right of it. Use this when a syllable is sung over several tied or slurred notes; you can press _ multiple times to continue the extension line for as many notes as you like.
• Enter/Return finishes this syllable and begins the lyric for a new verse on the same note.
• Esc finishes this syllable and stops editing lyrics.

Double-clicking an existing lyric syllable allows you to edit that syllable.

Here is an example showing lyrics with both hyphens and extensions:

A special case arises when two syllables are pronounced together rapidly on a single note. This occurs frequently in some languages such as Italian, and is called an elision. It's typically represented by a space or a small tie-like symbols between the syllables. Because Noteflight uses the space character to let you move to the next lyric, you can use the plus sign (+) as a special character to put in the space for an elision.

Dynamics and expression text are instructions to the performer on how the music in a particular staff or part is to be played. In Noteflight, a single kind of notation is used for both, and its interpretation depends on what is typed. If you type a dynamic then a dynamic is understood, but you may also type any other text that you like.

Dynamics and expression text may be added to any notation in a score by selecting it, and then clicking the dynamics icon on the Object Editing Palette, or using the Score > Text > Dynamics/Expression menu command, or typing the [Ctrl/Command]-E keyboard shortcut.

When editing dynamics/expression text, a blinking cursor appears in the place where the text will go, and you can type the text there. If you type a recognized dynamic abbreviation such as p, mf, and so on, the correct dynamic symbol is shown as soon as you are finished entering the text and the playback of the score will make use of the correct dynamic. So, while you're entering a dynamic it may look like this: but after you are finished, it will automatically change to look like this:

Double-clicking an existing dynamic or expression text allows you to edit that text.

For grand-staff instruments such as piano, dynamics on the upper staff also affects the playback of the lower staff. Dynamics on the lower staff apply to that staff alone. To make a dynamic marking apply to just the upper staff, drag it from below the upper staff to above the upper staff. Note also that dynamics that apply to multiple staves will be respected during playback only when all staves are being played. When an individual staff is being played, it will only respect dynamics that are actually present on that staff.

Chord symbols can be added to the score by selecting a note, then clicking the chord symbol icon on the Object Editing Palette, selecting the Score > Text > Chord Symbol menu command, or typing the K key on the keyboard. Also, Double-clicking an existing chord symbol allows you to edit that symbol.

Automatic formatting. Chord entry in Noteflight is incredibly easy and simple: just type the chord name in a normal way, using the typical convention of substituting a lowercase "b" for flat, and the "#" character for sharp. When you're done, Noteflight will automatically format the chord so that it looks correct.

So, while you're entering a chord it may look like this: but after you are finished, it will automatically change to look like this:

Pop/Jazz Chord Symbols. If you can type a chord, Noteflight will usually figure out how to format it correctly. Here is a sample illustrating some of the main ways that chords can be typed, and showing how Noteflight formats them. You can include any combination of scale degrees, flats, sharps, "+", "-" and triad abbreviations. Note that to vertically "stack" scale degrees, you may separate them with spaces. Here are some examples that show some of the many possible chords you can create by simply typing them:

Classical Analysis with Roman Numerals. You can also create chord symbols using Roman numerals, in a similar way. Note that preceding such a symbol with a key name and a colon (":") will align the chord correctly, shifting the key name to the left. Accidentals may come before the Roman numeral, using the characters b (flat), # (sharp) or = (natural).

Scale Degrees.To enter a scale degree number with a caret (^) above it, use a chord symbol that includes a caret before the number as in ^7. Accidentals just like those used in Roman numerals may precede the caret, as in b^3 or =^7.

Figured Bass or Fingering Notations. Noteflight also supports figured bass and fingering notations. These are typed in the obvious way, placing the different elements of the symbol on separate lines:

Placeholders for Analysis Exercises. If you are creating an exercise or assignment in which the user is to supply an analysis of some elements in a score, you can create a "placeholder" chord symbol that shows a horizontal line indicating where the analysis should go. This is just a chord symbol that consists of one or more underscore characters (_). The result looks like this:

As soon as the user double-clicks such a placeholder line to enter their response, the line disappears to make room for the user's response to be entered. The response is formatted as a normal chord or analysis symbol, and is not underlined.

Double Accidentals.To explicitly enter a double accidental in a chord symbol, use the text "bb" or "##". Note that chord symbols when transposed may yield root tones with double accidentals, even if these were not originally used in the chord.

Repeat Endings. To create a repeat ending in a measure, add a chord symbol on the first beat of the measure that has a number followed by a period, like "1.", "2.", and so on.

Special formatting. If you want to take full control of the formatting of text and chords, surround it with double curly braces {{...}} and make use of the following special characters and character sequences:

• @: flat
• #: sharp
• $: natural
• &: scale degree "hat"
• /o : ø
• [: repeat ending
• ^...^: run of superscript text
• !...!: run of small text

If you want to change the position of a chord symbol, drag it in any direction with the mouse, or use the [Command/Ctrl]-Left, [Command/Ctrl]-Right, [Command/Ctrl]-Up, [Command/Ctrl]-Down arrow keys.

Measure numbers can be displayed at the start of each system. They are only shown in Page Layout mode, or in printed scores. The display of measure numbers is optional and can be toggled using the View > Show Measure Numbers menu item.

An important feature for musical collaboration is annotation, in which objects and notations in a score can be marked up with comments. Each comment bears the name of its author and the time it was created or last changed.

To add an annotation to a note or rest in the score, select the notation and use the Score > Text > Annotation menu command. A icon that looks like a sheet of paper will appear above the selected object; clicking this icon opens the annotation and allows comments to be attached to it.

Slurs and hairpin dynamic symbols are similar in that they can span any number of measures in a Noteflight score. In Noteflight, these kinds of symbols are referred to as "lines". Other types of lines are also supported by Noteflight including trills, 8va/8vb, and more.

What all lines have in common is that they have a starting point and an ending point, which can be placed independently. The general way to make a line notation is to select the starting point by clicking with the mouse, select the ending point by [Shift]-clicking, and then asking Noteflight to create the slur, hairpin, or other line notation based on the selection.

It is also possible to create a line-type notation by selecting just one note. This usually makes a line between that note and the note that follows it.

Selecting a line-type notation also causes it to display small draggable "handles" that can be repositioned with the mouse, Typically there is one handle for the starting point, one for the ending point. There may also be other handles depending on the symbol in question.

The Lines palette displays a button that creates a new slur based on the current object or staff selection. The shortcut key S also creates a slur.

As mentioned above, one method is to select the note on which the slur starts, and then create the slur. This produces a two-note slur. (If the note is a grace note, then the slur will extend to the main note.) This figure shows how things look before and after the slur is created:

The two small squares are draggable handles that can be used to move the slur's endpoints around, making it longer or shorter.

Another way to go is to select the range that the slur will occupy, then create the slur:

Note that there are more "handles" on this slur. A slur that is longer gives you additional ways of controlling its shape. This is important because it's much easier for a human user to position slurs in a good way than for a computer program to guess what's right. Here are some examples of different slur shapes, some of which were adjusted by hand:

Hand adjustments like this must be made after you are finished entering notes into the score, since adjustments to the notes will automatically reset the appearance of the slurs. The following figure illustrates how the different handles affect a slur's shape (although playing with a slur is probably a faster way to learn!):

Grace notes are automatically included in slurs that start on a given main note.

The Lines Palette displays two buttons that creates hairpins or wedges based on the current object or staff selection. The shortcut keys < and > also create these symbols.

Hairpins work a lot like slurs, although they are not as complicated because their shape does not vary as much. Also, because hairpins usually span more than two notes, staff selections are a good way to create hairpins, as in these two figures showing the selection and then the newly created crescendo:

Use the draggable square "handles" to adjust hairpins by hand to work around adjacent notes and symbols:

NOTE: Hairpin dynamics are currently not played back by Noteflight; they are visual notations only.

Other kinds of lines behave the same as hairpins, with the difference that most lines can only be vertically repositioned and cannot be placed at an angle.

Consult the documentation on the Lines Palette for more information.

Trills cause a note to be performed in rapid alternation with the note just above it in the current musical scale. A trill behaves a lot like any other line, but it can also take an accidental that applies to this upper note. To apply this accidental, select just the trill and use the flat, sharp, natural or other accidentals on the object palette to affect the pitch of the upper note of the trill. The trill itself will display this accidental. Here's an example of a trill between D and the Eb above it:

The Lines palette allows you to create a multi-measure rest (or multirest for short) that spans a set of selected blank measures, in a single part, and shows the number of blank measures above it. When a single part is shown, any multirests in that part will "collapse" to replace all these blank measures with the multirest symbol, so that a reader can simply keep count of the bars of rest without having to read individual measures on the page. When multiple parts are shown, the multirests will "expand" to show all the bars inside.

Say that you have a violin part with a section that is silent for 4 bars. Before inserting the multirest, it might look like this (with the silent bars selected):

After you insert the multirest by clicking the button on the Lines palette, the bars will collapse to look like this:

If you were to have another part alongside the violin part, the multirest would be shown in expanded form: in light gray, on top of the regular measures with their normal single-measure rests. This allows you to see the whole score, including the parts which are not silent during the multirest.

When you use the Print Individual Parts feature, or when you select a part for individual display using the Parts panel, all multirests in that part are automatically collapsed.

The Sharing Panel allows you to share your score with other Noteflight users, to decide how the score is shared, and to embed scores in your own web pages. Click the Sharing tab at the upper right of the screen to see the panel. No changes will be made until you click the OK button, so it's safe to explore the different settings.

All newly created scores are private, meaning that no other users can see the score even if they know its web address. Private scores are never displayed in pages seen by other users who are browsing or searching in Noteflight. A private score is yours alone.

You can make the choice to share your score. If you do share your score, then other people can view your document, and may also have other capabilities that you give them. How much access others have is up to you.

You can also decide whether you are sharing only with people that you give the score's web address to, or whether you are publishing your score. Publishing makes the existence of your score known to any Noteflight user who uses the Browse or Search features on the site.

When you first open the Sharing panel on a new score, it shows the following choices:

Keep this score private (the default). This choice means that no one else can access your score under any circumstances.

Share with individuals (Crescendo Only). This choice allows you to give specific users permission to access your score in different ways. See the description of Share With Individuals below for more information.

Anyone can view this score. This choice means that other users who access your score's web page may view, play back, print or copy the music. If you do not publish the score for searching and browsing (see below) then you will need a way of getting the web address of the score to other people.

Anyone can view and comment on this score. This choice means that other users may do all of the above, and can also add comments about the score using the Comments panel.

Anyone can make any change to this score. This choice means that other users may do all of the above, and can also edit the music in the score and save their own changes. They must be signed into Noteflight in order to do so.

When any of the non-private options are selected, the panel expands to show other options for sharing: two checkboxes appear that let you control how sharing works:

Allow others to discover this score by searching and browsing permits other users to search for your score on Noteflight by title, composer, author, description and tags. If you leave this box unchecked, then the only way other users can find out about your score is by knowing its web address (i.e. its URL). Leaving this box unchecked is a good way to selectively share your score with people -- and they don't need to be registered or logged into Noteflight to view it. Anyone with the URL can see the score, signed in or not. The web addresses for scores are specially randomized and are not possible to guess; if someone doesn't know the web address, they won't be able to figure it out or accidentally stumble on it.

Note that searching and browsing are features that are only available to registered and logged-in Noteflight users.

Use this score as an activity template (Crescendo only) is available to users with a Crescendo or Learning Edition subscription only, and permits the score to be used as a template for activities by others. (See below.)

Sharing with Individual Users (Crescendo only)

Crescendo subscribers can choose individual users with whom they wish to share a score, and each user can be assigned a unique level of access to the score. When you choose the Share with individuals radio button, you can access this feature:



To add a user to the list of individuals with whom you're sharing the score, click the + button and type the Noteflight user name (not the email address) of the person that you are sharing the score with and click on the dropdown list to the right, or press Enter. Once the user name is recognized and accepted by Noteflight, you can then choose the access level that you want to give:



You can add as many users as you like to the list. Use the - button to remove a selected user from the list. When you are finished, click the Close button at the bottom of the panel. You cannot share a score with yourself, nor can a user occur more than once in the list.

Note that choosing any other sharing option from the radio buttons on the left (such as Keep this score private) will cancel individual sharing for the score.

Notification Email and Shared Folders

When you share a score with someone (or someone shares a score with you), Noteflight will automatically send out an email with a notification about the sharing. Inside the email will be the score's name and a web hyperlink to the score.

Also, the score will appear in the recipient's special Shared folder on Noteflight when they next access their home page. This folder keeps track of all the scores that have been shared with you, and provides a convenient way for you to access them.

Activity Templates (Crescendo only)

When you select the Activity Template option upon creating a new score, or when you check the Sharing box titled Use this score as an activity template, a score becomes a special kind of document: an activity template. This is a score that is designed as a starting point for other users to create a new score from, simply by accessing the template. As soon as another user accesses your activity template, Noteflight automatically makes that user a unique copy of the template. This copy becomes their own private document. What is special about these copies is that each activity template "keeps track" all of its copies, and you can list all the copies created from each of your templates, and view them if their author gives you permission.

This feature is ideal for music instruction. For example, suppose you create an activity template called "Write A Bass Line", consisting of just a melody and an empty bass-clef part. This template is a music writing exercise that you are making available to other Noteflight users, perhaps your students. When you're finished, this will show up in your My Scores tab with a special icon, looking like this:



Let's say that you have posted a link to your template somewhere, and two different users click on this link. Noteflight will automatically make a copy of the document for each user. The original template will show a special link to a listing of these copies:



(The same link will appear at the top left of the editing window for the template.) Clicking on this link causes a listing to be displayed of all the individual copies of the template, along with user names that link to the users who created the copies:



Notice that not all of these scores are shared with you, the author. The owner of each score copied from an activity template must decide to share their copy before you can view or edit it, since the document belongs to them and not to you. This is also a convenient way to signal that the copy is ready for you to review or mark up.

The x button removes a score from this listing, to allow you to manage the list and remove scores from the page that are no longer of interest to you. It does not delete the score, since the score doesn't belong to you.

(Note to Noteflight Learning Edition users: in Learning Edition, instructors can always access template copies that belong to students, even if the document is not shared.)

Linking to a Score from Web Pages

In Noteflight, you can take any shared score and link to it from any web page on the Internet. This allows you to put references to your scores anywhere on the web; if people click the link, they will go to a page that allows them to view your score (or even edit your score, if you allow that.)

To link a score, open the Sharing Panel and make sure that your score is shared, not private. Then copy the URL in the text field at the bottom of the panel into your clipboard by clicking the Copy button:



You can then paste this HTML into any web page that accepts HTML tags. When that web page is viewed, the embedded score appears in the place where you placed these tags. Unlike a score viewed on the Noteflight web site, no menus or panels appear -- just a Play/Stop button. Users may select objects in the score to listen to them selectively, but cannot edit the score.

Embedding a Score in Web Pages

One of the most powerful features of Noteflight sharing is that you can take any shared score and embed it in any web page on the Internet. This allows you to create musical scores in Noteflight, but show them anywhere on the Web: on your blog, a personal web page, or on a school website to cite just a few examples.

To embed a score, open the Sharing Panel and make sure that your score is shared, not private. Then copy the HTML in the text field at the bottom of the panel into your clipboard by clicking the Copy button:



You can then paste this HTML into any web page that accepts HTML tags. When that web page is viewed, the embedded score appears in the place where you placed these tags. Unlike a score viewed on the Noteflight web site, no menus or panels appear -- just a Play/Stop button. Users may select objects in the score to listen to them selectively, but cannot edit the score.

Embedded scores are always displayed in Strip Mode; it is assumed that the surrounding page will include descriptive information as needed in HTML.

You can control the detailed appearance and behavior of embedded scores by clicking the Customize... button in the Sharing panel. This displays a popup displaying the full text of the embed along with a number of other options, and the ability to preview the embed before it is used:



Features of this window are as follows:

• The Width, Height and Scale options afford fine control over the size and magnification scale of the embed.
• The Show audio/video track checkbox controls whether a synced audio or video for the score is displayed above it.
• The Allow in-place editing checkbox permits the embed to actually be edited on the page (although its contents cannot be saved back to the original) which is useful for activities or exercises.
• Element ID for JavaScript permits JavaScript to access the Noteflight Client API for this score using the given element ID.
• The Preview button pops up an additional browser window that shows the embed exactly as it will appear when the embed text is copied into a web page.
• The Copy button copies the embed text into the clipboard for use in any HTML page.

Changing a Score's Description and Tags

A score has a textual description associated with it that is indexed for search purposes, and which can be used to provide people browsing and reading your score with more information about it. To edit this description, use the File > Change Score Information... command. This displays a popup:

The same command also allows one to edit a set of tags that further guide the search process.

Favorites and Comments

Scores can have favorites (users who have noted this score as interesting to them) and comments (remarks by users). Both of these features are accessed from a set of panels on the tabs at the upper right hand corner of the score editor:

Each tab shows a counter of how many objects are in it.

Favorite Scores

Anyone can make a score a favorite, which means that they can easily get to the score from a list of personal favorites on their Noteflight home page. Each score's favorite count is also shown on listings of that score, and contributes to its position in the the "Top Scores" pages on Noteflight.

To make a score into a favorite, click the "ADD TO FAVORITES" button at the top of the favorites panel:

The remainder of the panel shows the names and avatar images of all the users who have made this score into a favorite. Clicking on either a name or an image will display that user's public page on Noteflight, allowing you to investigate that user's own scores and favorites.

Commenting on Scores

You can create any number of comments to accompany a score, which are shown in a separate panel from the score. If it's your own score, you are always able to add comments; if it's someone else's score, then you can add comments only if they allow others to do so (see section on Sharing). Score comments appear in the Comments Panel:

Each comment shows the user's name and avatar image. Clicking on either one will display that user's public page on Noteflight, allowing you to investigate that user's own scores and favorites.

To add a comment, type it into the box at the bottom of the panel and click the "ADD" button. You can delete your own comments using the trashcan icon, and if it's your score you can delete anyone else's comments too.

Each score's comment count is shown on listings of scores, to make it clearer when there is commentary that accompanies the music.

Importing and Exporting Files

Importing and Exporting MusicXML

MusicXML is an industry standard file format for representing music notation. It is very useful for exchanging scores between different programs. Because Noteflight supports MusicXML, you can easily move scores between Noteflight and another notation program that also supports it.

You may import a MusicXML score from any file on your computer using the File > Import command. Some errors or warnings may appear after doing so, depending on the validity of the MusicXML file and whether the Noteflight import translator encounters unexpected conditions in the file.

You can export a score out of Noteflight as MusicXML by using the File > Export command and selecting MusicXML as the output format in the following pop-up window. At that point you may choose the filename to which the score will be exported.

Although MusicXML is a standard industry format for notation, it is supported to varying degrees by different notation programs. The results you get from exchanging scores via MusicXML very much depend on the program you originally exported it from, or import it into. In general, you can expect to perform some degree of cleanup on imported scores to get them to look good in Noteflight.

(Note: This feature requires Flash Player 10.)

Importing and Exporting MIDI

Like MusicXML, MIDI is an industry standard file format, but it was not designed to represent music notation. Rather, MIDI is a way to capture a musical performance, down to very precise details of timing and dynamics. Despite this fact, however, many musical scores are available in MIDI format, and MIDI continues to play a role in exchanging music between different music notation programs despite its shortcomings. For this reason, Noteflight supports MIDI for both import and export.

You may import a MIDI score from any file on your computer using the File > Import command. Some errors or warnings may appear after doing so, depending on the validity of the MIDI file and whether the Noteflight import translator encounters unexpected conditions in the file.

Note that because MIDI accurately represents music as it is played, rather than as it is written, it is necessary to make a number of assumptions and guesses in order to convert this performance back into music notation. In some cases these guesses work well; in others, they may not. The results of importing MIDI will vary a lot, depending on the nature of the performance in the file and how easily it can be interpreted as notation according to these guesses.

Because of the need to make some guesses about how to best turn performance into notation, Noteflight gives you a number of choices when you import a MIDI file:

Here's what those various options do:

• Tracks become parts: This option, which is enabled by default, causes each track of the MIDI file to be considered as one part in Noteflight.
• Channels become parts: this option causes each channel number used in the MIDI file to be considered as a single part in Noteflight. This option can be helpful for "type 0" MIDI files in which separate tracks are not employed.
• Extend short notes through rests: this option causes short notes to be extended through a following rest of comparable duration. This can be useful when correcting for extra rhythmic spacing present in a MIDI performance, which is sometimes more a reflection of the performer's phrasing rather than of the actual notated time value.
• Quantization: this option controls how rhythms in the performance are quantized, or "rounded off", to the nearest notated note value. The default setting of AUTO indicates that Noteflight should automatically determine the best way to do this. Other settings specify the smallest note value that Noteflight will use when quantizing.
• Quantize dotted durations: this option indicates that Noteflight should permit dotted durations to be recognized and used as part of the rhythm quantization process.

You may export a MIDI file from a score to a file on your computer using the File > Export command. After choosing this command, a pop-up window will appear asking you which file format you would like to use for export. You should choose MIDI to export a MIDI file, at which point you will be able to make a further choice: .

Choosing for musical performance indicates that you intend the MIDI export to be played back for listening purposes, and causes the exported music to include performance features such as articulation expression and swing eighths. Choosing for import into another notation editor, on the other hand, causes the exported music to be simplified so that it imports as cleanly as possible into another editor.

Importing Multiple Files at a Time

It's often convenient to import multiple MusicXML and/or MIDI files at once, creating a set of multiple documents in your Noteflight account. You can do this by selecting more than one score in the file chooser dialog that appears when you give the Import command. Each of the selected files will be imported. At the end of the import process, the last score in the list will be loaded into the Score Editor.

If you have access to Noteflight's folder feature, all imported scores will be placed in the same folder as the score in the Import command was used. This is very convenient for keeping sets of imported files together.

Exporting Audio files

You may export a WAV Audio file from a score to a file on your computer using the File > Export command. After choosing this command, a pop-up window will appear asking you which file format you would like to use for export. You should choose WAV Audio to export a WAV audio file with the audio for the score, exactly as Noteflight would play it.

(Note: This feature requires Flash Player 10.)

Working with Versions

The Versions Panel allows you to inspect previously saved versions of your score, play them, copy material out of them, and restore them to the current version. Click the Versions tab at the upper right of the screen to see this panel. This saves the current state of your score immediately, if it needs saving. No other permanent changes are made unless you click the Revert button; it is safe to click different versions and experiment.

The Versions Panel looks like this:

Each row in the Versions list is a previous version of the currently open score, and shows the date and time at which that version was saved and the name of the user who saved it. Selecting a row temporarily displays the corresponding version in the Score Editor. When the editor shows a previous version, you cannot make changes to it: what's done is done! However, you can select, view, print and copy music out of the old version into the clipboard.

If you select the most recent version again, or close the Versions Panel (which does the same thing), you are once again returned to an editable view of your current score, and your selected objects and undo history are the same as they were before you inspected an old version.

Click the Revert button while a previous version is selected to save that version as the new, most current version of the score. You will not lose any information by doing so, because you can always revert once again to the version that was current before this change.

Miscellaneous Notation Features

Slash and Hit Notation

Slashes and hits are unpitched notations that behave much like notes. They indicate a set of beats where improvisation occurs, or where the rhythm is specified but not exact pitches. They are particularly common in conjunction with chord symbols (see below). They look similar, except that slashes do not have stems.

To place a slash at the location where the next note is to be entered, click the / icon on the Object Editing Palette or else type the [/] key on the keyboard.

To convert a slash to a hit, select it and click or type / again. The distinction is only important in the case where the slash duration is a quarter note and hence lacks a stem.

Slashes and hits always occupy the middle line of a staff. They do not have a pitch, and are therefore unaffected by transposition commands. Accidentals are not added to them.

Working with Beams

Beaming rules are applied automatically to all notes that require them. You can force beams to start and end at specific places, however, by manually editing the beaming policy for notes after they have been added. This may be done on the editing palette using the two beaming icons on the Pitch/Rhythm Advanced Palette , or using the keyboard: the { key toggles whether a beam starts on the currently selected note, while the } key toggles whether a beam ends on the currently selected note.

Editing the Score's Title, Composer and Copyright

In Page Layout mode, the first page of the document always shows the score's title, composer and copyright info. These fields may be edited by simply clicking in them and typing. Hit [Enter] when done, or click elsewhere in the page.

If you have not provided this information, the fields are shown with "(Edit Title)", "(Edit Composer)" and "(Edit Copyright)" in dimmed text. Clicking on them causes the dimmed text to disappear so that you can insert your own text. Should you choose not to fill them in, the dimmed text will not be printed; they only appear while editing on the screen.

Note in order to rename a score in Noteflight, you simply edit the score's title.

Adjusting Symbol Positions

You can adjust the vertical position of any rest or chord symbol by selecting it and using the Up or Down keys to move it up or down. Dragging with the mouse also works.

Text can also be moved from side to side using the mouse or [Command/Ctrl]-Up or [Command/Ctrl]-Down keys.

These adjustments are not possible if there are also selected notes or chords, since this would confuse changes in position with actual pitch changes.