Simple Entry

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Simple Entry

NotePad provides a method for entering music quickly and accurately, one note or chord at a time. See also Keyboard Shortcuts - Simple Entry.

Tip: To take a crash course in Simple Entry, you could also jump straight to the Simple Entry Exercises for hands on training: Find "NotePadEntryExercise.mus" on your hard drive.

To enter music using the mouse

Click the Simple Entry tool $image\Simple_Entry_Tool.gif$ . The Simple Entry palette appears.
Click the desired note (rhythmic value) icon in the palette. Click any additional tools as needed, such as Sharp, Flat, Tuplet, Dot or Tie. Click the staff. A note appears at the pitch you clicked. To build a chord, click another pitch above or below the first note.

If you want to enter a tuplet (a triplet, quintuplet, etc.), click the Tuplet tool on the Simple Entry palette and the duration of the tuplet (an eighth note tuplet or a half note tuplet, regardless of the duration of the first note). In any of these instructions, you can press one of the shortcut keys on your keyboard to switch tools instead of clicking an icon. See Keyboard Shortcuts - Simple Entry.

To change the rhythmic value of a note, click the icon representing the new value; then click the note.
To change a rest to a note, Option-click the note to select it. Type R. The note turns into a rest.
To delete a note, click the Eraser $image\Eraser_Tool.gif$ ; then click the note. The note disappears. If you click on a notehead that’s part of a chord, only that note disappears. If you click a rest, it disappears.
To move a note vertically, click and drag the note up or down. To move a rest, option-click the rest to select it, then drag it up or down. If you want to move a whole chord up or down, Command -A-click the chord (avoid clicking directly on a notehead).
To enter a tuplet, click the Simple Tuplet tool and the desired rhythmic duration icon, then click the staff. For more complicated tuplets, shift-click the staff with the Simple Tuplet tool to display the Simple Entry Tuplet Definition dialog box.
To flip a stem, control-click the note to select it then press the L key. This process freezes the stems up or down, so that it’s no longer free to flip if, for example, it gets transposed. To restore the note to its "flippable" status, press Shift-L.
To add a sharp, flat or natural, double-click the Sharp tool, Flat tool, or Natural tool; then click the note. A sharp, flat or natural appears next to the note.
To remove any accidentals from a note, click the Eraser tool; then click the accidental.
To tie a note to the next one, click the Tie icon $image\Tie_Tool.gif$ ; then click the notehead. To tie every note of a chord, click its stem. Click the notehead (for a single note) or the stem (for a chord) to remove the tie. You can also use the keyboard shortcut = (equals sign) to switch to the Tie tool.
To dot a note, click the Dot icon $image\Dot_Tool.gif$ ; then click the note. Click again to add another dot (you can add up to ten dots). To remove the dots, click the Eraser tool; then click the dot. All of the dots are removed.
To create or break a beam, option-click the second note of the two that you wish to beam/unbeam to select it. Press the / key. If the notes were flagged separately, they’re now beamed. If they were beamed, the beam is broken (and the notes are individually flagged, if they’re not beamed to any other notes). Use Shift-/ to restore the default beaming.

See Keyboard Shortcuts – Simple Entry.

All of the functionality that exists for entering notes with a mouse is available using your computer keyboard and the Simple Entry Caret. The Simple Entry Caret works much like the cursor in a word processing program. While using your computer keyboard with Simple Entry, the Caret allows you to specify pitches, rhythms, and other entry items before entering.

Click the Simple Entry tool $image\Simple_Entry_Tool.gif$ . The Simple Entry palette appears. The Simple Entry Caret also appears. If you do not see it, press Enter to activate it. You can hold down Command and press the arrow keys to move the caret between staves and measures.
To choose the desired rhythmic duration for the next entry, click a duration tool in the Simple Entry palette, or type the corresponding keystroke in the numeric keypad (1-8). The caret displays the chosen rhythmic duration.

Note that if you are using a notebook computer, as an alternative, you can hold

down Command-Option-Shift and press a number on the QWERTY keyboard.

Note: The QWERTY keyboard is the letter keys and the numbers above them. The Numeric Keypad is the set of number keys on the right side of a standard desktop keyboard.

To specify the pitch before entering, you can use the up and down arrows on the computer keyboard until the caret displays the desired pitch. The note moves up and down in the staff diatonically. You can move the caret up an octave by pressing Shift-up arrow, or down an octave by pressing Shift-down arrow.
Select a tool, or a combination of tools, in the Simple Entry palette to specify additional properties of the next note to be entered. For example, to specify a dot and a sharp, click the Dot icon $image\Dot_Tool.gif$ , and the Sharp icon $image\Sharp_Tool.gif$ . The tools selected in the Simple Entry palette tell Finale what to add to the next note when entered. The mouse cursor displays this information as well.
Press the Enter key to enter the note. The note appears on the staff and the caret moves to

the right. The note you just entered is selected automatically, so you can use modifier keystrokes to edit it (explained below). Notice the tools chosen in the Simple palette are still selected, and will apply to the next note if you were to hit the Enter key again. To select a single tool (like any of the duration tools), and deselect all others, double-click the icon on the palette, or double-press the corresponding keyboard shortcut. For example, press the 5 key on the numeric keypad twice if you want to choose only the Quarter Note $image\Quarter_Note_Tool.gif$ tool for the next entry.

Press 0 to enter a rest of the chosen duration.
Hold down the option key and press a duration keystroke to specify a rest of that duration for the next entry.
Type the letter name of a pitch, A through G, to enter it. The pitch appears in the staff of the chosen duration, along with any other items selected in the Simple Entry palette. The caret moves to the right.
To add additional notes above the previous entry, type the interval (1 through 8 or Command -Shift 9) on your QWERTY keyboard. For example, to add a third to the note you just entered, type 3. To enter a fifth, type 5. The interval entered is automatically selected, so, to enter a triad, you would type 3 for the first third, and then 3 again for the second. To enter an interval lower than the note you just entered, hold down the Shift key and type the interval (1-9). Also, you can hold down the Shift key and type the letter name of a note to add it to the note you just entered. To add a note a fifth or more higher than the note you just entered, hold down the Shift key and press the up arrow, and then type the note letter. To add a note a fifth or more lower than the note you just entered, hold down the Shift key and press the down arrow, and then type the note letter. Note that the caret position changes, and will apply to the next note entered as well. Use Shift-up/down arrow to move it to the desired octave in preparation for the next entry.

Note: The following shortcuts also apply to any selected note. (After entering a note, it is selected automatically.)

After entering a note or rest, hold down Alt and press a number (1-8) to change the duration of the note or rest you just entered (32nd through double-whole note).
After entering a note, you can use additional modifier keystrokes to add a dot, tie, accidental, to the note you just entered. To see a list of modifier keystrokes, from the Simple menu, choose Simple Edit Commands, and then Modify Entry.
After entering a note, to move it up ar down in the staff, hold down the Option key and press the up and down arrows. Hold down Option and Shift and press the up or down arrow key to move the note up or down an octave.
After entering a note, use the up and down arrows to adjust the caret pitch. Then, hold down Command and press Enter to add a note the previous entry.
After entering a note, press 9 to change it to the first note of a tuplet.
Hold down Command and press 9 to open the Simple Entry Tuplet definition dialog box where you can specify more complicated tuplets. See Simple Entry Tuplet Definition.
To move the selection forward or back a note, press the right and left arrow keys. To move selection forward or back a measure, hold down Command and press the right or left arrow key respectively.
To activate the caret on an existing selected entry, press Enter.
To move selection up or down in a chord or to the staff above or below, hold down Command and press the up or down arrow key.

Rests

You can edit, create, and move rests by using the Simple Entry tool. You can change any existing note into a rest, or change the duration of any rest.

To move a rest vertically

Click the Simple Entry tool $image\Simple_Entry_Tool.gif$ . The Simple Entry palette appears.
Option-click and drag the rest.

To add a rest

Click the Simple Entry tool $image\Simple_Entry_Tool.gif$ . The Simple Entry palette and Simple Entry Rests palette appear.
Click the icon representing the desired rest’s duration on either the Simple Entry or Simple Entry Rest palette. For Simple Entry palette, press Command and the number of the desired rest’s duration then click the place where you want the rest to appear. For Simple Entry Rest palette, click the place where you want the rest. The rest appears at the horizontal position of your click; its vertical position is always the center staff line, unless you’re working in layers. (See Multiple voices.)
With the caret active, type 0 to enter a rest of the duration chosen in the Simple Entry palette.

To change a rest’s duration

Click the Simple Entry tool $image\Simple_Entry_Tool.gif$ . The Simple Entry palette appears.
Click the icon representing the desired new duration.
Click the rest. It changes to the new duration.
After entering a rest with the caret, hold down Option and type a duration (1-8).

To change a rest to a note

Click the Simple Entry tool $image\Simple_Entry_Tool.gif$ . The Simple Entry palette appears.
Command-click the rest or enter a rest with the caret. The rest is selected.
Type R. The rest turns into a note on the middle staff line.

To change a note to a rest

Click the Simple Entry tool $image\Simple_Entry_Tool.gif$ . The Simple Entry palette appears.
Control-click the note. The note is selected.
Type R. The note turns into a rest.

To add a sharped or flatted note

Click the Simple Entry tool $image\Simple_Entry_Tool.gif$ . The Simple Entry palette appears.
Click the icon representing the desired note’s duration.
Click the Sharp tool $image\Sharp_Tool.gif$ or Flat tool $image\Flat_Tool.gif$ .
Click the staff. A sharped or flat note appears where you clicked.
After entering a note with the caret, press - (minus) to add a flat and = to add a sharp to the note you just entered.

To hide or show a cautionary accidental

Click the Simple Entry tool $image\Simple_Entry_Tool.gif$ . The Simple Entry palette appears.
Option-click the note. The note is selected.
Type Shift-Command--(minus). To toggle between hiding or showing the cautionary accidental, hit Shift-Command--(minus) again.

The word tuplet describes a class of irregular note divisions such as triplets, quintuplets, or septuplets. Simple triplets are easy in the Simple Entry tool. If you want to do duplets, septuplets or other tuplets, you’ll need the Simple Entry Tuplet Definition dialog box. For more complex tuplets, such as nested tuplets, see the Tuplet tool.

Brackets in the Simple Tuplet tool follow several rules. If the notes are beamed, such as eighth note triplets, no bracket will appear. If the note are unbeamed, such as quarter note triplets, a bracket will appear. Brackets follow the first note in the tuplet. To edit the bracket, see Tuplets.

To enter a triplet

Click the Simple Entry tool $image\Simple_Entry_Tool.gif$ . The Simple Entry palette appears.
Click the icon representing the desired note’s duration. Click any accidental tools, if desired.
Click the Simple Tuplet tool $image\Tuplet_Tool.gif$ on the Simple Entry palette.
Click the staff. A note appears where you clicked with rests filling out the rest of the triplet. By default, the triplet will use the duration of the first note to define the triplet. If these isn’t enough room to create the full tuplet or you click within an already existing tuplet, NotePad will enter a note of the duration you selected.
After entering a note or rest with the caret, press 9 (or numpad 9) to begin a triplet on the note just entered. Finale adds rests to complete the triplet. Then, enter the next two notes to replace the rests.

To remove a tuplet

Double-click the Simple Tuplet tool on the Simple Entry palette.
Click on the first note in the tuplet. The tuplet is removed and the notes are restored to full value. If these is not enough room in the measure for the full value of the tuplet notes, nothing will happen. Remove the extra notes first, then remove the tuplet definition.

To enter a duplet, septuplet, or other tuplet

By default, the triplet will use the duration of the first note to define the triplet. If you want to create an eighth note starting with a quarter note, you’ll need to use the below technique.

Double-click the Simple Tuplet tool on the Simple Entry palette.
Shift-click the first note in the tuplet. The simple Entry Tuplet Definition dialog box appears.
Specific the rhythmic composition of the tuplet. NotePad is asking "How many notes of what rhythmic value are to fit in the space normally allotted to how many of what value?" Enter the number of each rhythmic value in the text boxes. Specify the rhythmic value itself by selecting the rhythmic-value from the drop-down list.

For example, to define a standard eighth note duplet, you would fill out the values as "2 (eighths) in the space of 3 (eighths)."

Click OK. A note appears where you clicked with rests filling out the rest of the tuplet.

To flip a stem

Click the Simple Entry tool $image\Simple_Entry_Tool.gif$ .
Control-click the note. The note is selected.
Press the L key to freeze the stem in the opposite direction. When a stem is "frozen" up or down, it’s no longer free to change directions if it gets transposed. To restore a stem to its "floating" status, select the note and press Shift-L.

Beaming of eighth notes (and notes of smaller value) is automatic in NotePad, although you can override NotePad’s beaming decisions.

To break (or create) a beam

Click the Simple Entry tool $image\Simple_Entry_Tool.gif$ .
Control-click the note at the end of the desired beam. The note is selected.
Press the / key. If the note was beamed to the previous note, the beam breaks. If the note wasn’t beamed to the previous note, two notes are now beamed together. Press the slash key again to restore the beam to its previous form.

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