Lyrics

You can type the lyrics directly into the score, so that you know at all times where you are in the music. NotePad defines a syllable as any letters separated by a space or a hyphen. When you put the lyrics into the score, NotePad places the syllable in your score, centers the hyphen between notes, and moves any syllable correspondingly if its notehead moves.

To type lyrics directly into the score

1. Click the Lyrics tool .
2. Indicate the staff and the note to which you want to begin adding lyrics by clicking near the staff at the position of the first melody note. A positioning triangle appears at the left edge of the screen. The triangle controls the baseline of the lyrics (against which the bottom edges of the words line up). For a full discussion, see "To set the baseline (vertical position) for lyrics graphically," below. The blinking cursor—the insertion point—jumps to a position beneath the first note, in the staff you clicked.
3. Type the lyrics. Each time you type a space or a hyphen, NotePad automatically moves the insertion point in preparation for entering the next syllable. As you type, NotePad automatically scrolls the music so you always know where you are.
4. If you make a mistake, just backspace over it by pressing BACKSPACE. (If you backspace to the previous syllable, NotePad highlights the whole syllable so that you can replace it all at once with anything you type.) To change a word you’ve already typed, click in the staff so that the syllable is highlighted, and then type its replacement.
5. If you encounter a melismatic passage, where one syllable is sustained through several melody notes, press the space bar for each note of the melisma; the cursor will skip ahead to the next note.
6. The method described below is useful for making small changes to lyrics you’ve already placed in the score—correcting a misspelling, for example.

To edit lyrics already in the score

1. Click the Lyrics tool .
2. Click on the staff at the position of the syllable you want to edit. The syllable is highlighted.
3. Type the new syllable. Anything you type replaces the highlighted syllable.
4. Press the Space bar to advance to the next syllable. Press Backspace to backspace over what you’ve just typed. To select any syllable, click within the staff lines; the syllable becomes highlighted, so that you can replace it with whatever you now type.
5. NotePad will change the font of lyrics already entered and any future lyrics.

To set the font for lyrics globally

1. From the Document menu, choose Select Default Fonts. The Select Default Fonts dialog box appears. See Select Default Fonts dialog box for more details.
2. Click on the Set Font button next to Lyrics. The Font dialog box appears.
3. Select the type style you want for your lyrics.
4. Click OK twice. Use this method to set the primary font for your lyrics.

To set the baseline (vertical position) for lyrics graphically

1. Click the Lyrics tool . At the left edge of the screen is a small triangle pointing to the right. It controls the baseline for the lyrics. If necessary, click the staff whose lyrics need adjustment.
2. Drag the triangle up or down to set the baseline for the entire piece.

A hyphen (or a space), when typed in the Lyrics tool, indicates the end of a lyric syllable. NotePad looks for a hyphen or space as its cue to advance to the next melody note.

In certain situations, you may not want NotePad to assume that a hyphen is the end of a syllable.

To prevent a hyphen from ending a syllable

1. Click the Lyrics tool .
2. To create a hyphenated word, all of which will be assigned to a single note, type 0173 on the numeric keypad while pressing the ALT key in place of the normal hyphen.

An elision is when two or more syllables are sung under the same note, such as in a folk song, chant or foreign language. Because NotePad will advance to the next note if you enter a space, you’ll need to add an invisible syllable or hard space between the two real syllables. You can also use this method to place verse numbers with the first syllable.

To create invisible syllables when typing lyrics

1. Click the Lyrics tool .
2. Type the lyrics in the usual way, up to the elision.
3. Type the first syllable. Next type ALT+0160. To type an ALT character, hold down the ALT key, and while holding it down, type 0160 on the calculator keypad on the side of your computer keyboard. NotePad inserts a hard space. Continue by typing the next syllable, which will be attached to the syllable before it. Complete the remaining lyrics.
4. NotePad treats the elision as a single syllable.

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