Adding articulations, slurs, and hairpins

Using the Articulation tool and Smart Shape tool.

Articulations tell the performer how to perform individual notes, and usually appear as small shape figures directly above or below the note entry. In NotePad, these figures are attached to the note and added with the Smart Shape and Articulation tools.

In this lesson, you will learn how to:

1. Add articulations
2. Add slurs

Note. To begin at this point, open "Tutorial 6a.MUS."

Adding articulations individually

The positioning of Articulations is fixed to its notehead or stem whenever the music moves horizontally, and may flip above/below the staff accordingly as the pitch is changed. Let's add a tenuto articulation to the first note in the vocal part.

To add an articulation:

1. Select the Articulation tool .
2. Click on the first note of measure 7 in the top staff. The Articulation Selection dialog box appears.
3. Double-click the tenuto marking (slot 7).

Adding slurs

Use the Slur tool in the Smart Shape palette to add slurs. (The slur tool looks identical to the Smart Shape tool).

To add slurs:

1. Click on the Smart Shape tool .
2. Select the Slur tool (in the Smart Shape palette, which looks identical to the Smart Shape tool).
3. Double-click beat 2 of measure 8 in the top piano staff (the C). A slur extends to the E.
4. Do the same for the remaining eighth note pairs in measures 8-10. Next, we'll extend a slur over several notes.
5. Double-click and drag from beat 2 of measure 12 (the G) to the first beat of measure 13 (the G an octave higher).

Double-click to extend a slur to the next note, or double-click and drag to extend a slur across several notes.

Slur editing techniques:

• To edit a slur, use the five diamond editing handles
• Double-click a note to extend a slur to the next note.
• To delete a slur, select its handle and press DELETE.

Adding hairpins

Hairpins are used to indicate a crescendo or decrescendo, and are added with either the Crescendo tool or Decrescendo tool in the Smart Shape palette.

To add hairpins:

1. From the Smart Shape palette, select the Crescendo tool .
2. Double-click beat 1, measure 7, above the staff, and drag to the in measure 9. NotePad will automatically break the hairpin to the next system.
3. Repeat to enter a crescendo in the same measures between the piano staves. Use the diamond handles to create a wider or narrower crescendo.

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