Appendix

This page is an administration page intended for the editing community only. Click this link to go to the handbook front page intended for public viewing.

Keyboard shortcuts

Most keyboard shortcuts can be customized via the menu: select Edit→Preferences...→Shortcuts (Mac: MuseScore→Preferences...→Shortcuts). Below is a list of some of the initial shortcut settings.

Beginning of score: Home (Mac: Fn+←)
Last page of score: End (Mac: Fn+→)
Find/Go to (measure number, rehearsal mark, or pXX when XX is a page number): Ctrl+F (Mac: Cmd+F)

Next score: Ctrl+Tab
Previous score: Shift+Ctrl+Tab

Zoom in: Ctrl++ (doesn't work on some systems) (Mac: Cmd++); or Ctrl (Mac: Cmd) + scroll up
Zoom out: Ctrl+- (Mac: Cmd+-); or Ctrl (Mac: Cmd) + scroll down

Next page: Pg Dn; or Shift + scroll down (Mac: Fn+↓)
Previous page: Pg Up; or Shift + scroll up (Mac: Fn+↑)

Next measure: Ctrl+→ (Mac: Cmd+→)
Previous measure: Ctrl+← (Mac: Cmd+←)

Next note: →
Previous note: ←

Note below (within a chord or on lower staff): Alt+↓
Note above (within a chord or on higher staff): Alt+↑

Top note in chord: Ctrl+Alt+↑ (Ubuntu uses this shortcut for Workspaces instead)
Bottom note in chord: Ctrl+Alt+↓ (Ubuntu uses this shortcut for Workspaces instead)

Next element (accessibility): Alt+→
Previous element (accessibility): Alt+←

Note input

Begin note input mode: N
Leave note input mode: N or Esc

Duration

1 ... 9 selects a duration. See also Note input.

Half duration of previous note: Q
Double duration of previous note: W
Decrease duration by one dot: (as of version 2.1) Shift+Q (e.g. a dotted quarter note becomes a quarter note; a quarter note becomes a dotted eighth note)
Increase duration by one dot : (as of version 2.1) Shift+W (e.g. an eighth note becomes a dotted eighth note; a dotted eighth note becomes a quarter note)

Voices

To select a voice in note input mode.

Voice 1: Ctrl+Alt+1 (Mac: Cmd+Alt+1)
Voice 2: Ctrl+Alt+2 (Mac: Cmd+Alt+2)
Voice 3: Ctrl+Alt+3 (Mac: Cmd+Alt+3)
Voice 4: Ctrl+Alt+4 (Mac: Cmd+Alt+4)

Pitch

Pitches can be entered by their letter name (A-G), or via MIDI keyboard. See Note input for full details.

Repeat previous note or chord: R (the repeat can be of a different note value by selecting duration beforehand)

Repeat selection: R (The selection will be repeated from the first note position after the end of the selection)

Raise pitch by octave: Ctrl+↑ (Mac: Cmd+↑)
Lower pitch by octave: Ctrl+↓ (Mac: Cmd+↓)

Raise pitch by semi-tone (prefer sharp): ↑
Lower pitch by semi-tone (prefer flat): ↓
Raise pitch diatonically: Alt+Shift+↑
Lower pitch diatonically: Alt+Shift+↓

Change enharmonic spelling in both written and concert pitch views: J
Change enharmonic spelling in current view only: Ctrl+J (Mac: Cmd+J)

Rest: 0 (zero)

Interval

Add interval above current note: Alt+[Number]

Layout

Flip direction (stem, slur, tie, tuplet bracket, etc.): X
Mirror note head: Shift+X
Increase stretch of measure(s): }
Decrease stretch of measure(s): {
Line break on selected barline: Return
Page break on selected barline: Ctrl+Return (Mac: Cmd+Return)

Articulations

Staccato: Shift+S
Tenuto: Shift+N
Sforzato (accent): Shift+V
Marcato: Shift+O
Grace note (acciaccatura): /
Crescendo: <
Decrescendo: >

Text entry

Staff text: Ctrl+T (Mac:Cmd+T)
System text: Ctrl+Shift+T (Mac: Cmd+Shift+T)
Tempo text: Alt+Shift+T
Rehearsal Mark: Ctrl+M (Mac: Cmd+M)

Lyrics entry

Enter lyrics on a note: Ctrl+L (Mac: Cmd+L)
Previous lyric syllable: Shift+Space
Next lyric syllable: if the current and the next syllables are separated by a '-': -, else Space
Move lyric syllable left by 0.1sp: ←
Move lyric syllable right by 0.1sp: →
Move lyric syllable left by 1sp: Ctrl+← (Mac: Cmd+←)
Move lyric syllable right by 1sp: Ctrl+→ (Mac: Cmd+→)
Move lyric syllable left by 0.01sp: Alt+←
Move lyric syllable right by 0.01sp: Alt+→

Up to previous stanza: Ctrl+↑ (Mac: Cmd+↑)
Down to next stanza: Ctrl+↓ (Mac: Cmd+↓)

For more lyric shortcuts, see Lyrics.

Display

Timeline: F12 (Mac: Fn+F12)
Play Panel: F11 (Mac: Fn+F11)
Mixer: F10 (Mac: Fn+F10)
Palette: F9 (Mac: Fn+F9)
Inspector: F8 (Mac: Fn+F8)
Piano Keyboard: P
Selection filter: F6
Display full screen: Ctrl+U (Mac: none, use View→Full screen instead)

Miscellaneous

Toggle visibility on selected element(s): V
Show Instruments dialog: I
Toggle multimeasure rests on or off: M
Reset element to default location: Ctrl+R (Mac: Cmd+R)

Command line options

MSCORE(1) — General Commands Manual Page

NAME

mscore, MuseScore3 — MuseScore 3 sheet music editor

SYNOPSIS

You can launch MuseScore from the command line by typing

mscore [options] [filename …] (Mac and Linux/BSD/Unix)
musescore [options] [filename …] (Linux/BSD/Unix)
mscore-portable [options] [filename …] (Linux AppImage)
MuseScore3.exe [options] [filename …] (Windows)

[options] and [filename] are optional. For this to work the MuseScore executable must be in %PATH% (Windows) resp. $PATH (Mac and Linux). If it is not, see Revert to factory settings for detailed instructions on how and where to find and execute the MuseScore executable from the command line on the various supported platforms.

A more detailed synopsis follows:

DESCRIPTION

MuseScore is a Free and Open Source WYSIWYG cross-platform multi-lingual music composition and notation software, released under the GNU General Public Licence (GPLv2).

Running mscore without any extra options launches the full graphical MuseScore program and opens any files specified on the command line.

The options are as follows:

-a | --use-audio driver: Use audio driver: one of jack, alsa, portaudio, pulse
-b | --bitrate bitrate: Set MP3 output bitrate in kbit/s
-c | --config-folder pathname: Override configuration and settings directory
-D | --monitor-resolution DPI: Specify monitor resolution (override autodetection)
-d | --debug: Start MuseScore in debug mode
-E | --install-extension extension file: Install an extension file; soundfonts are loaded by default unless -e is also specified
-e | --experimental: Enable experimental features, such as layers
-F | --factory-settings: Use only the standard built-in presets (“factory settings”) and delete user preferences; compare with the -R option (see also Revert to factory settings)
-f | --force: Ignore score corruption and version mismatch warnings in “converter mode”
-h | -? | --help: Display an overview of invocation instructions (doesn’t work on Windows)
-I | --dump-midi-in: Display all MIDI input on the console
-i | --load-icons: Load icons from the filesystem; useful if you want to edit the MuseScore icons and preview the changes
-j | --job file.json: Process a conversion job (see EXAMPLES below)
-L | --layout-debug: Start MuseScore in layout debug mode
-M | --midi-operations file: Specify MIDI import operations file (see EXAMPLES below)
-m | --no-midi: Disable MIDI input
-n | --new-score: Start with the New Score wizard regardless whether it’s enabled or disabled in the user preferences
-O | --dump-midi-out: Display all MIDI output on the console
-o | --export-to file: Export the given (or currently opened) file to the specified output file. The file type depends on the extension of the filename given. This option switches to “converter mode” and avoids the graphical user interface.
-P | --export-score-parts: When converting to PDF with the -o option, append each part’s pages to the created PDF file. If the score has no parts, all default parts will temporarily be generated automatically.
-p | --plugin name: Execute the named plugin
-R | --revert-settings: Use only the standard built-in presets (“factory settings”) but do not delete user preferences; compare with the -F option
-r | --image-resolution DPI: Set image resolution for conversion to PNG files. Default: 300 DPI (actually, the value of “Resolution” of the PNG option group in the Export tab of the preferences)
-S | --style style: Load a style file first; useful for use with the -o option
-s | --no-synthesizer: Disable the integrated software synthesizer
-T | --trim-image margin: Trim exported PNG and SVG images to remove whitespace surrounding the score. The specified margin, in pixels, will be retained (use 0 for a tightly cropped image). When exporting to SVG, this option only works with single-page scores.
-t | --test-mode: Set test mode flag for all files, includes --template-mode
-v | --version: Display the name and version of the application without starting the graphical user interface (doesn’t work on Windows)
-w | --no-webview: Disable the web view component in the Start Center
-x | --gui-scaling factor: Scale the score display and other GUI elements by the specified factor; intended for use with high-resolution displays
--diff: Print a conditioned diff between the given scores
--highlight-config: Set highlight to svg, generated from a given score
--long-version: Display the full name, version and git revision of the application without starting the graphical user interface (doesn’t work on Windows)
--no-fallback-font: Don’t use Bravura as fallback musical font
--raw-diff: Print a raw diff between the given scores
--run-test-script: Run script tests listed in the command line arguments
--save-online: Upload score(s) to their source URL. Replaces existing online score(s). (As of 3.6)
--score-media: Export all media (except MP3) for a given score as a single JSON document to stdout
--score-meta: Export score metadata to JSON document and print it to stdout
--score-mp3: Generate an MP3 for the given score and export it as a single JSON document to stdout
--score-parts: Generate parts data for the given score and save them to separate mscz files
--score-parts-pdf: Generate parts data for the given score and export it as a single JSON document to stdout
--score-transpose: Transpose the given score and export the data to a single JSON file, print it to stdout
--source-update: Update the source in the given score
--template-mode: Save files in template mode (e.g. without page sizes)

MuseScore also supports the automatic Qt command line options.

Batch conversion job JSON format

The argument to the -j option must be the pathname of a file comprised of a valid JSON document honoring the following specification:

The top-level element must be a JSONArray, which may be empty.
Each array element must be a JSONObject with the following keys:
- in: Value is the name of the input file (score to convert), as JSONString.
- plugin: Value is the filename of a plugin (with the .qml extension), which will be read from either the global or per-user plugin path and executed before the conversion output happens, as JSONString. Optional, but at least one of plugin and out must be given.
- out: Value is the conversion output target, as defined below. Optional, but at least one of plugin and out must be given.
The conversion output target may be a filename (with extension, which decided the format to convert to), as JSONString.
The conversion output target may be a JSONArray of filenames as JSONString, as above, which will cause the score to be written to multiple output files (in multiple output formats) sequentially, without being closed, re-opened and re-processed in between.
If the conversion output target is a JSONArray, one or more of its elements may also be, each, a JSONArray of two JSONStrings (called first and second half in the following description). This will cause part extraction: for each such two-tuple, all extant parts of the score will be saved individually, with filenames being composed by concatenating the first half, the name (title) of the part, and the second half. The resulting string must be a valid filename (with extension, determining the output format). If a score has no parts (excerpts) defined, this will be silently ignored without error.
Valid file extensions for output are:

flac

Free Lossless Audio Codec (compressed audio)

metajson

various score metadata (JSON)

mid

standard MIDI file

midi

standard MIDI file

mlog

internal file sanity check log (JSON)

mp3

MPEG Layer III (lossy compressed audio)

mpos

measure positions (XML)

mscx

uncompressed MuseScore file

mscz

compressed MuseScore file

musicxml

uncompressed MusicXML file

mxl

compressed MusicXML file

ogg

OGG Vorbis (lossy compressed audio)

pdf

portable document file (print)

png

portable network graphics (image) — Individual files, one per score page, with a hyphen-minus followed by the page number placed before the file extension, will be generated.

spos

segment positions (XML)

svg

scalable vector graphics (image)

wav

RIFF Waveform (uncompressed audio)

xml

uncompressed MusicXML file

See below for an example.

ENVIRONMENT

SKIP_LIBJACK: Set this (the value does not matter) to skip initialization of the JACK Audio Connection Kit library, in case it causes trouble.
XDG_CONFIG_HOME: User configuration location; defaults to ~/.config if unset.
XDG_DATA_HOME: User data location; defaults to ~/.local/share if unset.

Note that MuseScore also supports the normal Qt environment variables such as QT_QPA_GENERIC_PLUGINS, QT_QPA_PLATFORM, QT_QPA_PLATFORMTHEME, QT_QPA_PLATFORM_PLUGIN_PATH, QT_STYLE_OVERRIDE, DISPLAY, etc.

FILES

/usr/share/mscore-3.0/ contains the application support data (demos, instruments, localization, system-wide plugins, soundfonts, styles, chords, templates and wallpapers). In the Debian packages, system-wide soundfonts are installed into /usr/share/sounds/sf2/, /usr/share/sounds/sf3/ or /usr/share/sounds/sfz/, respectively, instead.

The per-user data (extensions, plugins, soundfonts, styles, templates) and files (images, scores) are normally installed into subdirectories under ~/MuseScore3/ but may be changed in the configuration. Note that snapshot, alpha and beta versions use MuseScore3Development instead of MuseScore3 in all of these paths.

$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/MuseScore/MuseScore3.ini contains the user preferences, list of recently used files and their locations, window sizes and positions, etc. See above for development version paths.

$XDG_DATA_HOME/data/MuseScore/MuseScore3/ contains updated localization files downloaded from within the program, plugin information, cached scores, credentials for the musescore.com community site, session information, synthesizer settings, custom key and time signatures and shortcuts. See above for development version paths.

EXAMPLES

Convert a score to PDF from the command line

mscore -o 'My Score.pdf' 'My Score.mscz'

Run a batch job converting multiple documents

mscore -j job.json

This requires the file job.json in the current working directory to have content similar to the following:

[
  {
    "in": "Reunion.mscz",
    "out": "Reunion-coloured.pdf",
    "plugin": "colornotes.qml"
  },
  {
    "in": "Reunion.mscz",
    "out": [
      "Reunion.pdf",
      [ "Reunion (part for ", ").pdf" ],
      "Reunion.musicxml",
      "Reunion.mid"
    ]
  },
  {
    "in": "Piece with excerpts.mscz",
    "out": [
      "Piece with excerpts (Partitura).pdf",
      [ "Piece with excerpts (part for ", ").pdf" ],
      "Piece with excerpts.mid"
    ]
  }
]

The last part of the job would, for example, cause files like “Piece with excerpts (part for Violin).pdf” to be generated alongside the conductor’s partitura and a MIDI file with the full orchestra sound, whereas the equivalent part of the Reunion conversion will be silently ignored (because the Reunion piece (a MuseScore demo) has no excerpts defined).

MIDI import operations

The attached midi_import_options.xml is a sample MIDI import operations file for the -M option.

DIAGNOSTICS

The mscore utility exits 0 on success, and >0 if an error occurs.

STANDARDS

MuseScore attempts to implement the following standards:

MusicXML 3.1 (score interchange format)
SF2 (SoundFont 2.01)
SF3 (SoundFont with OGG Vorbis-compressed samples)
SFZ (Sforzato soundfont)
SMuFL (Standard Music Font Layout 1.20)

HISTORY

MuseScore was split off the MusE sequencer in 2002 and has since become the foremost Open Source notation software.

AUTHORS

MuseScore is developed by MuseScore BVBA and others.

This manual page was written by mirabilos <tg@debian.org>.

CAVEATS

The automatic Qt command line options are removed from the argument vector before the application has a chance at option processing; this means that an invocation like mscore -S -reverse has no chance at working because the -reverse is removed by Qt first.

BUGS

MuseScore does not honor /etc/papersize.
Probably some more; check the project’s bug tracker (cf. SEE ALSO).

MuseScore — August 28, 2023

New features in MuseScore 3.6

New score setup and layout features

MuseScore 3.6 introduces a new music font, Leland, a new default text font, Edwin (a version of New Century Schoolbook), and many new default settings. It also introduces a number of new features which are available in all newly-created scores by default, and which can also be applied automatically or manually to existing scores.

The three main features, which are interrelated, are:

Automatic instrument ordering
Automatic brackets and braces
Vertical justification of staves

The first two features apply at score creation time and are available in the New Score Wizard, though they can also be accessed later in the Instruments panel. Previously, it was up to the user to arrange instruments and add brackets manually once the score was created. The aim of these new features is to save time and give a better default result in the majority of cases, but it is not intended to accommodate every possible score setup. For unusual layouts, the results can be customised after the score is created, the features can be turned off completely, or a template could be used.

Automatic instrument ordering

Dialog: New Score Wizard / Add Instruments

When creating a new score via 'Choose Instruments', there is now an 'Ordering' dropdown showing the current system of instrument ordering. 'Orchestral' is the default. As instruments are added to the score, they will be added in the correct position according to the select ordering. (Previously, each instrument would appear below whichever was currently selected in the right-hand list.) This also makes it easy to, for instance, add a double wind section, by selecting Flute, Oboe, Clarinet and Bassoon in the left-hand list, and clicking 'Add to score' twice.

Each ordering defines a position in the score for solo instruments. For example, in an orchestral ordering, this is above the strings. With an instrument selected in the right-hand list, the 'Make soloist' button will move it to that position. You can designate multiple soloists; within the soloist 'section' the overall ordering will apply. Solo instruments will have "solo" added to their name by default, and will be numbered separately from non-solo instruments, where relevant. Note that the soloist designation is a score layout feature only and has no impact on playback.

One quirk is that, for now, only a single soloist position is defined per ordering, so a work with a chorus plus both vocal and instrumental soloists will place the instrumental soloists above the chorus. These will need to be moved manually.

As before, instruments can be moved up and down manually with the buttons that are now to the right of the list. In the dropdown the ordering will have '(Customised)' appended to its name. The customised ordering is saved with the score. You can reset the order by selecting the original ordering (or a different one) from the dropdown.

Selecting the 'Custom' ordering disables this feature entirely, as well as the automatic bracketing.

Automatic brackets and braces

The predefined ordering assigns instrument families (flutes, oboes, clarinets, etc.) and arranges those families into sections (woodwind, brass, percussion, etc.). Brackets are added automatically according to these simple rules:

A heavy bracket is applied to all adjacent instruments of the same section, assuming there is more than one
a thin square bracket is applied to all adjacent identical instruments (four horns, for example)
a curly brace is applied to each single instrument which is notated on more than one stave (piano and harp, most commonly)

Again, while this should provide reasonable defaults for most scores, it won't give perfect results for every possible style or layout. Fortunately, it is easy to make adjustments once the score is created.

Vertical justification of staves

There is a new algorithm for vertically justifying staves to properly fill the page, which is turned on by default for new scores in MuseScore 3.6. To turn this off, untick Format > Style > Page > Enable vertical justification of staves.

Dialog: Edit Style / Page

The basic principle of the algorithm is to try to make the space between staves equal, subject to two settings (all in Format > Style > Page):

The space either side of a system may be increased proportionally by adjusting the "Factor for distance above/below bracket" setting to a value greater than 1. For example, if this is set to 1.5, the algorithm will attempt to make the space either side of a bracket 1.5 times the 'standard' space used elsewhere.
The same thing can be applied to braces with the "Factor for distance above/below brace" setting.

The space between a brace and bracket will be determined by the larger of these two values. The "Max. great staff distance" setting is used to limit the amount of distance between staves joined by a curly brace. This is useful as these staves generally need to be read at once in a single glance by the player.

The "Max. system distance" and "Max. stave distance" should have reasonably large values to enable the routine to fill even quite sparse pages. Sometimes a page will not have enough staves for it to make sense to justify. In this case, once the algorithm first equalises the space as described above, it then adds extra space between the staves up to a maximum of the setting given in "Max. page fill distance" (multiplied by any relevant factor setting). If you find many pages are not fully justified, but you'd like them to be, try adjusting this setting. In general, a low value is likely to be best for a score with a small number of staves per system, and a larger one for larger numbers of staves.

The vertical justification is dynamic, and not tied to the section assignments of instruments used to determine the score order at the setup stage, so if you add or remove brackets the spacing will change accordingly. In the same way, if empty staves are hidden on a given system, the spacing will be determined only by the brackets which are present on that system.

Hopefully the default settings give good results in most cases, but it might take a bit of experimentation with the settings depending on the makeup of a score. If you are used to using spacers to achieve similar results, it is best to try to find settings which give a good result for the majority of the score, and use spacers only where local adjustments are necessary. It is planned for future versions to make this more configurable. For example, extra space could be suppressed for a specific bracket, or the value might be increased or decreased for a particular page or system.

Indentation of first systems

This new option, which is turned on by default, is found in Style > Score > Enable indentation on first system. As the name suggests, it will indent the first system of a section in the customary way for classical scores. (The old workaround of using a frame for this is no longer necessary.) If there are instrument labels present, the maximum of either the value given for this setting or the length of the labels will apply.

Applying new features to existing scores

When opening an old score, a dialog box gives the option to apply either the new notation font Leland, or the new text font Edwin, or both. Each of these applies a subset of the new default 3.6 style settings beyond just the font changes, for example, line widths and text sizes, but does not apply every one of the the new defaults, in the interest of minimising disruptive layout changes.

Dialog: Import

To apply all of the new defaults, including these text and notation font changes, open the Format > Style window and click the "Reset All Styles to Default" button at the bottom. This was formerly the Format > Reset Style menu option. The button behaves the same way, except that it no longer resets the page layout options which are set in the Format > Page Settings window; that window now has its own equivalent button, which will reset only those settings it contains. This means that the new style options can be tried out without completely ruining the layout of the score, though a few settings in the Score and Page settings of the Style window may need to be re-set manually.

If it is an option, delete any non-essential system and page breaks, then select the whole score and select Format > Stretch > Reset Layout Stretch. Also delete spacers if you want to see the default results of the new vertical justification algorithm (see below).

Edwin has wider character sizes in general than FreeSerif (though slightly smaller default point sizes are used) so it is quite likely that the Edwin option will cause layout changes, particularly in scores with lyrics. Leland will affect the spacing less radically, but some adjustments may still be necessary.

Text items which have local style overrides applied will not have those customisations removed, either as part of the score migration process, or via the Reset Styles options. This may result in an inconsistent score where some text retains its old font face or size. The new menu option Format > Reset Text Style Overrides will remove these customisations, resetting all text items to match the currently defined text styles. (This is equivalent to clicking 'Reset to style default' for each attribute in the Text area of the Inspector.) Note that this does not remove Custom Formatting, which must be done manually if required.

Applying new automatic instrument ordering and bracketing

Press I to open the Instruments panel, or choose the Edit > Instruments menu item. Assuming the score was created pre-3.6, the selected ordering will be 'Custom'. If you wish to apply a standard ordering, select one from the menu, for example 'Orchestral'. The instruments in the score will be reordered according to that definition, and have brackets and braces applied accordingly. Note that any existing brackets and braces will be deleted.

Applying vertical justification of staves

If you want to use this feature but have previously been using spacers to create extra or fixed distance between staves, it would be best to delete all those spacers first, as they will distort how the new algorithm works. A quick way to do this is by right-clicking any spacer, choosing Select > All Similar Elements, and pressing Delete.

Turn this feature on by selecting Style > Page > Enable vertical justification of staves. Then you can reintroduce spacers if there are specific places where the default spacing needs adjustment.

Other engraving changes in 3.6

In the process of investigating style settings, engraving issues, and creating a new music font, many issues were uncovered which needed to be corrected and which may have a small impact on the appearance of existing scores. In some cases it is possible to undo these manually.

Beam spacing

A long-standing error in the interpretation of the beamDistance setting that is defined alongside SMuFL fonts meant that this value was frequently half as big as it ought to be in MuseScore, including with Emmentaler and Bravura. (MuseScore defines the distance between beams as a percentage of the thickness of a beam, but for SMuFL the setting is an absolute distance in stave spaces. The normal thickness of a beam is 0.5sp, and the standard distance between beams is also 0.25sp, which MuseScore interpreted as 25% of 0.5sp, i.e. 0.125sp.)

The new correct interpretation of this value, 50%, will be applied even to existing scores, unless this value had been explicitly overridden. The extra space is added inwards, so the position of the outermost beams remains the same. If you really want the old, very-tight spacing, set Style > Beams > Beam distance manually to 25%.

Before (beam distance 25%):
Beams (before)
After (beam distance 50%):
Beams (after)

Ledger line length

In a similar way, MuseScore interpreted this SMuFL value as the total extension of the ledger line beyond the notehead (i.e. x/2 at each side), when the value is meant to be the extension at each side. This error was also masked by a square cap being used for the line, rather than a straight cap, thus also adding half of the line thickness at each end.

As with beam spacing, if this setting was not explicitly overridden in the file, a new default will be applied even in old scores, but this will give identical results. If you did adjust this value, this value will be preserved, but will produce ledger lines that are too long. You can convert the value manually with the formula:

new value = (x / 2) - (y / 2)

where x is the previous 'Ledger line length' value, and y is the 'Ledger line thickness' value. Or, just use the now correctly-interpreted default settings for each font:

Leland: 0.35sp
Bravura, Gonville, Petaluma: 0.40sp
Emmentaler: 0.38sp

Stem caps and flag positions

Round caps were previously drawn on stems. This has been replaced with a flat cap. Partly this is to make the length of the stem more exact, but mainly it is so that the round cap does not obscure the design of the tip of the flag symbols in each font. Emmentaler's flags, for instance, are designed with a flat tip; Bravura and Leland have rounded tips which are not exactly symmetrical.

The placement of flags was also previously at odds with SMuFL fonts: a calculation was made of how much to extend the stem for a given number of flags, and then the flag symbol was drawn with the top or bottom of its bounding box at the end of the stem. Now, the presence of flags does not affect stem length (i.e. a normal length stem is used for a note according to its vertical position and stem direction) and the flag symbol is then placed with its y=0 at the end of the stem. Any 'extension' of the stem is thus determined by the extent to which the flag symbol extends above or below y=0. The flags in Emmentaler, as used within MuseScore, have been repositioned to reflect this, and to match other SMuFL fonts.

The result of this is that flags may appear slightly lower or higher than they did previously; however, their positioning now reflects the intentions of the designers of each of the available fonts. Beamed notes are not affected.

Before (Bravura, in 3.5):
Flags (before)

After (Bravura, in 3.6):
Flags (after)

Bracketed accidentals

Previously MuseScore did not add any space between the bounding boxes of accidentals and brackets around them. Now a small amount of padding is added, which can be customised via Style > Accidentals > Padding inside parentheses.

Before (Bravura, in 3.5):
Bracketed accidentals (before)

After (Bravura, in 3.6):
Bracketed accidentals (after)

Accidentals in Emmentaler

These have been replaced with those taken from Parnassus. For details, see PR #6747.

New features in MuseScore 3

MuseScore 3 includes a number of new and improved features. For a brief summary, see the Release notes for MuseScore 3. More details can be found in the summaries below and by referring to the relevant pages of the handbook.

Automatic Placement

MuseScore initially places elements in the score according to (a) the properties specified in style defaults and (b) any manual adjustments made. For elements that have automatic placement enabled, however, MuseScore will attempt to avoid collisions by moving one or more of them as needed.

See Automatic placement.

Default position

The default position for most elements is controlled by settings in Format → Style. You can either change the default there, or, in the Inspector, apply a manual adjustment (see below) and then use the "Set as style" control (the S to the right of the value you wish to set).

The specific properties you can set vary by element type but include:

placement (whether the element appears above or below the staff by default)
position above/below (specific positions when placed above or below)
offset (same as position above/below, for which placement is the default)
autoplace min distance (minimum distance from other elements when autoplace is enabled)

See Automatic placement.

Manual adjustments

Many elements can be placed either above or below the staff. To flip an element from above to below or vice versa, use the "Placement" setting in the Inspector, or press the shortcut "X".

Manual adjustments to position can be performed by dragging or by changing the offsets in the Inspector. Neither method will allow you to position an element in a way that causes a collision, however. To take full control of the position of an element, you can disable automatic placement for it.

See Automatic placement.

Disabling automatic placement

To disable automatic placement for an element, untick the "Automatic placement" box in the Inspector. The element will revert to its default position, and it will no longer be considered when automatically placing other elements.

See Automatic placement.

Stacking order

The "Stacking order" setting in the Inspector controls which elements overlap which in the cases where they actually do overlap and are not moved due to autoplacement.

See Automatic placement.

Text Formatting

Formatting of text is controlled by three factors:

The text style associated with the element sets the defaults for properties such as the font, alignment, and frame.
Changes to these text properties can be applied to selected elements via the Inspector.
Custom formatting can be applied to specific characters within the text using the text toolbar.

See Text basics, Text styles and properties.

Text Styles

Each text element has a text style associated with it. The default style for an element is determined by the type of the element itself - staff text defaults to the Staff text style, dynamics to the Dynamics text style, etc. This text style determines the default font face, size, style (bold/italic/underline), alignment, and frame properties.

You can change the defaults for any of these text styles using Format → Style → Text Styles. For instance, you can make rehearsal marks bigger, or change lyrics to be italicized. This will affect all existing elements using that style as well as elements you add later. Some elements also contain a limited set of text style controls in their own sections of the Format → Style dialog (although this might not be the case in the final release). The settings are linked: you can change the font size for measure numbers in either Format → Style → Measure Numbers, or in Format → Style → Text Styles: Measure Number. The effect is the same: all measure numbers in the score will take on this size. You can also change the defaults for a text style using the Inspector; see Text Properties below.

For most text elements that you create directly (like staff text, rehearsal marks, and lyrics), you can apply a different text style using the Style control in the Inspector. This will cause them to display using that style instead of the "native" style for the element. For example, you can select one or more staff text elements and give them the Tempo style to force them to display as if they were tempo markings.

See Text basics, Text styles and properties.

Text Properties

The text style controls the default properties for elements using that style, but you can override any of these properties for selected elements using the Inspector. For example, you can select a handful of staff text elements using Ctrl+click, then use the Inspector to make them larger. The Reset to Default button next to each property control returns it to the default. You can also click the Set as Style button to change the style to match. So another way to change the size of all measures numbers is to select one, change its size in the Inspector, then click Set as Style.

See Text basics, Text styles and properties.

Custom Formatting

Custom formatting is applied to text using the toolbar at the bottom of the main window in the same manner as in previous releases. Thus, you can embolden one word in a sentence while the rest is normal, or superscript a particular character etc. You can also remove all custom formatting from select text elements using the "Remove Custom Formatting" button in the Inspector. This returns the text to the settings currently shown in the Inspector.

See Text editing.

Staff Type Change

You can change various staff properties mid-score, including staff size, notehead scheme (e.g., for pitch name noteheads), generation of time signatures, and others. The staff type change element is found on the Text palette (currently, but see #278205: Move Staff Type Change to another palette (it is not text) - it may move). Add it to the measure where you want the change to occur, then use the Inspector to change properties of the staff type change element.

See Staff Type Change

Temporary and Cutaway Staves

To create a temporary staff that appears on certain systems only: first add the staff normally (Edit / Instruments), then add notes, then right-click the staff, click Staff Properties, and set "Hide when empty" to "Always". This will cause the staff to show only where needed even without needing to turn on "Hide empty staves" for the whole score (in Format / Style). The default for "Hide when empty" is "Auto", meaning the staff will be hidden when empty if "Hide empty staves" is enabled. Additional values include "Never" (the staff will not be hidden when empty even if "Hide empty staves" is enabled) and "Instrument" (for instruments containing multiple staves, the staff is hidden only if all staves for that instrument are empty).

To create a cutaway staff in which only the measures containing notes are visible (for ossia or cutaway scores, for example), right-click the staff, click Staff Properties, and enable the "Cutaway" option. This can be used independently of "Hide when empty" or "Hide empty staves".

System Dividers

System dividers are a set of short diagonal lines that are used to visually separate systems on a page. MuseScore can add these to your score automatically. In Format → Style → System, you can enable dividers on the left, right, or both, and you can set their default position. You can also adjust the position of individual dividers in your score manually or mark them invisible (this currently does not survive saving).

Staff Spacing

As part of the automatic placement in MuseScore, staves are now spaced automatically, so you can set a comfortable minimum distance and depend on MuseScore to open up more space where needed. You can use staff spacers as in MuseScore 2 to increase distance between staves, but MuseScore 3 now also provides a way to decrease it—the "fixed" staff spacer, found on the Breaks & Spacers palette. Just add the spacer and adjust its height. This will also prevent MuseScore from automatically adding more space to avoid collisions, allowing you to manage this yourself.

See Spacers.

Don't Break

Currently disabled

In addition to the system, page, and section breaks familiar from MuseScore 2, the "Breaks & Spacers" palette now contains a new "Don't Break" element. This allows you to force two measures to be kept together, for example, if there is some complex passage that spans the measures and you want to make sure they are adjacent. If both measures don't fit on a system, MuseScore moves them both to the next system. (currently, this leaves a "hole" at the end of the first staff - is this a bug or is there some purpose behind it?)

Parts from Voices

In addition to the ability to generate parts from the different instruments in your score, you can now also associate a part with a specific staff within the instrument or even a specific voice within a specific staff. This allows you to combine multiple parts (e.g., Flute 1 & 2) onto a single staff in the score while still generating separate parts.

The Parts dialog now contains two sections at the bottom, Instruments in Score and Instruments in Part. Once you have generated a part (or all parts) using the New and New All buttons, you can select any part at the top and use the controls at the bottom to control not only what instrument is in the part, but also which staves and voices within the instrument are included.

To add an instrument to a part, select it from "Instruments in Score" and press "+". To remove an instrument from a part, select it from "Instruments in Part" and press "-". To customize the part at the staff or voice level, click the arrow next to the instrument in "Instruments in Part" to expand the listing to show all staves and voices of the instrument. You can remove a staff by selecting it and pressing "-", or remove a voice by unchecking it.

Limitations: If you select only voice 1 for a given staff, then only the content in voice 1 for that staff will be included in the part. Thus, in order to share flute 1 & 2 on the same staff, you will need to enter all notes onto both voices, even in passages where they share content. You also cannot enter the two parts as chords in the passages where they share rhythms.

Explode and Implode

Explode has been updated to allow separation of voices as well as notes. See Explode.

The implode tool (Tools / Implode) works in one of two modes.

With a single staff selected, the implode command merges notes in different voices into chords where possible (when notes are on the same beat and have the same duration). This is the same as recent versions of MuseScore, although some bugs have been fixed.

With multiple staves selected, the implode command combines the content of the first four non-empty voices (on any staves) into multiple voices on the top selected staff. This is different from MuseScore 2, where notes would be combined into chords rather than using multiple voices, and thus required the rhythms to match. The MuseScore 3 approach preserves the original rhythms even where they differ, and is intended to produce the expected results when combining two different parts onto one staff for use with the parts from voices feature, or when reducing an open (four-stave) SATB score into a closed (two-stave) version. To further merge the voices into chords where possible, simply run the command again.

See Tools.

Insert mode

You can insert and delete notes and have the measure automatically expand or contract to accommodate the change. This can be useful in creating unmetered music or in ordinary editing.

To insert a note before the currently-selected note, press Ctrl+Shift while adding the note normally. For example, in note input mode, Ctrl+Shift+click will insert a note of the currently-selected duration at that location. Ctrl+Shift+B will insert a B of the currently-selected duration before the note at the current cursor position. You can also switch to Insert mode using the dropdown menu next to the note input button on the toolbar. In this mode, all notes you add act as if you were pressing Ctrl+Shift - they are inserted rather than replacing the existing notes or rests at that location.

To delete notes, you must be in normal (not note input) mode. Select either a single note or a range and press Ctrl+Del.

See Note input modes, Remove selected range (Tools)

Split/Join Measures

To split a measure before a given note, simply insert a barline from the palette at that point while holding Ctrl. For example, you can select the note, and Ctrl+double-click the barline in the palette, or Ctrl+drag the barline to the note. You can also use Tools → Measure → Split Measure Before Selected Note/Rest.

To join two measures, Ctrl+Del the barline between them. You can also use the menu command Tools → Measure → Join Measures.

See Measure operations.

Timeline

The Timeline presents a graphical overview of your score. To access it, use View →Timeline (F12). The top portion of the Timeline shows the location of tempo, key, and time signature changes as well as rehearsal marks, repeats, and double barlines. The bottom portion shows the staves of your score, with non-empty measures highlighted. You can click anywhere within this view to jump to the corresponding spot in the score.

See Timeline

Score Comparison Tool

The Score Comparison Tool (View / Score Comparison Tool) allows you to compare two versions of a score to find the differences between them. Select the two scores you want to compare and whether you want to compare the current version or the last saved version (note you can compare the current version of a score against the last saved version of the same score to see what you have changed since the last save), then click the Compare button. A list of differences will be displayed to the right. The score view will automatically change to Documents Side by Side, with the two scores you have selected displayed within. Double-click on a difference from the list and both score views will automatically pan to show you the changed element, which will also be highlighted.

Normally you would want the default Intelligent comparison, which displays the differences in human-readable format (e.g. "Measure 1: Note: property pitch changed from B4 to C5"). There is also a Raw mode to show the results according to the actual XML code.

See Score comparison.

Mixer

See Mixer.

Piano Roll Editor

See Piano roll editor (preliminary page).

Capo changes

Capo changes are now a property of staff text, and can be used to automatically change the pitch of all notes that follow them, up until another capo change.

See Capo playback.

Fretboard Diagrams

New UI. See Fretboard diagrams.

External links

Known limitations of MuseScore 3.x

While all members of the development team did their best to make the software easy to use and bug-free, there are some known issues and limitations in MuseScore 3.x.

Local time signatures

The local time signature feature, which allows you to have different time signatures in different staves at the same time, is very limited. You can only add a local time signature to measures that are empty, and only if there are no linked parts. When adding notes to measures with local time signatures, you can enter notes normally via note input mode, but copy and paste does not work correctly and may lead to corruption or even crashes. The join and split commands are disabled for measures with local time signatures.

Regroup Rhythms

The Regroup Rhythms command found under the Tools menu may have unintended side effects, including changing the spelling of pitches and deleting some elements like articulations, glissandos, tremolos, grace notes and, esp. on undo, ties. Use this tool with caution on limited selections, so that you can tell if any unwanted changes are made.

Tablature staff linked with standard staff

When entering multiple-note chords on a standard staff in a linked staff/tablature system, the notes should be entered in order from the top (first) string to the bottom string to ensure correct fret assignment.

This limitation does not apply if entering notes directly onto a tablature staff, or when using an unlinked staff/tablature system.

Mixer

Changing settings in the mixer other than the sound doesn't mark the score 'dirty'. That means if you close a score you may not get the warning "Save changes to the score before closing?". Changing mixer values are also not undoable.

Header & footer

There is no way to edit Header and Footer in a WYSIWYG manner. The fields in Format → Style → Header, Footer are plain text. They can contain "HTML like" syntax, but the text style, layout, etc. can't be edited with a WYSIWYG editor.

Upgrade from MuseScore 1.x or 2.x

How to upgrade MuseScore

Download and install the latest version from the download page as described at Installation.

Installing MuseScore 3 won't uninstall 1.x nor 2.x —all three versions can coexist peacefully and can even be used in parallel. So this isn't really an upgrade but an installation of a new and different program.

Opening 1.x or 2.x scores in MuseScore 3

MuseScore 3 significantly improved the typesetting quality to make scores attractive and easier to read. Improvements cover many items such as beam slope, stem height, layout of accidentals in chords and general note spacing. However, this means that sheet music made with MuseScore 1.x or 2.x looks slightly different from sheet music made with 3.x.

It also means that scores saved with 3.x won't open with 1.x nor 2.x.

To prevent you from accidentally overwriting your 1.x or 2.x scores, 3.x treats them as an import, which means:

The score gets marked as being modified, even if you haven't changed anything
On exiting MuseScore you're asked to save the score (as a result from the above)
MuseScore uses the "Save As" dialog to save it, not the "Save" dialog
MuseScore uses the score's title to create a default filename rather than taking the old filename

Relayout

If you did not manually adjust the layout of a 1.x or 2.x score, then MuseScore uses the 3.x typesetting engine to layout the score. If you did touch the layout of the 1.x or 2.x score, the individual adjustments you may have made should remain after opening it in MuseScore 3.x, but due to slight changes in the surrounding layout they may still not appear correct in context. If you wish to reset even manual adjustments to use the 3.x typesetting engine throughout, select the complete score with the shortcut Ctrl+A (Mac: Cmd+A) and reset the layout with Ctrl+R (Mac: Cmd+R).

Note: When you open a 1.x or 2.x file in MuseScore 3, it will ask you if you want to reset the layout to the defaults.

Getting the sound from MuseScore 1.x

While the sound in 2.x/3.x has been much improved, you may still prefer the sound from MuseScore 1.x. In that case, you can get the 1.x sound in 3.x by downloading the 1.3 SoundFont and add it in 3.x. You can do this in two steps:

Known incompatibilities

Hardware incompatibilities

The following software is known to crash MuseScore on startup:

Samson USB Microphone, driver name "Samson ASIO Driver", samsonasiodriver.dll. More info
Digidesign MME Refresh Service. More info
Windows XP SP3 + Realtek Azalia Audio Driver. More info
Wacom tablet. More info and QTBUG-6127

Software incompatibilities

Maple virtual cable is known to prevent MuseScore from closing properly.
KDE (Linux) window settings can cause the whole window to move when dragging a note. Changing the window settings of the operating system avoids the problem.
Nitro PDF Creator may prevent MuseScore 2 from starting on Windows 10, if being used as the default printer. Same for Amyumi/Quickbooks PDF Printer, see here and also some cloud printing services, see here.
Creative Sound Blaster Z Series ASIO driver may prevent MuseScore 2 from starting on Windows 10.
Untrusted Font Blocking policy prevents MuseScore 2 from starting (except in debug mode, i.e. using the -d option) on Windows 10. (Solution in the links provided here)
The SteelSeries Engine 3 Audio Visualizer will prevent MuseScore from starting up, or cause MuseScore to crash if the Audio Visualizer is started when MuseScore is already running.
MacOS 10.5+ Accessibility setting "Hover Text" crashes MuseScore 3. Workaround is to disable that setting

AVG Internet Security hangs MuseScore

MuseScore requires access to your internet connection with AVG. MuseScore doesn't need an internet connection to function, but if AVG blocks it, MuseScore hangs.

If AVG prompts you, Allow MuseScore and check "Save my answer as a permanent rule and do not ask me next time."

If it doesn't prompt you anymore,

Open the AVG user interface (right-click on the AVG icon, close to your clock -> Open AVG User Interface)
Click on Firewall
Click Advanced Settings
Click Applications
Find MSCORE.EXE in the list and double-click it
Change Application Action to Allow for All

Font problem on macOS

MuseScore is known to display notes as square when some fonts are damaged on macOS.
To troubleshoot this issue:

Go to Applications -> Font Book
Select a font and press ⌘+A to select them all
Go to File -> Validate Fonts
If any font is reported as damaged or with minor problems, select it and delete it
Restart MuseScore if necessary

In this forum article, a user believes to have found the font "Adobe Jenson Pro (ajenson)" to be the culprit, regardless of not being reported as broken, or problematic as per the above validation, and solved the problem by deleting that font, so this is worth checking too.

Font problem on Linux

If the default desktop environment application font is set to bold, MuseScore will not display the notes properly.
To troubleshoot this issue (gnome 2.*/MATE users):

Right-click on your desktop and select Change Desktop background
Click on Fonts tab
Set Regular style for Application font
Restart MuseScore if necessary

For GNOME 3/SHELL users

Open the shell and open "Advanced Settings"
Click on the Fonts option in the list
Set the default font to something non-bold
Restart MuseScore if necessary

Save As dialog empty on Linux

Some users reported that the Save As dialog is empty on Debian 6.0 and Lubuntu 10.10.
To troubleshoot this issue:

Type the following in a terminal
```
which mscore
```
The command will answer with the path of mscore. Edit it with your preferred text editor and add the following line at the beginning
```
export QT_NO_GLIB=1
```

Launch MuseScore and the problem should be solved.

Glossary

Listed below are technicial terms and musical terms, which are frequently used in MuseScore or in the Handbook. Links to relevant handbook chapter are provided. To help musicians who are capable of reading a notation but do not know its proper name, image is provided. This chapter does not aim to be a dictionary of all musical notations, see External links.

The differences between American English and British English are marked with "(AE)" and "(BE)", respectively. Editors and translators of this chapter should add the individual entry for each term.

A

Acciaccatura: A short →grace note which appears as a small note with a stroke through the stem. Musescore creates a quick playback, the playback duration is not affected by duration of the parent note. See Grace notes chapter.
Accidental: An accidental is a sign appearing in front of a note that raises or lowers its pitch. See Accidental chapter. Musescore creates playback for common accidentals only, they includes →sharps, →flats, →naturals, →double sharps, →double flats, and triple flats. To create microtonal accidentals such as quarter tone, see Tuning systems, microtonal notation system, and playback Chapter.
Ambitus: Note (or vocal) range used in a →staff. Used particularly in Early Music. See Ambitus chapter.
Anacrusis (mostly BE): See →Pickup measure.
Anchor: The point of attachment to the score of objects such as Text and Lines: When the object is dragged, the anchor appears as small brown circle connected to the object by a dotted line. Depending on the object selected, its anchor may be attached to either (a) a note (e.g. fingering), (b) a staff line (e.g. staff text), or (c) a barline (e.g. repeats).
Appoggiatura: A long →grace note which takes value from its associated note. Musescore creates playback as such. It is acceptable to execute written appoggiatura as acciaccatura nowadays but Musescore does not create such playback. Appoggiatura's functions include: passing tone, anticipation, struck suspension, and escape tone.
Arpeggio: An arpeggio tells the performer to break up the chord into the constituent notes, playing them separately and one after the other. The arrow arpeggio symbol indicates the direction in which the player should play the notes of the chord. See Arpeggios and glissandi chapter.
Articulation: A marking or symbol indicating how a note should be played, usually by altering the length of a note or shaping its attack and decay. See Articulations and ornaments chapter.

B

Bar (BE): See →measure.
Barline: Vertical line through a →staff, staves, or a full →system that separates →measures. See Barline chapter.
Beam: Notes with a duration of an →eighth or shorter either carry a →flag or a beam. Beams are used for grouping notes. See also French Beam. See Beam chapter.
BPM: A tempo displaying unit only used inside Musescore's Play panel. BPM is the amount of quarter notes would have been within one minute. It is not the number used in metronome tempo markings on a score. See Play mode: Play panel chapter.
Breve, Brevis: A double whole note or breve is a note that has the duration of two whole notes.

C

Caesura: A caesura (//) is a brief, silent pause. Time is not counted for this period, and music resumes when the director signals. See Breaths and pauses chapter.
Capo (text): A text to indicate the setting of the transposing device used on an instrument. See Staff Text and System Text chapter. Not to be confused with Da capo (D.C.).
Cent: An interval equal to one hundredth of a semitone, used by Tuning property of a note, see Inspector : note and Tuning systems, microtonal notation system, and playback chapter.
Channel: 1. Instrument and channel in Musescore are software abstractions, see Mixer chapter.; 2. A MIDI output data, see MIDI controls in Mixer chapter.
Chord: 1. A group of two or more notes sounding together.; 2. In Musescore, only notes sounding together that have same duration inside one Musescore Voice constitute a chord. To select a chord in MuseScore, press Shift and click on a note. See Voice chapter.; 3. In Musescore, a chord symbol. See Chord notation systems chapter.
Clef: A musical symbol used to indicate which notes are represented by the lines and spaces on a →staff. See Clefs chapter. See also courtesy clef.
Coda: 1. A passage that brings a piece (or a movement) to an end.; 2. The navigation marker which resembles a set of crosshairs. It is used where the exit from a repeated section is within that section rather than at the end. See also dal segno sign. See Repeats and jumps chapter.
Concert pitch: 1. The sounding, or real pitch of a note, contrast with written pitch.; 2. A score viewing mode in Musescore, see Concert pitch and Transposition chapters.; 3. The frequency of A4, see Synthesizer chapter.
Courtesy clef: A reduced-size clef applied to the end of a system indicating a clef change at the start of the next system. See Clefs chapter.
Cross-staff notation: A musical phrase extending across two neighboring staffs eg bass staff and treble staff.; To create notation where the two stems are at opposite sides of the beam, as shown above, see Cross-staff notation chapter.; To create notation where the stems are on the same side of the beam, as shown above, see How to span a chord or stem over two staves chapter.
Crotchet (BE): See →Quarter note.

D

Da capo (D.C.): A directive to repeat the previous part of music. See Repeats and jumps chapter.
Not to be confused with capo (text).
Dead note: See ghost note.
Demisemiquaver (BE): A thirty-second note.
Double Flat: A double flat (♭♭ or 𝄫) is a sign that indicates that the pitch of a note has to be lowered two semitones.
Double Sharp: A double sharp (♯♯ or 𝄪) is a sign that indicates that the pitch of a note has to be raised two semitones.
Duplet: See →tuplet.
Dynamic, dynamics, dynamic symbol, dynamics symbol: A symbol indicating the relative loudness of a note or phrase of music—such as mf (mezzoforte), p (piano), f (forte) etc., starting at that note. See Dynamic chapter.
Dynamic, Single note: NOTE: Single note dynamics (SND) has several meanings, see Single note dynamics (SND); A dynamics symbol with non-zero "Velocity change" property. When setup properly, it creates an Attack envelope simulation effect (wikipedia) on note playback, eg sfz symbol on violins, for more info see Dynamics; * Two popular build-in SNDs : sfz (sforzando), fp (fortepiano); * It is designed to work on certain instruments only eg sfz symbol's effect on violin does not exist on piano.

E

Edit mode: The program mode in which editing of score element by user is allowed, contrast with normal mode and note input mode. See Edit mode chapter.
Eighth note: A note whose duration is an eighth of a whole note (semibreve). Same as a quaver (BE).
Endecalineo: Endecalineo or endecagram, the stave for Solfège, to create see Solmisation chapter.
Endings: See →volta.
Enharmonic notes: Notes that sound the same pitch but are written differently. Example: G♯ and A♭ are enharmonic notes. See Accidentals: Change enharmonic spelling chapter.
Explode: A Musescore feature that split (explode) the chords in a passage of music in a single staff into their constituent notes or voices, see Tools; Also see Implode

F

Flag: See →beam.
Flat: Sign (♭) that indicates that the pitch of a note has to be lowered one semitone, see →accidentals and →key signature.
French Beam: Beams where the stems only extend to the first beam, but don't intersect all the way through. To create use the French Beams plugin.

G

Ghost note: In music, notably in jazz, a ghost note (or a dead, muted, silenced or false note) is a musical note with a rhythmic value, but no discernible pitch when played. Musescore supports crosshead (cross notehead, looks like letter x), diamond notehead, and adding brackets (parentheses) to a note, see Noteheads chapter.
Grace note: Grace notes appear as small notes in front of a normal-sized main note, see also →acciaccatura and →appoggiatura. See Grace note chapter.
Grand Staff (AE)
Great Stave (BE): An instrument or →part of two or more staves, featuring treble and bass clefs, used to notate music for keyboard instruments and the harp. As of MuseScore 3.6: Any number of staves connected by a curly brace.

H

Half Note: A note whose duration is half of a whole note (semibreve). Same as a minim (BE).
Hemidemisemiquaver (BE): A sixty-fourth note.

I

Implode: A Musescore feature similar to, but not exactly, score reduction (wikipedia), see Tools, also see Explode. See Tools chapter.
Interval: The difference in pitch between two notes, expressed in terms of the scale degree (e.g. major second, minor third, perfect fifth etc.). See Degree (Music) (Wikipedia).
Interleaved: Two interlocking, oppositely beamed sets of notes. To recreate, use the voice function and the beam palette, see Interleaved beam directions
Instrument: 1. Musescore Instrument, see Instruments, staff setup and templates. Instrument contains channel(s).; 2. Real world instrument
Irregular measure marker: A plus sign or minus sign at the top right of a measure indicates that its duration differs from that set by the time signature. See Viewing and navigation: Mark irregular measures and Measure operations chapters.

J

Jump: In MuseScore, "jumps" are notations such as "D.S. al Coda". See Repeats and jumps chapter.

K

Key Signature: Set of sharps and flats at the beginning of the →staves. It gives an idea about the tonality and avoids repeating those signs all along the staff. A key signature with B flat means F major or D minor tonality. See Key Signature chapter.

L

Legato: Legato is a play style which involves playing the notes in a slurred manner. Legato may be written as text or shown through the use of slurs.
Local time signature: Staffs with different time signatures running at the same time, to create see Time signatures chapter.
Longa: A longa is a quadruple whole note.
Ledger Line (AE)
Leger Line (BE): Line(s) that are added with and for notes above or below the staff.
Line: Musescore Lines, a type of objects capable of attaching (anchoring) to a horizontal continuous range of more than two notes or rests, or vertical collection of notes (chord). See Lines chapter.

M

Measure (AE): A segment of time defined by a given number of beats. Dividing music into measures provides regular reference points to pinpoint locations within a piece of music. Same as → bar (BE).
Measure repeat sign: See Repeats and jumps chapter.
Metronome mark: A kind of tempo marking. See Tempo chapter.
Minim (BE): See →Half note.
Multimeasure rest: See Measure rests chapter.

N

Natural: A natural (♮) is a sign that cancels a previous alteration on notes of the same pitch, see →accidentals and →key signature.
Normal mode: The operating mode of MuseScore outside note input mode or edit mode. Press Esc to use normal mode. Allows user to select and move elements, adjust Inspector properties, and alter the pitches of existing notes.
Note input mode: The program mode used for entering music notation, contrast with normal mode and edit mode. See Note input modes chapter.

O

Operating System (OS): Underlying set of programs which set up a computer, enabling additional programs (such as MuseScore). Popular OSes are Microsoft Windows, macOS, and GNU/Linux.; Not to be confused with a sheet music →system.
Ossia: An alternative passage which may be played instead of the original passage, from the Italian for "alternatively", meaning "or be it". To create see How to create an ossia with another staff

P

Part: 1. MuseScore 3's automatic score separation and printing function, see Parts chapter.; 2. Music to be played or sung by one or a group of musicians using the same instrument. In a string quartet, 1st part = Violin 1, 2nd part = Violin 2, 3rd part = Viola, 4th part = Cello, in a choir there might be parts for soprano, alto, tenor and bass. A part has one or more →staves (e.g. Piano has 2 staves, Organ can have 2 or 3 staves). MuseScore 3 Dynamics's Dynamic range property use this definition.; 3. A single melody line in a polyphonic musical composition. MuseScore 3 never use this definition, but there is a similar feature Voices.
Pickup Measure (mostly AE, also known as an Anacrusis (mostly BE) or Upbeat): Incomplete first measure of a piece or a →section of a piece of music. See Measure duration, Create new score: Pickup measure, and Measure operations: Exclude from measure count chapters. May or may not be compensated for at the end of the score or section.
Properties: Settings of an individual object on a score in Musescore, see Inspector chapter. Contrast with style (profile).

Q

Quadruplet: See →tuplet.
Quarter note: A note whose duration is a quarter of a whole note (semibreve). Same as a crotchet (BE).
Quaver (BE): See →eighth note.
Quintuplet: See →tuplet.

R

Respell Pitches: Change accidental used on a note but keep note's pitch. See Accidentals: Change enharmonic spelling chapter.
Rest: A musical symbol that indicates silence. See Note input chapter.
Re-pitch mode: One of the note input modes. See Note input modes chapter.

S

Score: 1. In MuseScore support forums and most chapters of the MuseScore Handbook, score generally refers to a computer file with the suffix .mscz - and to its visual representation on a computer screen as well as its audio playback.; 2. In some chapters of the MuseScore Handbook, score means the layout and formatting of "Full score" or one particular Musescore part. See Layout and formatting and Musescore Part chapters.; 3. In other contexts (for example the IMSLP score-sharing website at https://imslp.org), a score generally refers either to a PDF file of the sheet music for a specific work or to an actual paper copy of the sheet music.
Section: In MuseScore, a region of the score between section breaks; also from the start of a score to the first section break, and from the last section break to the end of the score.
Segno, or Dal Segno: A navigation marker. See Repeats and jumps chapter.
Semibreve (BE): A whole note (AE). It lasts a whole measure in 4/4 time.
Semiquaver (BE): A sixteenth note.
Semihemidemisemiquaver (Quasihemidemisemiquaver) (BE): An hundred and twenty eighth note.
Sextuplet: See →tuplet.
SF2: A virtual instrument format developed by E-mu Systems and Creative Labs, see SoundFonts.
SF3: An invention of Werner Schweer, the Musescore developer (source). This format supports sound sample compression, see SoundFonts.
SFZ: 1. Dynamics symbol sfz (small letters) , see Dynamic; 2. A virtual instrument format supported by MuseScore (along with →SoundFonts). An SFZ library consists of one or more SFZ text files, each defining a particular instrument setup, and many audio sound samples.
Shared note head: A note notated with two beams. To recreate in Musescore, use the voice function and the notehead function and see Noteheads
Sharp: Sign (♯) that indicates that the pitch of a note has to be raised one semitone, see →accidentals and →key signature.
Single note dynamics (SND): Due to continuous software development, Single note dynamics (SND) has come to bear several different meanings:; 1. A dynamics symbol with non-zero "Velocity change" property. When setup properly, it creates an Attack envelope simulation effect (wikipedia) on note playback, eg sfz symbol on violins, for more info see Dynamics; * Two popular build-in SNDs : sfz (sforzando), fp (fortepiano); * It is designed to work on certain instruments only eg sfz symbol's effect on violin does not exist on piano.; 2. The audio creation mechanism on which the definition 1 is based. This mechanism is utilized to simulate 'variation of loudness' effect by hairpins on certain instruments. eg crescendo on one violin long note, for more info see Hairpins; * It is designed to work on certain instruments only eg you cannot create crescendo while pressing a piano note; 3. The notation interpretation setting of an instrument: 'Use single note dynamics' in Staff / Part properties. See definition 1 and 2 for more info on notations. The setting in default definition file instruments.xml is named <singleNoteDynamics>. Instruments' settings can be ignored by the master control in Synthesizer.; 4. A soundfont's attenuation response to MIDI CC messages. Musescore can only create correct audio for all dynamics and haripins with a compatable soundfont. Because musescore synthesizer setting is global, and the default soundfont responses to MIDI CC 2 only. For most users, SND compatable soundfont means soundfont that reponses to CC 2. More on Synthesizer chapter, also developers' handbook Edit a soundfont to use MIDI CC.
Slash (slash chord, slash notehead): Indicates strum. See Slash notation and Noteheads chapter. See also https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slash_chord.
Slash notation: A form of music notation using slash marks placed on or above/below the staff to indicate the rhythm of an accompaniment: often found in association with chord symbols. There are two types: (1) Slash notation consists of a rhythm slash on each beat: the exact interpretation is left to the player (see Fill with slashes); (2) Rhythmic slash notation indicates the precise rhythm for the accompaniment (see Toggle rhythmic slash notation).
Slur: A curved line over or under two or more notes, meaning that the notes will be played smooth and connected (legato). See Slur chapter. A slur is not a →tie.
Solmisation: see Endecalineo
SoundFont: A virtual instrument format supported by MuseScore (along with →SFZ). A SoundFont is a special type of file (extension .sf2, or .sf3 if compressed) containing sound samples of one or more musical instruments. In effect, a virtual synthesizer which acts as a sound source for MIDI files. MuseScore 2.2 comes with the SoundFont "MuseScore_General.sf3" pre-installed. See SoundFont chapter.
Spatium (plural: Spatia) / Space / Staff Space / sp. (abbr./unit): A unit of measurement, see Layout and formatting chapter.
Staff / Staffs: A set of lines and spaces, each representing a pitch, on which music is written. In ancient music notation (before 11th century) the staff may have any number of lines.
Staff Space: See Spatium (above).
Stave / Staves (BE): See Staff (above).
Step-time input: MuseScore's default note input mode. See Note input modes chapter.
Style: A profile that contains settings in MuseScore, contrast with Properties. See Layout and formatting chapter.
System: 1. Set of staves to be read simultaneously in a score, ie one row of current staffs, see Layout and formatting chapter.; 2. All instruments, MuseScore 3 Dynamics's Dynamic range property use this definition.; See also →Operating System (OS).
System divider: Separates systems on the same page. Can be switched on for the score in Format→Style→System, see Layout and formatting: Style window. Also available in master palette, see Master palette chapter.

T

Text

A Musescore Text object is an object that contains individual characters that can be entered and removed by using (typing on) a computer keyboard. See Text types chapter.

Tie

A curved line between two adjavent notes of the same pitch to indicate a single note of combined duration. See Tie chapter. A tie is not a slur.

Quarter note + Tie + Quarter note = Half note
Quarter note + Tie + Eighth note = Dotted Quarter note
Quarter note + Tie + Eighth note + Tie + 16th note = Double Dotted Quarter note

Transposition

The act of moving the pitches of one or more notes up or down by a constant interval. See Transposition chapter. There may be several reasons for transposing a piece, for example:

The tune is too low or too high for a singer. In this case the whole orchestra will have to be transposed as well—easily done using MuseScore.
The part is written for a particular instrument but needs to be played by a different one.
The score is written for an orchestra and you want to hear what the individual instruments sound like. This requires changing the transposing instrument parts to concert pitch.
A darker or a more brilliant sound is desired.

Triplet

See →tuplet.

Tuplet

A tuplet divides its next higher note value by a number of notes other than given by the time signature. See Tuplet chapter. For example a →triplet divides the next higher note value into three parts, rather than two. Tuplets may be: →triplets, →duplets, →quintuplets, and other.

U

Upbeat: See →pickup measure.

V

Velocity: A property of objects inside Musescore that controls how loudly note(s) are played, see Loudness of a note. The two important types of object that have it are note (see Inspector chapter), and dynamics symbol (see Dynamics chapter).
Voice: 1. In Musescore, Voice is a software feature, you can use up to 4 Voices per staff, see Voice: When to use Voices chapter.; 2. Daily usage of the term voice refers to a musical line or part which can have its own rhythm. MuseScore does not have a feature to implement the exact same idea, if the voice feature does not suit your need, try adding separate instruments instead.
Volta: In a repeated section of music, it is common for the last few measures of the section to differ. Markings called voltas are used to indicate how the section is to be ended each time. These markings are often referred to simply as →endings. See Volta chapter.

W

Written pitch: Transposing instruments (such as the clarinet, French horn, trumpet etc.) are notated at a different pitch (and key signature) to how they sound. The notated pitch is called the written pitch. Contrast with concert pitch. See Staff / Part properties chapter.

Appendix

Keyboard shortcuts

Navigation

Note input

Duration

Voices

Pitch

Interval

Layout

Articulations

Text entry

Lyrics entry

Display

Miscellaneous

See also

Command line options

NAME

SYNOPSIS

DESCRIPTION

Batch conversion job JSON format

ENVIRONMENT

FILES

EXAMPLES

Convert a score to PDF from the command line

Run a batch job converting multiple documents

MIDI import operations

DIAGNOSTICS

SEE ALSO

STANDARDS

HISTORY

AUTHORS

CAVEATS

BUGS

New features in MuseScore 3.6

New score setup and layout features

Automatic instrument ordering

Automatic brackets and braces

Vertical justification of staves

Indentation of first systems

Applying new features to existing scores

Applying new automatic instrument ordering and bracketing

Applying vertical justification of staves

Other engraving changes in 3.6

Beam spacing

Ledger line length

Stem caps and flag positions

Bracketed accidentals

Accidentals in Emmentaler

New features in MuseScore 3

Automatic Placement

Default position

Manual adjustments

Disabling automatic placement

Stacking order

Text Formatting

Text Styles

Text Properties

Custom Formatting

Staff Type Change

Temporary and Cutaway Staves

System Dividers

Staff Spacing

Don't Break

Parts from Voices

Explode and Implode

Insert mode

Split/Join Measures

Timeline

Score Comparison Tool

Mixer

Piano Roll Editor

Capo changes

Fretboard Diagrams

External links

Known limitations of MuseScore 3.x

Local time signatures

Regroup Rhythms

Tablature staff linked with standard staff

Mixer

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