Entering and editing percussion notation
For MuseScore 4 users, see Entering and editing percussion notation.
This chapter explains music creation on percussion notation staff only, see also the Instruments, staff setup and templates, the standard notation Note input , and the tablature chapters.
The free MuseScore Drumline (MDL) extension offers even more options to write percussion notation. To download and install it, see the Language, translations, and extensions chapter.
Overview
Percussion notation (wikipedia) is a type of musical notation indicating notes to be played by percussion instruments.
Musescore Instruments that use percussion notation are under "Percussion - Unpitched", "Percussion - Marching", and "Percussion - Body" groups. See the Instruments, staff setup and templates chapter.
Understanding of Musescore Voices is required if the user wants to create percussion notation for more than one instrument (sound sample), , such as creating a score for "snare drum and ride cymbal".
Real world instruments (sound samples) in a Musescore Instrument
It is advisable to determine the audio desired before entering rhythmic patterns.
Musescore Studio's percussion notation programming logic has impact on note entry method, and audio production workflow. A percussion Musescore Instrument usually contains several real world instruments inside. Internally, Musescore Studio records percussion (notes) as pitched data of the Musescore Instrument, where each pitch corresponds to one real world instrument (sound sample). This chapter uses wording "real world instrument" and "sound sample" interchangably.
Popular Musescore Instruments that use percussion notation include,
- "Drumset" under "Percussion - Unpitched". This is a single item that contains standard drumset "Snare", "Bass Drum", "Ride Cymbal" etc. There is no seperate MuseScore Instrument for each of these.
- "Concert Bass Drum" under "Percussion - Unpitched" contains several sounds, it is not the "Drumset" 's "Bass Drum", and
- "Bass Drum" under "Percussion - Marching" contains several sounds, it is not the "Drumset"'s "Bass Drum",
- etc
The following Musescore Instruments under "Percussion - Pitched" contain "Drums" in their name, but do not use percussion notation. They use standard notation staff, see Note input chapter.
- "Steel Drums"
- "Soprano Steel Drums"
- "Alto Steel Drums"
- "Guitar Steel Drums"
- "Tenor Steel Drums"
- "Cello Steel Drums"
- "Bass Steel Drums"
There are several sound samples accessible using the Mixer window.
- "Drumset" Musescore instrument "Standard 1" and other variations, (same for "Room", "Power", "Jazz" and theirs), use them by changing Mixer: Sound dropbox. They are different in playback only.
- "Drumset" Musescore instrument "Brush" and variations, use them by changing Mixer: Sound dropbox. The brush snare is the "Electric Snare" item in Drum notation, only creates short brush playback. There is no seperate MuseScore Instrument for brush snare.
It is a misconception that the data in "Drumset" Musescore Instrument are stored as rhythmic pattern data independent of pitch. As explained above, data are coupled with pitch. Musescore Studio 3.6.2 does not contain user interface for switching sound reference within the same Musescore Instrument. For example, when the user has already written notes for "Hi-hat" sound on a "Drumset" Musescore Instrument staff, and wants to switch to use "Ride Cymbal" sound, he must select the notes and change their pitch counterintuitively. Users can switch the Musescore Instrument as a whole if desired, but doing so changes all notes on the Musescore Instrument and may sometimes create undesirable result.
Note vertical position
As explained in "sound samples in a Musescore Instrument" section, Musescore Studio stores music written for each real world instrument (sound sample) in separate pitch data internally, there is a coupling effect on sound sample and pitch notation. This effect can be overridden with the Staff line settings, see "Edit Drumset" section.
Note stem direction
Stem direction in percussion notation has been used by musicians to convey several distinct meanings. For example, the "hands up, feet down" and other rules explained in Better drumset notation (with focus on stem direction) forum discussion, the "pulse and rhythm" rule explained in https://www.onlinedrummer.com/blogs/drum-lessons/introduction-to-voicin….
Note stem direction in percussion notation is determined by,
- Musescore Voice
- specified in the Drum input palette, see the "Drum input palette" section, and
- specified upon entering each note when using an external MIDI controller or the virtual piano keyboard function only. See the " Note input methods " section, and
- preference specified to each exisiting note in the Insepctor, see the Inspector chapter.
Musescore Studio 3's Musescore Voice feature (see the Musescore Voices chapter) dictates that notes in the same Musescore Voice (layer) share the same note duration. Users should be aware of this limitation and should not assign Musescore Voice to notes solely on the stem direction desired.
Percussion staff templates (percussion staff types)
Percussion staff templates available (eg. 5-line, 3-line, or 1-line staff) are explained in the Staff / Part properties chapter.
MuseScore Studio automatically uses a staff template (staff type) that best suits the Musescore Instrument. To change the staff template of an existing staff, see Staff / Part properties) chapters.
Note input
There are several ways to enter music on a percussion staff.
- Using a Mouse (and the Drum Input Palette).
- Via keyboard shortcuts.
- Using an external MIDI controller.
- Using the virtual piano.
Available time positions are slots where percussion note assignment by a mouse click on the screen is possible. These positions includes time position
- that has existing note or rest, and
- at the beginning (first beat) of each empty measure.
To create more available time positions, add rests (shortcut 0 (zero) or right click).
Mouse entry using the Drum input palette
To add a new note at the current note input cursor position (see Note input mode: note input cursor position chapter):
- Select a starting note or rest, or a measure.
- Enter note input mode (shortcut N). The Drum input palette now appears at the bottom of the screen (see "Drum input palette" section). The Musescore Voices of the note to be added is indicated by note color in Drum input palette : blue for Voice 1, green for Voice 2. Note: The Musescore Voice setting chosen on the top toolbar is not used.
- Select the note duration of new note at the top Toolbar.
- Double-click an item in the Drum input palette. Notes and rests using the same Musescore Voice at the current note input cursor position are overwritten.
- The note input cursor position proceeds forward.
To add a new note or rest at any available time positions (see above):
- Select any note, rest or measure of the staff.
- Enter note input mode (shortcut N). The Drum input palette now appears at the bottom of the screen (see "Drum input palette" section). The Musescore Voices of the note to be added is indicated by note color in Drum input palette : blue for Voice 1, green for Voice 2. Note: The Musescore Voice setting chosen on the top toolbar is not used.
- Depending on the existing note or rest using the same Musescore Voice at the available time positions, select an appropiate note duration of new note at the top Toolbar, and an item in the Drum input palette according to the result desired:
- when the chosen note duration is equal to that of the existing note, the new note is added, the existing note retains. A notation similar to a chord is created.
- otherwise the new note overwrites (or truncates) the existing note.
- an existing rest is always overwritten by the new note.
- Left click on a desired available time position on the score to add a note. Right click to add a rest.
Using keyboard shortcuts
Entry keyboard shortcuts are assigned using "Drum input palette" section. To add a note of sound sample which has keyboard shortcut at the current note input cursor position (see Note input mode: note input cursor position chapter):
- Select a starting note or rest.
- Enter note input mode (shortcut N). The Drum Input palette now appears at the bottom of the screen.
- Select the note duration of new note at the top Toolbar.
- To enter a new note, press the shortcut key (A–G) displayed in the Drum Input palette. The new note uses the Musescore Voices indicated by note color in Drum input palette : blue for Voice 1, green for Voice 2. The Musescore Voice setting chosen on the top toolbar is not used. Notes and rests using the same Musescore Voice at the current note input cursor position are overwritten.
- To enter another note using the same Musescore Voice at the same time position, hold Shift (press Shift+[A–G]). This note uses the Musescore Voices the last note is using, but not the setting indicated in Drum input palette.
- To enter a rest of the selected duration, press 0 (zero).
- The note input cursor position proceeds forward.
MIDI controller
To add a new note at the current note input cursor position (see Note input mode: note input cursor position chapter):
- Ensure that the MIDI controller is connected and functioning correctly.
- Select a starting note or rest.
- Enter note input mode (shortcut N).
- Select the Musescore Voice and the note duration of new note at the top Toolbar. The new note does not use the Musescore Voices indicated on Drum input palette.
- To enter a new note, press a MIDI controller key.
- To add another note at the same position, keep the first key held down while pressing the second key.
Virtual piano keyboard
To add a new note at the current note input cursor position (see Note input mode: note input cursor position chapter):
- Ensure that the Piano keyboard is displayed. Press P (or select it from the menu, View → Piano Keyboard).
- Select a starting note or rest.
- Enter note input mode (shortcut N).
- Select the Musescore Voice and the note duration of new note at the top Toolbar. The new note does not use the Musescore Voices indicated on Drum input palette.
- To enter a new note, click a virtual piano key.
- To add another note to the same time position, press Shift and hold it while pressing the new note (in versions before 2.1, use Ctrl (Mac: Cmd)).
Docking and undocking the virtual piano keyboard
By default, the piano keyboard is docked at the bottom of the screen—to the left of the Drum input palette.
To undock the panel, drag the title bar.
To dock the panel:
- Drag the panel downwards to the center and it will overlay the Drum input palette, full length. Both panels can then be accessed by Tabs.
- Drag the panel downwards to the right/left and it will dock to the right/left of the Drum input palette.
Drum input palette
Drum input palette is displayed at the bottom of the screen when,
- a percussion staff is selected, and
- it is currently in note input mode (shortcut N).
Each item (note) in the palette represents a percussion sound sample: hovering the mouse pointer over the note displays its name. The letters A–G (shown above certain notes in the palette) are designated as shortcuts for entering notes of a particular sound sample (bass drum, snare, closed hi-hat etc.), rather than referring to note pitches. They can be changed in the Edit Drumset window, see "Edit Drumset" section.
The Edit Drumset window
To open the Edit Drumset window, use one of the following options:
- Click on the Edit Drumset button at the left of the Drum input palette.
- Right-click on a percussion staff and select "Edit Drumset...".
The left pane lists the percussion sound samples available in the current Musescore Instrument (see "Overview").
- No.: the MIDI pitch data utilized internally, reference of sound sample used to create audio.
- Note: the MIDI pitch data utilized internally, reference of sound sample used to create audio.
- Shortcut: see below.
- Name: see below.
The right pane displays details of the sound sample selected on the left pane, these settings are used to display notes on the score. Any changes made here are automatically saved in the parent MuseScore file.
- Name: for display on Drum input palette only. Leave empty to remove this note from the Drum input palette.
- Notehead group: the notehead type factor of notehead shape that all notes this staff use. See the Noteheads chapter.
- Edit Noteheads and sub-settings inside the box: the details of the custom notehead type. When the checkbox is checked, the Notehead group option automatically changes to "Custom". See the Noteheads chapter.
- Default voice: see Voices. This does not affect input from a MIDI controller or the virtual piano keyboard.
- Staff line: This number indicates the staff line/space on which the note is displayed. "0" means that the note is displayed on the top line of the 5-line staff. Negative numbers move the note upwards step by step, while positive numbers move it downwards in the same way.
- Shortcut: the computer keyboard shortcuts for entry, see "Using keyboard shortcuts" section.
- Stem Direction: Auto, Up or down.
The settings in this window can be saved as an independent .drm file by pressing Save As.... To import a settings use the Load... button.
Drum map and Test out sound samples
Refer to a General MIDI Level 2 (GM2) percussion key map (drum map) for each sound sample's corresponding key (pitch). Some keyboards (e.g., Casio) display percussion symbols next to the keys as an aid to the user.
Outside the note input mode (press ESC), pressing an external MIDI controller key, or a vitual piano keyboard key demo the sound only, it does not create any note on a staff.
Other notations
Sticking
To enter sticking symbols (R, L):
- Select a start note;
- From the menu, select Add→Text→Sticking. Alternatively, set up a keyboard shortcut to do the same thing in Preferences;
- Input the symbol just as you would normal text. To move forward or backwards to the next note, use the same keyboard shortcuts as for chord symbols.
- To exit, press Esc, or click on a blank section of the score.
Add drum roll
To create a drum roll, use a Tremolo.