note value automatically changes back to quarter note

• Feb 29, 2016 - 17:22

I have Musescore 2.0.2 on Windows 7.

Here is my problem: If I click on an empty bar, the default note length of "quarter note" is activated in the menu bar. But if I want to enter a half note instead, I click on the "half note" in the menu bar and the "half note" appears activated. However, when I enter a note on the keyboard (e.g. "g"), a "g" is entered at the start of the bar but the length is automatically changed to a quarter note.

Does that make any sense? Have I got the workflow wrong? I am transcribing a baroque cantata and I am wasting a lot of time correcting the length of the first note in each bar.

Thanks for any insights!

Gary


Comments

You are mnissing the most important step when inputting notes: you need to actually enter note input mode (using the "N" icon or pressing "N" on your keyboard). You need to select the duration - and do your note input - *after* entering note input mode. As a small convenience, we do offer the ability to automatically enter note input mode when pressing a letter key, but indeed, the duration always sets to a default when you do this.

I guess maybe you keep leaving note input mode at the enmd of every measure for some reason then are not re-entering it. But really, you shouldn't be leaving it at all. Once you enter note input mode,. you can stay there as long as you want, continuing to enter notes and the cursor will automatically move to the next measure as needed, and the durations will "stick".

In reply to by frfancha

That would be possible too of course. But most of the time, you wouldn't want to have to click a duration *before* entering note input mdoe - you'd expect to do that after. And assuming you weren't going out of your way to select a duration before entering note input mode, it would seem pretty weird if the initial duration wasn't predictable. Right now, it's predictable - it's always quarter note.

In reply to by Marc Sabatella

Thanks! I figured I was doing something odd. Understanding this will speed up my work.

BTW: I think I tend to avoid "N" mode because a number of times I have managed to accidentally change something while moving around the score. So I exit "N" mode and then have to re-enter later. If I enter a series of measures in a row, I don't have this "duration of first note" problem.

First, select a note or rest on the score as your starting position for note input - not the bar.
See:
https://musescore.org/en/handbook/note-input#note-input-mode

However... to greatly improve note entry efficiency:
Instead of using the menu bar to click on the duration - and then next entering the note name - you should use the keyboard shortcuts.
See:
https://musescore.org/en/handbook/note-input#duration

Here's a handy note duration toolbar image (with the shortcuts shown):

Icons - Durations and rest all numbers.png

(The image is from an older MuseScore version, but still useful. You can right click the image and save it.)

Regards.

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