Why does ALT+(#) add the new note above rather than below?

• Oct 1, 2016 - 17:38

In my experience I write the melody first and then add the harmony.

It seems counter intuitive to work "up" rather than "down" (in upper clef).

If there were a way to make this user selectable, that would be terrific, as the present manner works in the lower clef.

Regards,


Comments

I believe, by default, you can use [Shift] + [#] to enter notes below.
You can customize the shortcuts however you want in the Edit->Preferences...->Shortcuts. You can change "Enter [#] above/below" to whatever makes sense for you.
~Happy trails, Flyingninja77

In reply to by Flyingninja77

Thanks all.

I recently understood this feature and have never used it. I went to this page https://musescore.org/en/handbook/keyboard-shortcuts and scrolled down to note entry. The alternative is not listed, only ALT+(#).
I have now checked the shortcut list in MS preferences - there is no SHIFT + (#) there.

I have now tried SHIFT + (#) in MS and there is no result (although CTRL + (#) is interesting).

I do not understand how to make a shortcut, I can see how to change an existing shortcut, but ....

In reply to by xavierjazz

I'm sorry the SHIFT + (#) doesn't work. I must have assigned it by myself.
Changing a shortcut is the same as creating a new shortcut. From the "Edit->Preferences..." menu, choose the "Shortcuts" tab, and select the command you want a shortcut of. Then, choose "Define," enter the keys you want to associate with the command, and choose either "Add" (to make that an ADDITIONAL shortcut to the command) or "Replace" (to make that the ONLY shortcut to the command). If there is another command that already has the same shortcut, either clear it or change it to something else, then reassign the new command to your desired key strokes.
~Happy trails, Flyingninja77

In reply to by Jojo-Schmitz

I don't know how that happened. It's been a while since I've messed with those shortcuts. I tried again today, and all I get is the "%" symbol, too.

If I remember correctly, didn't MuseScore 1.x have these shortcuts preassigned? I don't think I would have been clever enough to think of this configuration by myself at the time. I seem to recall noticing the lack of this feature upon upgrade. If that is the case, it's unusual for this to have changed somewhere along the way.

~Happy trails, Flyingninja77

The use case of writing a melody and then adding notes is indeed common. But in other cases, if you wish to enter a chord, you are more likely to enter it bottom up. That is, after all, how we normally spell chords - a C major triad in root position we say is "C-E-G", not "G-E-C". So depending on the use case, either coud make sense. I agree that ideally here would be a way to get either behavior.

In reply to by Marc Sabatella

Hi Marc, that just implies that theory is more important than music. :)

At any rate, I disagree. Writing a melody and then adding harmony is also entering a chord.

Orchestration and arrangement are much more common than writing triads.

At any rate, the posts above led me to the option in preferences, with no shortcuts assigned. I am considering my response within the program.

Regards,

In reply to by xavierjazz

It's not just "writing triads" in some dry theoretic sense - this also comes to ask the time just writing piano music. Consider any accompaniment chords, like in the left hand or even the right if the melody is somewhere else (another voice, the left hand, another instrument, etc). I get that in *your* most common use case, building top down makes the most sense usually. For me it's more like 50/50. For people writing solo piano music mostly, it's probably bottom upmore often than not.

In any case I absolutely agree it should be easier to build top down.

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