Notation types

Overview

Musescore handle score items differently based on their types. Type of a single selected score item is displayed on the status bar.

Beginners can make better decision on choosing the correct type by skiming through the handbook, reading the contents or handbook main page online and the Text types and the Musescore line chapters.

Different types serve distinct purposes. For example, a Musescore Text cannot change a note's pitch. That is, if changing a note's pitch is the purpose, it is wrong to add a Staff Text (a subtype of Musescore Text) and manually enter a sharp or hash (#) symbol into it.

Different types anchor differently, which may have impact on program features such as playback or Musescore Part.

A score item's type cannot be changed after it is added onto a score. One of the correct ways to change note pitch is adding an Accidental object; A user wishing to add a piece of text or engraving

• that affects playback volume should add a dynamics symbol, or a hairpin and edit its text,
• that appears on every page should edit score properties and add a Header or Footer,
• that appears on a particular page only (eg the first page) could choose to add a Frame text or a Staff Text or a System Text,
• that only appears on the Musescore Parts that features the staff that its anchored note is on, should add a Staff Text or a Staff Text Line.

Advanced users may benefit from knowing that there are two distinct groups,

• Functional symbols and text that when added to a score, optionally,
  • automatically use a desirable Layout and formatting,
  • affect the score semantically in a way that is most useful or makes most sense (the consensus after careful discussions among Musescore BVBA admins)
  • is automatically replaced when you add another symbol or text so that the score makes sense, for example adding an accidental sharp # removes the existing flat b , and
  • provide an expected playback effect created by Synthesizer.
• Non-functional symbols and text that when added to a score,
  • serves visual purpose only, and does not affect the score semantics, because either
    • the sheer amount of notations and the rare usage of most of them makes implementation impractical, or
    • the digital resource itself is not created or maintained by Musescore dev team, for example items inside the Bravura font by Steinberg (Github) and the SMuFL codepoint - glyph definitions (wikipedia), or
    • there is no consensus on its musical interpretation yet, or
    • it is a visual marking popularly used on a score but has minimal musical effect,
  • can be attached to a symbol or text on the score in a way that isn't normally supported,
  • does not affect Synthesizer playback, and
  • is not removed unless you deliberately do so.

Musescore usually create a functional item when you do common editing such as pressing a keyboard shortcuts, clicking a toolbar button, or adding an item from the palette, as it is the most common expectation.

Musescore is shipped with non-functional symbols and text not interpreted by Musescore (yet), such as historical clefs under the SMUFLs of Bravura font.

Musescore also provides non-functional versions of most functional items. These can be found under the Symbols category in the Master palette. Non-functional symbol or text are used

• to avoid muscial interpretation by Musescore,
• the user want to attach it in a way that isn't normally supported, like attaching an accidental to a barline,
• for example, the non-functional verions of the sharp # symbol does not provide automatic layout and does not change a note's pitch, see the example in the Accidentals chapter.

Alternatively, insert Images onto a score.

Resizing

A specific non-functional symbol or text on a score can sometimes be achieved by the two approaches different in resizing capability:

• Add the symbol directly from the Symbols category of the Master palette:
  • it has a fixed size that scales with the score properly, but
  • you cannot assign a custom "Font Size" setting in the Inspector.
• Add a Text, and then add the symbol as a unicode glyph using Text editing: Insert a special character:
  • the number of unicode musical glyphs are limited,
  • you can assign a custom "Font Size" setting, and other settings such as "Font Family", in the Inspector,
  • the symbol-text sizing and alignment is tricky.

Images inserted onto a score are resizable, .svg files enlarges without blurring, see Images.

External links

Discussion on symbol usage