Music Notation assignment number six

Jesu, der du meine Seele
Click here for pdf

New skills for this assignment include:

layering, staff spacer, accidental review

Setup:  select key signature with 4 flats, 12 measures.  I chose “piano” for instrumentation.

Step 1: Enter in top notes individually in treble clef.

Step 2: Click on the layer 2 button (numeral 2 in pictured grid)

Step 3: Enter in the alto line beginning in measure one.  Enter in reminder accidentals as you go, such as the G natural in measure 4.

Step 4:  Click on layer 1 again and enter in the tenor line.  Because of the leger line notes that may not be as familiar to you, here are the names of the notes (but not time values) (Many of these notes are actually flatted notes, but because of the key signature, they are flatted by default, and you don’t have to manually make them be flat):

M1: D, C, B, F, E, D, C

M2: B, C, A flat, F

M3: B, B, B, A natural, B

M4: C, B, D, C

M5: F, F, E, E

M6: D, E, F, E, D, C

M7: F, G flat, F, E, D, C, B

M8: E, A, B, C, D

M9: E, F, E, D

M10: G flat, F, F, E natural, F

M11: F, F, B, B

M12: B, A natural, F

Step 5: Click on layer 2 and enter in the bass part.

Step 6: Add the fermatas, which are located in the “Articulations & Ornaments” palette.

Step 7: Changing the staff spacing.  This needs to be done because the beams from the alto line cross the beams in the tenor line at places, such as measure 6, pictured.

In the Breaks and Spacer palette, select the staff spacer.

Drag this spacer to the first measure in the system.  Double click on the icon and drag the spacer down to make  the staff be taller.  This is a tricky step that I learned by an online search when I created this assignment.  I had to play with it a bit, but the end result looked nice.

Step 8:  Change page layout to be letter instead of A4.  Double check each measure to make sure that all of the accidentals are right, and that the reminder accidentals are in place.  You’re done!  And you are almost done with this course!  This is an advanced assignment, so congratulations on getting this far.  If you have any questions, I am happy to help!

Music Notation assignment number five

Row, Row, Row Your Boat

Click here for pdf

New skills for this assignment include:

Copying and pasting, moving text down or up an octave, and hiding empty staves.

Tip:  While copying and pasting measures, it may be helpful to zoom out by selecting 75% or 50% next to the magnifying glass.

Step 1.  Create a new file from scratch.  The title is “Row, Row, Row your Boat.”  Enter “Traditional American Folk Song” in the composer line.  Under vocals, select Soprano, Alto, and Bass.  Keep the default key signature (C).  Change the time signature to 6/8, and choose 16 measures.

Step 2.  Enter in the first eight measures on the soprano line.  Exit note entry mode, click on the first note, and type “ctrl+L” to enter in the lyrics for those eight measures.  Select the first eight measures.  (Do this by double clicking on the first measure until it is surrounded by a blue box.  Hold “shift” down and click on measure eight.)  Now copy the measure by typing “ctrl+C” or with the mouse by clicking on “Edit” in the file menu and then selecting “copy”.

Step 3.  Now select measure three in the alto line.

Paste by either typing “ctrl+V” or go to the file menu paste from the edit menu.  Select measure 9 in the soprano staff and paste again.

Step 4.  Select measure 7 in the bass line and paste.  Note that it enters the notes in the same register as the women’s part.

While the measures are still selected, type “ctrl+down”.  It will make the whole selection drop an octave.

Step 5.  Finishing the alto and bass lines.  You can copy the first four measures and paste it into measures 11-14.  If you don’t copy the measures isolated, it will paste the whole eight measures in, and add measures into your score.  After you have pasted in measures 11-14 in the alto line, manually add the last two measures in the alto and bass lines and add text as shown in the assignment.

Step 6.  Hiding Staves.

In the file menu, Click on “edit general style” under “Style” .  Click on the “Hide Empty Staves” box and click “OK”

You’re done!  Remember that you can change the page settings under “Layout” to be letter size instead of A4.  I always do this because I live in the States, and we print on letter sized paper.

This is a fun one to listen to.   I haven’t formally told you how to do this.  The playback buttons are located under “Help” in the file menu.

The first two buttons are for midi input if you have a keyboard connected to your computer.  This is an awesome feature you can use in Musescore to enter notes into the score by playing them on the keyboard.  The advantages to this are that it will automatically be in the octave that you want it to be in, and it makes it easier to input chords.  I loved this feature when I was at the University and they had the keyboards set up all the time for us, but for home use, I do not use it even though we have all of the hardware to set it up to our clavinova.  If I composed more often, I would, but the note-entry method that I share in this e-course is fast enough for me.  But I digress…

The third button will make you playback from the beginning of the piece.  The fourth button is the play button, and it will play from where you are working, or from the beginning as applicable.  The fifth button will turn on and off any repeats (and similar symbols like codas, etc) that you have entered into the score.

Music Notation assignment number four

Oh, Susannah
Click here for PDF

New skills for this assignment include:
Slurs, note extensions, chords, pick-up measures, first and second endings, and page layout.

Open a new file.  The song name is “Oh, Susannah”, and the composer is Stephen Foster.  Create a new file from scratch.  The time signature for this piece is 2/2.  Click on the box that says “Pick up measure”, and adjust the settings to say “1/2”.  There are 17 measures.

Step 1.  Enter the notes into the score.  Remember that to make a note dotted, you need to type a period (.) before entering the note.  Remember that you can always undo a mistake by typing “ctrl+Z”.  Redo an action by typing “ctrl+Y”.

Step 2.  Enter the lyrics.  Press “n” to get out of note-entry mode, click on the first note of the score, and type “ctrl+L” enter the lyrics mode.  Type the words in.  When you get to “I’m” right after “Banjo on my knee”, we want to create a note extension.  Do this by typing an underscore (_) for the eighth-note “d”.  There are four times in the lyrics that you will have to do this.

Step 3. Adding a slur.  In the fourth measure, we want to add a note slur for the word “I’m”.  Do this by clicking on “Lines” on the side palette.  It’s the seventh one down.  Click and drag the slur to the middle C, and let go when it is highlighted (turns red).

Step 4.  While you are there, add the first ending to measure 16, and a second ending to measure 17.  Do this by dragging the symbol to the measure and letting go when the whole measure is highlighted.

Step 5. Repeats Symbols.  Add repeats by clicking on the “Barlines” tab on the side palette.  You need a forward repeat sign for the first whole measure, and a backwards repeat sign in measure 16.

Step 6.  Adding chord symbols.  Click on the first note and type “ctrl+K”.  This will let you enter text above the staff for your chords.  Type “C” over the “E” in the first whole measure.  Skip on by hitting the space bar.  In measure two, type “C/E”.  Continue through the score and add all of the chords.  Note: This is a function that liked more in the Finale program.  During playback, it would play these chords for you.  This is a feature that has been requested several times to the Musescore developers, and may be included in a near update.  I’m crossing my fingers for this feature!

You’re done!  There is one more thing that I did with this assignment as I was playing with the layout.  On the top tab, click on “Layout”.  Click on “page settings”.  The default page size is A4.  In the states, we usually print on “Letter” sized paper (8 ½” by 11”).  I selected this and clicked “apply”.  It changed the formatting around a little bit to make the page wider.

Music Notation assignment number three

Mary had a Little Lamb
Click here for pdf

New skills for this assignment include:

Dotted notes, adding lyrics, selecting and deleting measures, and adding repeats.

• Open a new file in Musescore.
• Give it the title, “Mary had a Little Lamb”.  The composer is Lowell Mason, and the lyricist is Sarah Josepha Hale.  Create new score from scratch.  Next.
• Click on “Vocals”, then double-click “Voice”.  Next.
• Use default key signature, meter and number of measures (12).  Finish.
• In your new file, press “n” to be in note-entry mode.  Type “5” then “.”*  This highlights the quarter-note/crotchet and the period.  Now type “E” and bring it down an octave.

*Note that this entry method for dotted notes is different from the popular Finale program, in which you add the dot after creating the note.  Musescore requires a little more foresight.

• Type “4” to select the eighth note and type “D”.  Continue until you have entered all of the notes for the piece.  It should look like this.

• Now you need to delete the extra measures at the end.  Type “n” to exit note entry mode.  Now click on the first measure with no notes.  A blue box will appear over that measure.  Hold down the shift button and click on the last measure.  The empty measures will be highlighted.

• Type “ctrl+del” to delete those measures.
• Now click on the first note in the song to select it.  Type “ctrl+L” to add lyrics.  You need to select a note before you can enter this mode.  Type in the words.  For words with more than one syllable, you will need to type in the “-“ to separate them.   Typing a dash or a space will automatically take you to the next note.  “Ma-ry had a lit-tle lamb, lit-tle lamb, lit-tle lamb.  Ma-ry had a lit-tle lamb, its fleece was white as snow.”
• To add a second verse, click somewhere outside the final note.  Select the first note of the song again and type “ctrl+L” again.  It should automatically set you up for creating the second verse.  If it wants you to type in the first verse again, simply go to the end of the word and press “enter”.  You can navigate between verses with the arrow keys.
• Note that in singing, it is customary to abbreviate out syllables that are not sung by substituting an apostrophe, as in “Ev-‘ry-where” instead of “Ev-ery-where” (everywhere).  “Ev-‘ry-where that Ma-ry went, Ma-ry went, Ma-ry went, Ev-‘ry-where that Ma-ry went, the lamb was sure to go.”
• Go to the palettes on the left and click on “barlines”  Drag the ending repeat measure to the last measure of the song and let it go with your mouse.

The finished assignment should look like this:

Music Notation assignment number two

Tip:  Print out assignment (found here) before starting so you will have a hard copy to refer to.  You may want to print out the instructions too.

New skills in this exercise include accidentals, blocked intervals, and rests.

Finished assignment should look like this.

One more tip:  Sometimes it may be hard to select (highlight) a note.  You can do this easily by going out of note-entry-mode and then clicking on the note that you wish to select.  This way you are sure to not add any notes.  Then press "n" again to go back into note-entry-mode and your note should still be highlighted.

Step-by-step instructions for this assignment.

1. Open Muse score.  Type shortcut “Ctrl+n” to start a new file, or click on the file menu and click “new”.
2. Give the work the title “Assignment #2” and type your name in the composer box.  Select “Create new score from template”, and click next.
3. Select “lead Sheet” and click next.  Use the default settings to create your new file and select “finish”.
4. Press “n” to be in note entry mode.  Press 5 to select the quarter note and type “c”.  Ctrl+down makes it middle C.
5. Type D, then E.  The E will be selected, now press the down button.  It becomes Eb.  When you push the down button, the default accidentals favor the flats.  Finish the first line in like manner.
6. Beginning in measure five, start a D scale by typing D, E, F.  Now push the up button, and the F becomes F#.  The default accidental for going up are sharps.  Finish the second line in like manner.
7. Measures 9-10 were put in this assignment to let you play with this feature a little bit.  Type “E,F,G”.  With the G selected, press down and you have Gb.  Press down again and you have F.  Press up and you have F#.  Gb and F# are called enharmonic equivalents, but they are spelled differently.  This is an easy way to change the spelling.
8. In measure 11, type E, D, then press 6 no highlight the half note and press C.  Type “0” to create a half rest.  Press 5 to highlight the quarter note again and type “D, F”.
9. Measure 13.  Type C.  Now hold down the “alt” key and type “3” (alt+3).  You should have a blocked third.  Type 0 for a rest.  Finish the fourth line in like manner.
10. Measure 17.  Type C to make a half note on c.  Type alt+3 to make a third, and continue.  In measure 18 after you type “G”, press the up arrow to make it G#.  Then type alt+3 to make a B.
11. Measure 19.  Type “G”.  Alt+3 adds a B.  Press the dawn key to make it be Bb.  When you make the second third, the measure will add a natural by default.  Finish the line.
12. In Measure 22, you will need to add a courtesy accidental as a reminder that the F should be played natural.  First make the D and F.  Go over to the palettes on the left and find the one that says “Accidentals”.  It’s just below the middle.  Click the arrow to see the options.  Click and drag the natural symbol over to the F.  When the F is highlighted (turns red), let go.  Now go back to the accidentals palette and drag the ( ) to the natural on the F.
13. In measure 23, build a chord by typing “C” and alt+3 twice.  Type C and bring it down an octave (ctrl + down).  Type alt+4, alt+3 to make the C,F,A chord.  Type “7” to select the whole note and build a C chord to finish.

Music Notation assignment number one

See my Musecore e-course page for information the context of this assignment.  It may be helpful to watch musescore's "getting started" videos before doing these assignments.

1. Download MuseScore if you haven't already.
2.  Open Musescore.  Go to "File" and create a new document.
3.  In the title space type "Notation assignment 1"  Leave the rest blank unless you want to have fun with it.  Click "next".
4.  Pick a one-stave instrument.  I chose the bassoon under woodwinds.  Click on the bassoon and then click on the button that says "add" in the center column.  Click "next".
5.  You will see key signatures.  Leave it on the "C" default (no sharps or flats) and click next.
6.  Leave the default time signature at 4/4.  Under the number of measures, type in 15 and click "finish".
7.  Type "N" and look in the bottom corner of the file and look for "note entry mode".  There will be nothing written if you are not in note entry mode.
8.  Press "7" and see the whole note selected.  Type "C" on the keyboard.  If you chose the bassoon like me, a very high note will appear on the board.  Press ctrl+down twice and the note will be base-C
9.  Finish the scale by typing "D E F G A B C"
10.  Press "6" to highlight the half note.  Type "C" then ctrl+down to make another base-C.  Finish the half note note scale by typing " D E F G A B C".
11.  Press "5" to highlight the quarter note.  Type "C" and ctrl+down to make another base-C.  Finish the half note note scale by typing " D E F G A B C".
12.  Press "4" to highlight the eighth note.  Type "C" and ctrl+down to make another base-C.  Finish the half note note scale by typing " D E F G A B C".
13.  At this point we decide that we want more measures.  Use your mouse up in the file menu and click on "Create".  Mouse over "measures" and click on "append measures" (the second one down.  Type "15" and click "okay".
14.  Make sure that you are still in Note entry mode.  Select the eighth note by pressing "4" or click on the eighth note with your mouse.  In measure 16, mouse over middle "C" and click to create the note.
15.  Finish the scale by typing "BAGFEDC".
16.  Press "5" to select the quarter note.  Type "C"  Now we need to make the note jump up an octave.  Press ctrl+up to work the magic.  Finish the scale by typing "BAGFEDC".
17.   Press "6" to select the half note.  Type "C"  Press ctrl+up and finish the scale by typing "BAGFEDC".
18.  Press "7" to select the whole note.  Type "C"  Press ctrl+up and finish the scale by typing "BAGFEDC".

This finishes your note-entry portion of the assignment.  Optional advanced step for formatting:

See the palettes on the left and click on "Breaks and spacers".  Three green pictures will be there, select the first and drag it to the end of your first scale, the middle C, and let go.  This should make the half notes go to the next line.  If you let go in the wrong place, click ctrl+Z to undo it and try again.  Repeat at the end of the half note scales and eighth note scales to make the formatting look more pretty.

Your finished assignment should look like this.
 Notation assignment1.pdf