• In the Windows menu, select Piano keyboard... and a musical keyboard appears on the screen.

• Place the mouse inside this keyboard. You can click on the notes to hear them, but you can also use the two lower range keys of the computer keyboard, to trigger the keys of the music keyboard. But for this to happen, the mouse pointer must be INSIDE the keyboard window. If the mouse is outside, then the shortcuts are not reaching the keyboard.

• The key correspondence is the following:

• Try to use some of these keys. If the correspondence is not the same on your keyboard, then go in the Options menu and select Keyboard... and test the various options in the menu entitled Keyboard shortcut, then click OK. Notice that in the same dialog box, you can select the octave of the first visible note.

• Open the two following palettes in the Tools menu: Main palette and Notes and rests. Click on the quarter note in the notes and rests palettes and on the icon in the main palette.

• Move the mouse so that it is inside the music keyboard.

You are now ready to enter the notes only by using the computer keyboard and with no need of the mouse. Here is how:

• To add a note, use the two lower range of keys on the computer keyboard. The note is displayed on the staff.

• To change the rhythmic value (here the quarter note), use the numeric keypad of the computer, according to the following table:

• 1 = whole note
• 2 = half note
• 3 = quarter note
• 4 = 8th note
• 5 = 16th note
• 6 = 32nd note
• ...

This article is a practical summary, but you can read the full lesson in the help menu of Pizzicato: Help, Writing scores, Entering notes with a music keyboard...