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Introduction of notes and rests (5)

Subjects covered:

• Adding triplets and tuplets
• The enharmonic tool
• Insert mode

Watch also the following video:

• Introduction of notes and rests (2) (07'51) - Flash - Quicktime

Adding triplets and tuplets [Light] [Beginner] [Professional] [Notation] [Composition Light] [Composition Pro] [Drums and Percussion] [Guitar] [Choir] [Keyboard] [Soloist]

The triplet means that 3 notes are played within the normal duration of two notes. Tuplet is a term used to indicate any irregular group of notes such as 5 notes instead of 4, 15 instead of 16, etc. Here are some examples:

Let us see how to create these measures.

• Start Pizzicato. Add the notes using the tools learned in the previous lessons, to get:

• Open the Main Palette and select the Tuplet tool . Place the mouse cursor arrow where the first triplet must start:

• Click and drag to the right by holding down the mouse button. A triplet appears and extends to the right by following your movement. Stretch it to cover the first three notes, then release the mouse button to obtain:

Without other specifications, the tuplet tool automatically draws a triplet with a hook and the digit "3". If you hold down the Control key when adding the tuplet, Pizzicato opens a dialog box that lets you select the characteristics of the tuplet.

• Place the cursor as follows:

• While holding down the Control key, click and drag over the 6 sixteenth notes. Release the mouse button. The following dialog box appears on the screen:

• The frame entitled Note playing lets you specify the ratio used to play the notes. For a triplet, we have 3 notes instead of 2. To create our example, we need 6 sixteenth notes instead of 4. Fill in figures "6" and "4" in the two text boxes.
• The vertical slider lets you adjust the vertical position of the label containing the digit(s) as it will appear on the score.
• The Position frame let you select the orientation of the tuplet. By default, Pizzicato places it on the correct side, but you may invert it as needed.
• The Graphical type of curve frame lets you select a bracket, a curve or nothing to group the notes. In our example, select the curve.
• The Label frame selects the tuplet digit style. Four styles are provided each one with or without graphical superposition of the curve, in order to adapt to the various needs of musical notation. To confirm modifications, click OK. The measure becomes:

• Once placed, the tuplet can be adjusted by moving 3 points (the tuplet tool must be selected):

• By clicking and dragging the left end, the left reference of the tuplet moves,
• By clicking and dragging the left end while holding down the CTRL key, the tuplet moves in one block,
• By clicking and dragging the digit, the digit moves vertically. The curve does not move. Slightly move digit "6" upwards, in our example.
• By clicking and dragging the right end, the curve widens or narrows according to your movement. You can also go up or down to vary the angle of the curve. The left end does not move. The digit moves proportionally.
• By double-clicking one of these areas, you can reach the definition dialog box.

• Place the cursor as follows:

• Click and drag over the width of the 5 notes, going a little upwards to follow the angle of the notes. When you release you get a curve with a "6". The characteristics of the last tuplet was memorized and applied to the next tuplet. This is the action of the Becomes the current style check box of the above dialog. If you do not want the edited style to become the current style, uncheck that box before clicking on OK. As we want a "5", double-click the digit. The dialog box comes back. Fill it to have 5 notes instead of 4. Adjust the position of the figure to finally get:

• To complete the example, create a tuplet on the last 9 notes. As explained, use the key to directly reach the dialog box. Fill it to have 9 notes instead of 8. For the Label, select the third choice and check the Cut curve box. Click on OK and adjust the position of the tuplet including the digits 9:8. You have now the example of the beginning of the lesson:

The tuplet tool has a shortcut key. It is lowercase letter "n". It does not act directly on the score but lets you select the tuplet tool without opening the palette.

Here is how to erase a tuplet:

• Be sure that the tuplet tool is selected and place the mouse cursor on one of the three access points (left end, right end or digit)
• Use the erase key of the keyboard: the tuplet disappears.

When you place a tuplet between two staves, Pizzicato associates it with the staff being the nearest to the location you clicked. Take this into account, because the tuplet will behave correctly only if it is attached to the correct staff.

If the automatic justification is active, Pizzicato calculates the contents of the measure and arranges the notes consequently. It is thus impossible to introduce a rhythmic voice having more beats than the total number of beats of the measure (here 4 beats). To introduce a tuplet, it happens that you must, for example, place 3 eighth notes in a measure where only 2 will fit. Let us examine the following measure:

To encode this measure, you may not add the last 3 eigth notes and then the triplet, because Pizzicato will refuse the last eigth note, the measure being already full at that moment. To overcome this, place the first eigth note and then add the tuplet to get:

Pizzicato takes into account the fact that the triplet is not finished and reserves the place for the next notes. You may then add the last two eigth notes to complete the triplet:

It is also possible to globally modify the style of Tuplets for a section of the score. You must first select the concerned measures and staves (for that, see the lesson entitled Selecting measures). Then use the Edit, Modify Tuplets… menu. The above dialog appears, but with an additional frame on its right:

The five check boxes determine the aspects of the Tuplet style that will be applied to the selected measures. By checking for example Label and by setting the label to 3/2 in the left part of the dialog, all Tuplets located in the selected measures will adopt this style.

Since version 3.5.3, a new way to enter tuplets is available. This mode creates the tuplet automatically as you enter the notes. To enable this mode, double-click on the Tuplet tool and check the Automatic while adding the notes choice in the Entering mode frame and validate. To add a tuplet, select a rhythm value (like the 8th note) and select the tuplet tool as well. Each note that you add on the staff will be affected by the tuplet and Pizzicato will group them nicely together. You can define the type of Tuplet (triplet,...) as well as its style, by double-clicking the tuplet tool.

When the automatic mode is active and the arrow is selected (so there is no rhythmic value active), the tuplet tool can be used manually, by dragging the tuplet over existing notes. The 'n' shortcut activates the tuplet tool. In the automatic mode, the use of the 'N' shortcut ('n' + SHIFT) activates the tuplet tool and the arrow tool, so that you can place tuplets manually.

The enharmonic tool [Light] [Beginner] [Professional] [Notation] [Composition Light] [Composition Pro] [Drums and Percussion] [Guitar] [Choir] [Keyboard] [Soloist]

Two notes are enharmonic to each other if they have a different name but correspond to the same sound and the same key on a musical keyboard. F sharp is an enharmonic of G flat.

The enharmonic tool is located in the Notes and rests palette :

Create a new document and fill in the following measure:

Select the enharmonic tool and click on the head of the first note (A #). The measure becomes:

Pizzicato replaced the note by its enharmonic note. Click again on this note, you get another enharmonic of A #, C double flat:

By clicking a third time, you get again A #.

The shortcut key is figure "9". It acts directly on the score, without selecting the tool in the palette. Position the mouse cursor on the second note and type "9" on the keyboard. Do the same for the 2 other notes. You get:

This tool is useful to correct the notes introduced using a musical keyboard.

Insert mode [Light] [Beginner] [Professional] [Notation] [Composition Light] [Composition Pro] [Drums and Percussion] [Guitar] [Choir] [Keyboard] [Soloist]

Since Pizzicato 3.6.1, a special insert mode lets you insert notes and rests in a melody that covers several measures.

Until now, you could insert notes and rest in an incomplete measures and Pizzicato would shift the content up to the next bar line. For instance, if you insert a quarter note before two eighth notes, these two notes will be shifted.

The new insert mode is activated by the tool that you can find in the main palette. Its shortcut is letter "q". By selecting it, the background of the measures becomes slightly blue, to show the active insert area of the score.

By default, this area covers the whole score. If you insert a note in the first measure, for instance a quarter note, the whole content of that measure as well as the rest of the score, will be shifted by one quarter note. This can imply a change of rhythmic values, as the shifting is done through the bar lines. In a 4/4 measure with two half notes, if you insert a quarter note at the beginning, the first half note is shifted, but the second is split into two tied quarter notes, with the second quarter note being moved in the next measure (which content will be shifted in the same way). At the end of the insert area, the content may be truncated if it overflows the area duration.

You can modify the limits of the insert area so that it only contains one or a few measures. Select the insert tool on the palette and then do a CONTROL + left-click in a measure to specify the starting point of the insert mode area and a CONTROL + right-click to specify the end of the area.

To insert notes or rest, simply use the standard notes and rests tools by putting the note or rest between the existing content of the measure.

Here is an example where a quarter note is inserted a the beginning, in an insert mode area of 3 measures. Please note that the last note of the area (a half note) is truncated (to a quarter note) so that it does not overflow the specified area.

The same principle applies also in the following operations:

• Adding or deleting a dot on a note or rest
• Deleting a note or rest
• Changing the rhythmic value of a note or rest (using a right-click on the note or rest)

If the selection tool is active with a selection displayed on the screen, when you enter the insert mode, the insert mode area is made equal to the previous selection of measures.

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