Learning MuseScore

MuseScore provides a number of learning resources to help the new user get started.

Tours

When you run MuseScore for the first time, the Startup Wizard appears to help you set up some basic features of the software. One of these features is called Tours, and, as the name suggests, gives you a guided tour of the program.

• To activate this feature, on the Tours page of the Startup Wizard, tick "Yes" in response to "Would you like to see these tours?"

This will allow the Tour to run when the program opens, introducing you to the main features of the user interface.

• To end the tour: press the Close button.
• To stop the Tour showing when you open MuseScore: Uncheck "Continue taking Tours".
• To enable the Tour again (when program reopens): Select Help→Tours→Show Tours.
• To see all the Tours again (when program reopens): Select Help→Tours→Reset Tours.

Currently offered tours:

• Introduction to User Interface.
• Entering notes and rests in a score.
• Entering symbols from a palette.
• Navigating the score with Timeline.
• Navigating the score with keyboard.
• Entering multimeasure rests.
• Autoplace positioning of symbols.
• Modify properties with Inspector.
• Selecting elements.
• Add and edit lines in score.

Getting Started score

The interactive Getting Started score is a practical introduction to the basics of entering a score. When you open MuseScore for the first time, it will be displayed in the main window of the Start Center: just click to open it. Follow the instructions written in blue, and you will be led through the basic steps of score writing.

Note: If you don't see the Getting Started score, you can find it in the right hand panel of the Start Center. Click the right or left arrows to browse through the options until it appears.

Written tutorials

In the Tutorials and How-to section you will find tutorials on specific topics (e.g. MuseScore Drumline).

Video tutorials

Musescore 3 video tutorials created by musescore.org on Youtube are broken / unacessable due to private sharing restriction as of Jan 2023
Try the comprehensive Musescore3 tutorial videos on masteringmusescore.com created by Marc Sabatella instead. While Marc Sabatella contributed heavily to MuseScore codebase, his masteringmusescore.com is not affiliated with Muse Group or any of its subsidiary companies.

MuseScore offers a full set of instructions videos, each covering a specific subject. You can access these videos in several ways.

• From the MuseScore homepage at MuseScore.org: Support/Tutorials
• In the Start Center: browse to the Videos page in the right-hand panel.
• Look up directly by searching for "MuseScore in Minutes" on You Tube

• Use the list:

  • Lesson 1- Score setup
  • Lesson 2 - Working with MuseScore
  • Lesson 3 - Note Input
  • Lesson 4 - MIDI keyboard input
  • Lesson 5 - More Input Ideas
  • Lesson 6 - Text, Lyrics, and Chords
  • Lesson 7 - Tablature and Drum Notation
  • Lesson 8 - Repeats and Endings, Part 1
  • Lesson 9 - Repeats and Endings, Part 2
  • Lesson 10 - Articulations, Dynamics and Text
  • Lesson 11 - Layout and Parts

Get Support

If you experience a problem while working with MuseScore, there are several ways to get help and support.

Handbook

To access the Handbook:

• From the MuseScore website: select Support → Handbook from the menu.
• From the MuseScore program: select Help → Online Handbook from the menu.

You can browse through the Handbook using the menus, or do a search.

Context help

If you select an element in your score and press F1, a webpage opens displaying a list of links associated with that element in the Handbook.

Forums

MuseScore offers a number of on-line Forums for user collaboration. You may be able to find an answer here to your problem among the existing posts. A general search of the website will return a list of relevant hits to all forums and the Handbook.

How To's

Some tasks require the use of several different techniques. These can be difficult to find an answer for in the Handbook. Solutions for these may be found in the How To's

Post a question

If you cannot find the answer to your problem, you can ask a question in the Support and bug reports forum.

When you post your question:

• Try to be as precise as you can, when you describe what you want to do, and which steps you have already tried.
• Attach the score that shows the problem. This will make it much easier for others to understand the problem — use the "File attachments" option at the bottom of the page, just above the Save and Preview buttons.
• You may format the text using these tips.

Report a bug

If you encounter something you think is a bug, the first step is to post it in the Support and bug reports forum. This will allow others to help check if it is a genuine bug, and to advise workarounds, so you can continue your scorewriting. You will find more details on this in Bug reports and Feature requests.

External links

• How to write a good bug report: step-by-step instructions Isolate bug (MuseScore HowTo)

Installation

MuseScore exists for various different operating systems, including Windows, macOS, Linux distributions and BSD variants.

MuseScore, MuseScore 3, MuseScore 4

More on MuseScore and versions so that you can choose the right MuseScore to use.

Minimum requirements for Musescore 3.6.2

Windows
Windows 7 or higher.
At least 300MB hard disk space
1024x600 pixel resolution

Mac
macOS 10.10 or higher
1024x600 monitor resolution

Download and Installation

• Install on Windows.
• Install on macOS.
• Install on Linux.
• Install on Chromebook.

Initial preferences

The first time you start MuseScore after the installation, you will be asked to confirm your basic preferences:

First, you can choose to authorize MuseScore (3.4 or later) to collect usage data, click on Yes, send anonymous reports or Don't send to continue:

The settings for language is retrieved from your installation, and should normally not need to be changed. Just click Next to continue:

followed by:

Select your keyboard layout in the drop down list, click Next to continue:

You will now be asked if you wish to take the Tours. If you are new to MuseScore keep the 'Yes' option checked, and click Next to continue:

Finally click Finish to start MuseScore.

    arch
 

    uname -m
 

    cd ~/Downloads
    chmod u+x MuseScore*.AppImage
 

    cd ~/Downloads
    ./MuseScore*.AppImage install
 

    ~/Downloads/MuseScore*.AppImage install
 

    ./MuseScore*.AppImage --help   # displays a complete list of command line options
    ./MuseScore*.AppImage man      # displays the manual page (explains what the options do)
 

  sudo apt-get install wget ca-certificates
 

  wget -O - https://download.opensuse.org/repositories/home:/mirabile:/mscore/bionic-neon/Release.key | sudo apt-key add -
 

  echo deb https://download.opensuse.org/repositories/home:/mirabile:/mscore/bionic-neon ./ | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mscore.list
 

  sudo apt-get update
 

Language, translations, and extensions

MuseScore works with your "System" language (the one used for most programs, and generally depending on your country and the language settings of the PC, or account).

Change language

1. From the menu, select Edit→Preferences... (Mac: MuseScore→Preferences...);

2. In the General tab, select the desired language from the drop-down list in the Language section:

   

Resource Manager

The Resource Manager is used to install and uninstall extensions, and to handle the update of translations. To access the menu use one of the following options:

• From the menu bar, select Help→Resource Manager.

• From the menu bar, select Edit→Preferences... (Mac: MuseScore→Preferences...), open the General tab, and click on the Update translations button.

  

Install/uninstall extension

To install or uninstall an extension:

1. Select the Extensions tab in the Resource Manager.
2. Select the extension.
3. Click the Install or Uninstall button.

Note: Extensions currently include the MuseScore Drumline (MDL) (as of version 3.0) and the MuseScore General HQ soundfont (as of version 3.1).

Update translations

To update translation(s):

1. Select the Languages tab in the Resource Manager.
2. Click on the Update buttons for the language(s) you want to update.

Note: Almost all menus and dialogs will switch to the changed/updated translations immediately, but some won't use them until the program is restarted.

See also

• Helping to improve translation

External links

• How to change the language in MuseScore (MuseScore HowTo)

Checking for updates

Note: These options are only available in the Mac and Windows versions of MuseScore (except the version from the Windows Store), as only those can be updated directly from MuseScore.org. Linux distributions (and the Windows Store) have different mechanisms to make updates available.

For the versions of MuseScore that can be directly updated, there are two ways to check for updates.

Automated update check

1. From the menu, select Edit→Preferences... (Mac: MuseScore→Preferences...);
2. Select the Update tab.
3. Ensure the box marked "Check for new version of MuseScore" is ticked. (It should be ticked by default):
   
   If you enable this option, MuseScore will check for updates on every start. On the Mac and Windows versions (excluding the Windows Store version), this option enables an auto-updater that will download and install updates automatically.

Check for update

1. From the menu, select Help→Check for Update:
   
2. A dialog will appear with the update status: either "No Update Available" or "An update for MuseScore is available:" followed by a link to download it.

See also

• Preferences: Update

Create a new score

To create a new score, open the New Score Wizard (see Create new score below): this can also be accessed via the Start Center.

Start Center

This is the window that is displayed when you open MuseScore for the very first time:

To open the Start Center (if not already visible), use any of the following options:

• Press F4.
• From the menu bar, select File→Start Center...

To stop the Start Center from showing up when you open MuseScore:

• From the menu bar, select Edit→Preferences... (Mac: MuseScore→Preferences...) and uncheck "Show start center" in the Program Start section of the General tab.

From the Start Center you can:

• Create a new score (by clicking on the icon with the plus sign).
• View thumbnails of previously-opened scores: click on a thumbnail to open it.
• Open a score from your computer's file system: click on Open a score ...
• Open the "Getting Started" tutorial score. Use the arrow buttons in the right-hand pane to access the link.
• Search sheet music on musecore.com.
• Access various other facilities (see right-hand pane).

Create new score

To open the New Score Wizard when the Start Center is not open, use one of the following options:

• Click on the New Score icon in the toolbar on the top left of the window;
• Use keyboard shortcut Ctrl+N (Mac: Cmd+N);
• From the menu, select File→New....

This opens a step-by-step wizard:

1. Enter score information
2. Choose template file
3. Choose instruments (or voice parts)
4. Choose key signature (and tempo)
5. Choose time signature, tempo, pickup measure, and number of measures

Enter score information

Step 1: Enter score information.

Enter the title, composer or any other information as shown above, then click on Next >. This step is optional: you can also add this information after the score has been created (see Vertical frame).

Choose template file

Step 2: Choose template file.

In the left column is a list of pre-defined solo, ensemble and orchestral templates, divided into categories according to musical styles, and custom template.

To choose a pre-defined score template:

1 Browse or use the Search bar (top left) to find specific templates.
2 Click a score template name to select it.
3 Click either: Next > (or just double-click the score template name in the previous step), or Finish.

To choose a custom score template:

• Choose an option under the "Custom Templates" category. This category is hidden if there is no custom templates on this machine. In Musescore 3, the preview window shows what the template file looks like when opened as a score, it is not the preview of what a new score looks like when created from this template.

To add individual staffs (Musescore instruments):

• On the left, select "Choose Instruments" option under the "General" category, then click Next >; or just double-click the option
• Follow instructions in Instruments, staff setup and templates chapter.

Choose instruments (or voice parts)

• In the "Choose template file" window, on the left, select "Choose Instruments" option under the "General" category, then click Next >; or just double-click the option
• Follow instructions in Instruments, staff setup and templates chapter.

Choose key signature (and tempo)

Step 3: Choose key signature (and tempo).

• Select the desired key signature, then click Next > to continue. Prior to version 3.5, you can also set the tempo here.

Choose time signature, tempo, pickup measure, and number of measures

Step 4: Choose time signature etc.

Here, you can set:

• The initial time signature.
• A pickup measure (anacrusis or upbeat measure), and its duration.
• The initial number of measures in the score (the default is 32, but you can add/remove measures from the score edit window).
• Tempo (prior to version 3.5, this is set on the Choose key signature (and tempo) page instead).

Click Finish to end the wizard and create your new score.

Adjustments to score after creation

All settings you have made when you create a new score can be changed afterwards, browse the handbook, some relevant chapters:

• Score properties
• Create a pickup measure.
• Insert, Append, Delete measures.
• Key signature
• Time signature
• Clef
• Tempo
• Add text.
• Edit text.

Change instrument and staff setup

• See Instruments, staff setup and templates.

Adjust score layout and formatting

• See Layout and formatting.

Note input

MuseScore allows you to enter music notation from any of four input devices: computer keyboard, mouse, MIDI keyboard, or virtual piano keyboard. The default input mode is step-time, in which notes or rests are entered one at a time. However, other input modes are also available.

After exiting the New Score Wizard, your new score will consist of a series of measures filled with measure rests:

As you enter notes in a measure, the measure rests are changed to appropriate rests to fill the remainder of the measure:

Notes of different durations on the same beat are entered by using voices:

Basic note entry

This section introduces you to the basics of entering notes and rests in step-time from a computer keyboard. It is also recommended that you work through the tutorial, "Getting Started: An introduction to note entry in MuseScore". This is available from the Start Center.

Step 1. Select a starting position

Select a starting position for note input by clicking on a note or rest, or selecting a measure, with the mouse. If you don't select a starting point, the cursor automatically defaults to the beginning of the score when you enter Note Input mode ("Step 2" below).

Step 2. Enter Note Input mode

To enter Note Input mode, use either of the following options:

• Click on the "N" icon (on the extreme left of the Note Input toolbar).
• Press N on your computer keyboard.

To exit Note Input mode, use any of the following options:

• Press N.
• Press Esc.
• Click on the toolbar "N" button.

Step 3. Select a duration

Still in Note Input mode, select a note duration using either of the following:

• Click on a corresponding note icon in the Note Input toolbar (directly above the document window):
  
• Enter the keyboard shortcut for that duration (see below).

Step 4. Enter the note or rest

• To enter a note pitch from A–G, simply press the corresponding letter on your computer keyboard or place it using your mouse/touchpad (and a 'normal' left-click).
• To enter a rest, press 0 (zero) or right-click your mouse.

This method of entry also works if you are not in Note Input mode—as long as you have a note/rest selected, or the score is newly-created (in which case note entry will default to the beginning).

Select a note/rest duration

The following keyboard shortcuts are used to select note/rest duration in Note Input mode:

• 64th (hemidemisemiquaver): 1
• 32nd (demisemiquaver): 2
• 16th (semiquaver): 3
• Eighth (quaver): 4
• Quarter (crotchet): 5
• Half (minim): 6
• Whole (semibreve): 7
• Double whole (breve): 8
• Longa: 9
• Dot: . (toggles the selection to and from a dotted note/rest)
• "Increase active duration": In note input mode, this shortcut changes the selected duration to the next value above the current one. Set the shortcut in Preferences: Shortcuts.
• "Decrease active duration": In note input mode, this shortcut changes the selected duration to the next value below the current one. .

See also: Tuplets.

Additional durations

• Double, triple and quadruple dots: Apply from the note input toolbar in the advanced workspace or via a custom shortcut.
• 128th note: Ditto.
• 256th, 512th or 1024th durations: First enter a 128th note (or longer), then half it as many times as needed using the shortcut Q or, as of 3.5, via a custom shortcut, or via the corresponding entries on the note input toolbar in a custom workspace.

Input devices

Music notation can be entered by:

• Computer keyboard.
• Mouse.
• MIDI keyboard.
• Virtual Piano Keyboard.
• Any combination of the above.

Computer keyboard

This section expands on "Basic note entry" (see above) and introduces you to the full range of commands available for entering notes or rests from the computer keyboard.

Summary of commands

Here is a list of useful editing shortcuts available in Note input mode:

• 1–9 and . (dot): Set note input duration (as described above).
• A–G: Enter note A to G respectively.
• 0: Enter a rest.
• R: Repeat the last entered note.
• Backspace: Undo last entered note
• ↑ (Up): Raise the pitch of a note by a semitone (uses ♯).
• ↓ (Down): Lower the pitch of a note by a semitone (uses ♭).
• Alt+Shift+↑: Raise the pitch of a note by scale degrees using key signature (assumes Major).
• Alt+Shift+↓: Lower the pitch of a note by a scale degree using key signature (assumes Major).
• J: Change a note up or down to its enharmonic equivalent (e.g. D♯ to E♭). This alters the spelling in both concert pitch and transposed modes. See Accidentals.
• Ctrl+J (Mac Cmd+J): Change a note up or down to its enharmonic equivalent. This alters the spelling only in the current mode. See Accidentals.
• X: Flip direction of note stem (can be reset to Auto position in Inspector)
• Shift+X: Move note head to opposite side of stem (can be reset to Auto position in Inspector)
• Ctrl+Alt+1-4: Switch to corresponding voice
• Q: Halve the duration of the last entered note, and use that duration for future input. This is the default key for "Half Duration" shortcut command. Also see tips below.
• W: Double the duration of the last entered note, and use that duration for future input. This is the default key for "Double Duration" shortcut command. Also see tips below.
• Shift+Q: Decrease duration of the last entered note by a dot (for example, a dotted quarter note/crotchet becomes a quarter note/crotchet and a quarter note/crotchet becomes a dotted eighth note/quaver), and use that duration for the future input. This is the default key for "Decrease duration dotted" shortcut command. Also see tips below.
• Shift+W: Increase duration of the last entered note by a dot (for example an eighth note/quaver becomes a dotted eighth note/quaver and a dotted eighth note/quaver becomes a quarter note/crotchet), and use that duration for the future input. This is the default key for "Increase duration dotted" shortcut command. Also see tips below.
• Ctrl+↑ (Mac: Cmd+↑): Raise the pitch of the last entered note by an octave
• Ctrl+↓ (Mac: Cmd+↓): Lower the pitch of the last entered note by an octave
• Shift+←: Exchange last entered note with the note before it (repeat to keep moving note earlier)
• Shift+→: Exchange note moved with Shift+← with the note that follows it
• Alt+1-9: Add interval (unison to ninth) above current note.
• Shift+A-G: Add note A to G above current note respectively.

Note : (1) Q and W change the duration of the last entered note. The similar shortcuts "Increase active duration" and "Decrease active duration" do not change the last entered note, they are configurable in Preferences window. (2) Shift+Q and Shift+W change the duration of the last entered note by dot. Pressing . (dot) while in Note input mode does not change the last entered note.

Enter notes/rests

You can enter a note by typing the corresponding letter on your keyboard. After entering Note Input mode, type 5 C D E F G A B C to get the following result:

Note: When you enter a note using the keyboard, MuseScore places it closest to the previous note entered (above or below).

To enter a rest, type "0" (zero). To get the following, type 5 C D 0 E after entering Note Input mode.

Note: The duration selected in the toolbar applies to both notes and rests.

If you want to enter a dotted note, press . (period/full stop) after selecting the duration.

For example, after entering Note Input mode, type: 5 . C 4 D E F G A.

If you want to enter a tuplet (such as a triplet): see Tuplets.

If you want to write music with two or more simultaneous lines of independent melody on the same staff, see Voices.

Move notes up/down

To move a note up or down by a semitone:

• Press the ↑ or ↓ arrow.

To move a note up or down diatonically:

• Press Alt+Shift+↑ or Alt+Shift+↓.

To move a note up or down by one octave:

• Press Ctrl+↑ (Mac: Cmd+↑) or Ctrl+↓ (Mac: Cmd+↓).

Add accidentals

When a note is moved up or down with an arrow key (see above), any accidental required is automatically generated by the program. Accidentals can also be added manually—see Accidentals.

Chords

If you want to add a chord note to your previous entry:

• Press and hold Shift, then enter a note from AtoG.

Thus, typing C, D, Shift+F, Shift+A, E, F results in:

To add a note at a specific interval above or below one or more notes:

1. Ensure that one or more notes are selected;
2. Use one of the following options:
   • From the menu, select Add→Intervals and choose an interval from the list;
   • Press Alt+1-9 for intervals above (intervals below are also possible by adding relevant shortcuts to the list in Preferences).

Note: To create chords with notes of different durations, you will need to use more than one Voice.

Insert notes

Normally, when you enter music in MuseScore, any existing notes or rests are overwritten. There are, however, several ways to insert notes:

• Insert extra measures into the score.
• Cut and paste a section of the score forward, then enter music into the gap.
• To insert a note, press Ctrl+Shift (Mac: Cmd+Shift) + the note name (AtoG). This will insert a note of the selected duration and move the rest of the notes to the right in the same measure. If the measure exceeds the duration of the time signature, the blue plus will appear above the measure as in Insert Mode.

Delete notes

To delete a single note:

• Select the note and press Del (Mac: Backspace).

To delete a chord:

1. Press Esc to ensure that you are in Normal mode.
2. Press Shift and click on a note to select the chord.
3. Press Del (Mac: Backspace).

The delete command can also be applied to a range of notes/chords.

Mouse

It's easy to enter notes with the mouse, but it is not the fastest way to enter lots of notes.

1. Click on the desired note duration symbol in the Note input toolbar.
2. Click on the score to add a pitch of the selected duration.
3. To add more notes to an existing chord, simply repeat step 2.
4. To replace an existing chord (rather than adding to it), press Shift before clicking.
5. To add a rest, right-click.

Note: If you hover the cursor over the score in Note Input Mode it will show you a preview of the note or rest you are about to add.

MIDI keyboard

You can also insert pitches using a MIDI keyboard.

1. Connect your MIDI keyboard to the computer and switch the former on
2. Start MuseScore (this must be done after the keyboard is switched on)
3. Create a new score
4. Click the rest (selecting it) in measure 1 to indicate where you want note input to begin
5. Press N to enter note input mode
6. Select a note duration such as 5 for quarter notes (crotchets), as described above
7. Press a note on your MIDI keyboard.

The pitch should be added to your score. If the pitch does not appear, either use the toolbar and click 'Toggle MIDI Input' or follow these steps:

1. From the menu, select Edit→Preferences... (Mac: MuseScore→Preferences...).
2. Click on the Note Input tab and check "Enable MIDI Input".
3. Click OK to exit. You will need to restart MuseScore to apply the change.

Note: The default method of entry, Step-time allows you to enter one note at a time. Other note input modes are also available: see Note input modes.

If you have multiple MIDI devices connected to your computer, you may need to inform MuseScore which is the MIDI keyboard:

1. From the menu, select Edit→Preferences... (Mac: MuseScore→Preferences...).
2. Click on the I/O tab and select your device under the section labeled "MIDI input".
3. Click OK to exit. You will need to restart MuseScore to apply the change.

Virtual Piano Keyboard

You can also input notes using the on-screen piano keyboard.

• To toggle the display on and off: Press P (or select View→Piano).
• To resize the keyboard: Position the mouse pointer over the piano keys, hold down Ctrl (Mac: Cmd) and move the mouse scroll wheel up (larger) or down (smaller).

The method of note entry is similar to that for a midi keyboard:

1. Ensure that you are in Note Input mode.
2. To enter a:
   • Single note: Click on the appropriate piano key.
   • Chord: Select the note you wish to add to, press and hold Shift, then click on a piano key (in versions before 2.1, use Ctrl (Mac: Cmd). Repeat as required.

Note input modes

See Note Input modes main chapter.

MuseScore offers a variety of note input modes in addition to Step-time. All can be accessed by clicking the small arrow next to the "N" button on the left of the Note Input toolbar:

• Step-time (default): The default mode of note entry. See Basic note entry (above).
• Repitch: Replace pitches without changing rhythms.
• Rhythm: Enter durations with a single click or keypress.
• Real-time (automatic): Perform the piece at a fixed tempo indicated by a metronome beat.
• Real-time (manual): Perform the piece while tapping a key or pedal to set the beat.
• Insert: (Called "Timewise" until version 3.0.2) Insert and delete notes and rests within measures, automatically shifting subsequent music forwards or backwards.

Coloring of notes outside an instrument's range

Depending on the skill of the musician, certain notes are considered beyond the range of a particular instrument. For informational purposes, MuseScore optionally colors notes red if they are outside the range of a "professional" player, and olive green/dark yellow if outside the range of an "early amateur." The colors appear on the computer screen, but not on printed copies.

To enable/disable note coloration and to set "professional" and "amateur" ranges, see Usable pitch range (Staff properties: all staves).

Small notes/small noteheads

1. Select the note(s) you want in small size.
2. Check the "Small" checkbox in the Inspector. The one in the Note section is used to only change the size of the individual notehead; the one in the Chord section will change the note head, stem, beam, and flag sizes all together.

By default, the small size is 70% of the normal size. You can change that setting in Format → Style…→Sizes.

Change notes or rests already entered

Change duration, overwriting subsequent phrases or adding spaces

Version 3.3.3 and above

1. Make sure you are in Normal mode (press Esc to exit from Note input modes).
2. Select one or more notes/rests, or note-stems/hooks. Apply the desired duration shortcut (listed above), or click on the equivalent duration icon in the toolbar.

Prior to version 3.3.3

1. Make sure you are in Normal mode (press Esc to exit from Note input modes).
2. Click on a note or rest. Apply the desired duration shortcut (listed above), or click on the equivalent duration icon in the toolbar.

For example, to change three sixteenth rests into a single dotted eighth rest:

1. Click on the first sixteenth rest.
2. Hit 4 to turn it into an eighth rest.
3. Hit . to turn it into a dotted eighth rest.
4. As the duration increases, it overwrites the other two sixteenth rests following it.

Note that increasing duration overwrites the notes or rests that follow the selected phrase; decreasing duration adds rests between it and the notes or rests following.

See also Paste half/double duration

Change duration, expanding or shrinking the current measure

• Use the Duration Editor plugin that allows "Melody first, rhythm second" notes entry, or
• (insert only) insert notes or measure as described above.

Change duration of notes in selection only, overwriting rests only

Use the Note duration actions plugin to batch adjust notes length while keeping starting positions intact.

Change pitch

To change the pitch of a single note:

1. Make sure that you're not in note input mode and that you have no other notes selected.
2. Select the desired note and use any of the following methods:
   • Drag the notehead up or down with the mouse;
   • Press the keyboard arrows: ↑ (Up) or ↓ (down);
   • Type a new note letter name (A…G). Use Ctrl+↓ or Ctrl+↑ to correct the octave, if necessary (Mac: Cmd+↓ or Cmd+↑). This will automatically turn on note input mode.

To change the enharmonic spelling of a note, select it and use the J command. For more information, see Accidentals.

To change the pitches of a passage of music by a constant interval, you can use Transposition.

To change the pitches of a passage of music to a different melody, while keeping the rhythm unchanged, use Re-pitch mode.

If your score contains a lot of misspelled accidentals, you might try the Respell Pitches command (see Accidentals: Respell pitches).

Change voice

To change one or more notes to a different voice, see Voices.

Change rest to note and vice versa

To change a rest to a note of the same duration:

1. Make sure you are not in note input mode (press Esc to exit).
2. Select the rest.
3. Enter the desired pitch by entering a note letter, AtoG.

To change a note to a rest of the same duration:

1. Make sure you are not in note input mode (press Esc to exit).
2. Select the note.
3. Press 0 (Zero).

Note properties

• To adjust the horizontal position of a note/chord: see Offset notes.
• To edit note properties in general (spacing, offset, size, color, notehead direction, playback etc.): see Inspector and object properties.
• To adjust the layout of all notes in the score: see Layout and formatting, especially the sections about notes, accidentals and tuplets.

See also

• Note input modes
• Drum notation
• Tablature
• Tuplet
• Voices
• Shared noteheads
• Preferences (Configure keyboard shortcuts)

External links

• How to enter a chord (MuseScore HowTo)
• How to enter a rest (MuseScore HowTo)
• How to span a stem over two staves (MuseScore HowTo)
• How to add cue notes (MuseScore HowTo)
• Video tutorial: MuseScore in Minutes: Lesson 3 - Note input
• Video tutorial: MuseScore in Minutes: Lesson 4 - MIDI Keyboard Input
• Video tutorial: MuseScore in Minutes: Lesson 5 - More Input Ideas
• Video: Semi-Realtime MIDI Demo Part 1: New note entry modes
• Video tutorial: Musescore Quicktips: Note Entry

Edit mode

Edit mode allows you to perform a wide range of editing operations on individual score elements, such as:

• Adjust the length and shape of slurs, lines, barlines etc.
• Add, delete and format text in text objects.
• Adjust the position of most score elements (but not text).

Enter edit mode

MuseScore versions 3.4 and above

For lines, hairpins, slurs, note-stems, note-beams, and barlines, use one of the following methods:

• Click on an element.
• Right-click on an element and, from the menu, select Edit Element.

For other elements, use one of the following methods:

• Double-click an element.
• Click on an object already selected (text-based objects only).
• Right-click on an element and, from the menu, select Edit Element.
• Click on an element and press Alt+Shift+E.

MuseScore versions prior to 3.4

Use one of the following methods:

• Double-click an element.
• Right-click on an element and, from the menu, select Edit Element.
• Click on an element and press Alt+Shift+E.

Exit edit mode

To exit Edit mode use any of the following:

• Press Esc.
• Click on a blank area of the document window.

Text

For text edit mode, see Text editing.

Lines

See Lines: Change length, and Adjust slur.

Notes

Offset notes

Sometimes it is necessary to shift a note to the right or left—to avoid a collision with another element or to override automatic notehead sharing for example:

1. Enter Edit mode on the desired note;
2. Press the arrow key in the direction (left or right) that you wish to nudge the note (or use Ctrl+← or Ctrl+→ for larger adjustments);
3. Press the Esc key. This will allow the note stem to be redrawn.

Alternatively, you can select the notehead and change the "Horizontal offset" (under "Chord") in the Inspector.

Adjust note stem length

1. Enter Edit mode on the desired note stem;
2. Use keyboard shortcuts (below) to extend or shorten the stem;
3. Exit edit mode.

Alternatively, you can select the stem and change the "Length Offset" (under "Stem") in the Inspector.

To reposition a note stem, you should select it and adjust the "X" or "Y" setting for the "Offset" under "Automatic placement" in the "Element" section of the Inspector.

Keyboard shortcuts

In Edit mode the following keyboard commands can be used to change the position of either (1) a score element (e.g. ornament, accidental etc.) or (2) an adjustment handle (e.g. slur, line etc.):

• ←: Move left 0.1 staff space.
• →: Move right 0.1 staff space
• ↑: Move up 0.1 staff space
• ↓: Move down 0.1 staff space
• Ctrl+← (Mac: Cmd+←): Move left one staff space
• Ctrl+→ (Mac: Cmd+→): Move right one staff space
• Ctrl+↑ (Mac: Cmd+↑): Move up one staff space
• Ctrl+↓ (Mac: Cmd+↓): Moves down one staff space
• Alt+←: Move left 0.01 staff space
• Alt+→: Move right 0.01 staff space
• Alt+↑: Move up 0.01 staff space
• Alt+↓: Move down 0.01 staff space

The following commands only apply to adjustment handles:

• Shift+←: Move end handle's anchor left by one note/rest.
• Shift+→: Move end handle's anchor right by one note/rest.
• Tab: Go to next handle.

To undo all edits, ensure you are not in edit mode and press Ctrl+R.

See also

• Text editing
• Slur
• Bracket
• Line
• Beam
• Hairpin

Palettes

Overview

Using the Palettes Area is the recommended way to apply musical symbols and text to your score, second to keyboard shortcut.

MuseScore is shipped with predefined palettes that organize items by nature, click on hyperlink to jump to their main chapter.

• Visible by default in the built-in MuseScore 3.6.2 Basic workspace profile: Clefs, Key Signatures, Time Signatures, Accidentals, Articulations , Grace Notes, Lines , Barlines, Text, Tempo, Dynamics, Repeats & Jumps, Breaks & Spacers, Beam Properties.
• Visible by default in the built-in MuseScore 3.6.2 Advanced workspace profile, in addition to all of the above palettes: Brackets, Ornaments, Breaths & Pauses, Noteheads, Arpeggios & glissandi, Tremolos, Fingering, Fretboard Diagrams, Frames & Measures.
• Not yet visible in any build-in workspace profile by default: Accordion (see How-to: Accordion notation and playback), Bagpipe Embellishments.

All palettes can be unhide in any workspace (see below (jump to).) The current visibility setting and expand/collapse status palettes are automatically saved to the current in-use workspace profile. No further action is needed.

Palette contents can be edited, you can also create an empty custom palette and populate it, see below (jump to). Visit https://musescore.org/en/node/355834 for palettes shared by other musicians.

Alternative ways to apply musical symbols and text:

• Use Keyboard shortcuts, see also Note input
• Use Toolbar buttons
• Use the Master palette, or
• Use Images.

View / hide the Palette Area

The default position of the Palette Area is to the left of the document window. To view or hide it:

• From the menu, select View → Palettes, or use the keyboard shortcut F9.

To undock the Palette area:

• Click the double-chevron symbol (circled in the image above), or double-click the top bar of the panel.

To re-attach the panel, double-click on the top bar again. See Side panels for more information.

Using palette items

Apply symbols from a palette

Versions 3.4 or above

• Select one or more score elements, then click the desired palette symbol. Or, drag and drop the symbol onto the desired score element in the staff.

Versions prior to 3.4

• Select one or more score elements, then double-click the desired palette symbol. Or, drag and drop the symbol onto the desired score element in the staff.

If you are dragging a symbol to the score and decide you don't want to apply it, press Esc.

Tip: To prevent accidental rearrangement of contents during use, right-click a palette name and uncheck Enable Editing.

Apply the last selected item

MuseScore does not offer keyboard shortcut bindings to palette items, but you can configure a shortcut to apply the same symbol multiple times consecutively to improve efficiency. Some users find this method handy when applying piano pedal marks. (N.B. piano pedal mark symbol is under Lines palette)

1. Assign a keyboard shortcut key to "Apply current palette element" in Preferences: Shortcuts.
2. Select some score elements.
3. Click on a palette item to apply it to the score once.
4. Select other elements. TIPS: Use Shift selection Shift+←/→.
5. Press the "Apply current palette element" shortcut to apply the same (last applied) item.
6. Repeat as required.

See also Dynamics actions, a MuseScore plugin that you can assign keyboard shortcut to add individual dynamics symbol.

Search for symbols

Search by symbol name to locate a symbol without visually searching through palettes. All symbols are searched regardless of palettes' visible / hidden status and expand / collapse status.

Use the Search box at the top of the Palette Area. As you type, symbols and/or palettes with names matching your keystrokes are displayed below, updating continuously as your typed input changes.

To show all palettes, some of which may be temporarily hidden because it does not match the search string, click X in the search box.

Items added to the score can be copied, pasted, and duplicated: see Copy and paste.

Behavior of applied text and lines

If the symbol you are adding to the score from a palette contains or belongs to a Text element (e.g. staff text, dynamic, fingering, volta etc.), then properties such as font type, font size, text color and alignment will adapt according to the following rules:

1. Text properties which have not been altered by the user will adopt the relevant text styles.
2. Custom text properties—those changed by the user before saving the symbol to a custom palette—remain as customized.

By contrast, the line properties of Lines applied from a palette as is.

Customize the Palette Area

Expand / Collapse a palette

• Either click on the arrow next to the palette name, or double-click the palette name (in versions prior to MuseScore 3.3, click once on either the arrow or the palette name).

Single Palette mode

• To enable automatic collapsing of all other palettes when you expand one palette, click the ... button at the top of the Palettes Area and check the Open only one Palette at a time box.

Reveal a hidden palette

• Click Add Palettes at the top of the palette list and click Add beside the palette name.

Create a new custom palette

1. At the top of the Palette Area, click Add Palettes→Create custom palette. Or, right-click any palette and click Insert New Palette.
2. Type the name of the new palette in the Create Palette dialog.
3. To add symbols, see Customize palettes below (jump to).

Hide a palette

To hide a predefined palette:

• Right-click the name of the palette you want to hide and click Hide Palette.

To hide a custom palette you created:

• Right-click the name of the palette you want to hide, click Hide/Delete Palette, then click Hide in the dialog.

Delete a palette

Only custom palettes can be deleted, you can hide all palettes though.

• Right-click the name of the palette you want to delete, click Hide/Delete Palette, then click Delete permanently in the dialog.

Change the order of palettes

• Drag the name of a palette up or down to any desired position.

Customize palette contents

Symbols may be added or deleted and layouts can be rearranged. (in version prior to 3.3, only new workspace is capable of customizations).

Before customizing a palette:

1. Right-click on the palette name and make sure that Enable Editing is checked. It is automatically checked for new palettes you create yourself.
2. Make sure the palette is expanded.

Add from an opened score

Score items, when added to a palette, are saved with their custom properties.

• Press and hold Ctrl+Shift (Mac: Cmd+Shift), then drag the score element from the score onto a palette. The score element could be a symbol, line, text, dynamic, fretboard diagram, imported image etc.

Add from the Master Palette

1. If the Master Palette is not visible, select View → Master Palette from the menu, or use the keyboard shortcut Shift+F9 (Mac: fn+Shift+F9).
2. Drag the symbol from the Master Palette window onto a palette.

Rearrange symbol order

• Drag the symbol to the cell in which you wish to display it. Nearby symbols will automatically move to make space available.

Change the position and size of a symbol in a palette cell

• Right-click the cell and click Properties. The following dialog is displayed:
  
  • Name: Used in search function, also shown as tooltip that appears when you mouse over the cell.
  • Content offset X, Y: Adjusts the position of the symbol in the cell.
  • Content scale: Makes the symbol appear larger or smaller in the cell.
  • Draw staff: Draws the five lines of a musical staff behind the symbol.

Note: Changing these values only affects the appearance of symbols within the palette. It does not change their sizes or offsets on the score page.

Remove a symbol from a palette

• Right-click the symbol and click Delete. Or, select the symbol and click the trash icon to the right of the palette name.

Items removed from predefined palettes are moved under More.
In custom palettes, the More button offers browsing predefined palettes ( Use < and > ) and adding their items ( Use drag-and-drop, or selecting and clicking Add to)

Palette menu

The following menu options may appear either by right-clicking the name of a palette or by clicking the ... to the right of the name:

• Hide Palette: Hide predefined palette into under Add Palettes.
• Hide/Delete Palette: Allows you to either hide or permanently delete a custom palette.
• Insert New Palette: Creates a new empty palette. Identical to Add Palettes→Create custom palette.
• Enable Editing: Allows you to modify the contents and layout of the palette.
• Reset Palette: Discards any customizations made to a palette and restore its default contents and layout. Custom palettes will be emptied.
• Save Palette...: Saves the current palette as an .mpal file.
• Load Palette...: Loads a palette from an .mpal file and reveal it, does not replace current palette, nor any existing palettes.
• Palette Properties...: Displays the following dialog, where you can adjust the appearance of a palette:
  
  • Name: The name of the current palette.
  • Cell Size: Width, Height: The dimensions of each individual cell in the palette.
  • Element Offset: Adjusts the vertical offset of all symbols in the palette.
  • Scale: Makes all symbols in the palette appear larger or smaller.
  • Show grid: Draws a border around each palette cell.

See also

• Master palette
• Images
• Text
• Lines

External

• https://musescore.org/en/node/355834 custom palettes shared by other musicians.

Workspaces

Workspace is the visual settings, also known as graphical user interface (GUI), of the Musescore program itself. An analogy to the position of the pen, ruler etc on a composer's desk. It includes:

• the toolbars and buttons at the top of the window,
• the side panels, or sidebars, to the left of the window, such as Palette, Inspector, Timeline etc,
• their configuration settings and position information, and
• theme and canvas settings, see Preferences.

Note that the followings do not count as workspace:

• View→ Documents Side by Side, Documents Stacked, Full screen, covered in Viewing and navigation chapter.
• View→ Show visible, Show Invisible, Show Unprintable, Show Frames, Show Page Margins, Mark irregular measures, and toolbar's Concert pitch, Zoom level and Page View/Continuous View/Single Page options : these settings are covered in Viewing and navigation chapter. They are score data. They are saved to and loaded from each score file. Templates contain these settings and will be used when you create a new score from a template, see Instruments, staff setup and templates.

Workspace presets are setting profiles for workspace, user can choose the options a preset contains so that only those options are loaded and saved when the preset is applied. There are two default presets: Basic and Advanced, you can create your own custom workspaces.

Apply a preset

Use either one of the following methods:

• Select a new preset from the drop-down menu to the right of the Note Input Toolbar (in versions prior to 3.3. this is located at the bottom of the workspace panel), or
• From the menu, select View→Workspaces, and click on one of the options.

Create a new preset

To create a new preset:

1. Select an existing preset, see Apply a preset,
2. Either
   • Click the + button next to the dropdown list, or
   • Click View→Workspace→New,
3. The following dialog is shown:
   
4. Enter a name for the new preset,
5. Choose what the preset saves and loads, namely:
   • Toolbars: Information about toolbars and toolbar buttons and their order.
   • Menu bar: No function, as this is not implemented in MuseScore 3.
   • GUI Components: Information about the position of the GUI components and whether they are open or not.
   • GUI Preferences: Settings in Preferences such as Theme and Canvas settings.
6. Press Save

Edit what settings a preset contains

To change what settings a preset contains, select View→Workspace→Edit. In versions prior to MuseScore 3.3, you must create a new preset and then edit it, you cannot edit the Basic preset or the Advanced preset, see Create new workspace preset.

Changes made to the current workspace are automatically saved to the current preset, no further action is required, see Edit the workspace below.

Edit the workspace

Any changes you make to the current workspace are automatically saved to the current preset, no further action is required.

See the main chapter Viewing and navigation, these are some popular ways:

• To choose which toolbar is displayed, toggle them under View→Toolbars menu.
• To edit toolbar buttons, select View→Toolbars→Customize toolbars, see Viewing and navigation : Toolbars. You cannot add items to a toolbar from the Master palette.
• To choose which sidebar is displayed, toggle them under View menu.
• To dock or undock sidebars, see Viewing and navigation : Side panels.
• To setup different sidebars, refer to their relevant chapters. For example, to set up palette see Palettes and Master palette.

Preset directory

Each preset is saved as a separate file under:

• Windows: C:\Users\[USERNAME]\AppData\Local\MuseScore\MuseScore3\(actually %LOCALAPPDATA%\MuseScore\MuseScore3)
• MacOS: ~/Library/Application\ Support/MuseScore/MuseScore3/.
• Linux: ${XDG_DATA_HOME:-~/.local/share}/MuseScore/MuseScore3/.

See also

• Viewing and navigation for setting up toolbar and buttons.
• Palettes
• Master palette

Inspector

Overview

The Inspector shows layout and playback properties of the selected objects. If the objects selected has different types, the Inspector shows and allows adjustment of color, visibility, and automatic placement. If the objects selected has different values in one property, that property is colored blue.

Displaying the Inspector

The Inspector appears by default on the right. To show or hide it:

• Press shortcut F8 (Mac: fn+F8), or
• From the menu, select View and check or uncheck Inspector.

Docking/undocking the Inspector

Click the double-chevron symbol or double-click the top bar of the panel. To re-attach the panel double-click on the top bar again. See also: Side panels.

"Reset to style default" and "Set to style" buttons

Two buttons may be displayed to the right of a property:

• Reset to style default: removes the specific property, in effect resets the property to the default value.
• Save as style : Does these:
  • Assigns the property value to the coresponding one in the style profile used by this object currently, found under Format→Style. See Layout and formatting chapter.
  • And then clears the property value specific to this object.
  • The result is that this object does not have the specific property anymore, but it uses the value in the style profile, which is the same value, because it is being assigned just now. All objects using that style profile across the score is affected.

Shown below is the Reset to style default button, it looks like an unclosed circular loop with a letter x inside

Shown below is the Set as style button, it looks like a bold capitalized S

Inspector categories

Properties are conveniently listed under bold categories in the Inspector. For example, when barline(s) are selected, the following is displayed at the top:

For details of the various categories and their properties, see below:

Element

All score elements—except frames, breaks and spacers—display this category in the Inspector when selected. The options are as follows:

• Visible: Uncheck this box to make selected elements invisible; alternatively, use the shortcut V (toggle). Invisible elements do not appear in the music when printed out or exported as a PDF or image. If you still want them to remain on display in the document window, make sure that the "Show Invisible" option is selected in View → Show Invisible. Invisible elements will then be colored light gray.
• Color: Click on the rectangle to open a "Color Select" dialog. Adjust the color and opacity of selected elements.
• Automatic placement: See Automatic placement.
• Minimum distance: Minimum distance from other elements when automatic placement is enabled.
• Offset X/Y: Allows you to position selected elements exactly (in terms of space units). A positive number moves the elements right or down; a negative number moves the elements left or up. Snap to grid buttons are also provided.
• Stacking order (Z): See Automatic placement: Stacking order

Element Group

This category is displayed only when you have selected a mixture of different types of elements, and allows editing of color, visibility, and automatic placement only.

Segment

• Leading Space: Use this to increase or decrease the space before an element. This also affects any associated lyric syllables.

Chord

• Offset X/Y: This changes the positon of every note in the same voice as the selected note(s). If you want to make changes to the position of just one note, use the Element category instead).
• Small: Make noteheads and stem small.
• Stemless: Make chord stemless.
• Stem direction: Choice of Auto, Up, or Down.

Note

This category allows you to make changes to selected notes (but for note position—see Element). It contains the following properties:

• Small: Make notehead smaller (you can specify the relative size of all small notes from the menu: Format → Style… → Sizes…).
• Head group: See Notehead groups.
• Head type: See Notehead types.
• Mirror head: Position notehead to the left or right of the stem (default is "Auto").
• Fix to line: When ticked, the note is fixed to the top line of the standard 5-line staff.
• Line: A positive number moves the "fixed" note down; a negative number moves it upwards.
• Play: Unticking this box silences the note.
• Tuning: Adjust tuning of note to the nearest cent.
• Velocity type: Sets the MIDI velocity of notes directly. Choose one of two options:
  • Offset: Make the value shown in "Velocity" relative to the previous dynamic marking. The value is taken as a percent offset, i.e. the note’s real MIDI velocity would be ((100 + Velocity) / 100) times what it would have been without this adjustment. Enter negative values to lower the velocity accordingly.
  • User: Make the value shown in "Velocity" absolute (i.e. the MIDI velocity is unaffected by dynamic markings).
• Velocity: Set the MIDI velocity according to the option displayed in "Velocity type."

Dynamic

See Dynamics

Text

See Text styles and properties

Tempo text

See Tempo

Fermata

See Fermatas section in Tempo

Select

This category appears differently according to the selection you have made:

• If you select a notehead, the "Select" category displays buttons which allow you to easily switch the selection to the stem, beam, hook, duration dot (or dots) or tuplet number associated with the notehead (see image below).

• If you select a range of measures, the "Select" category allows you to select either all notes, grace notes, or rests.

Beam

This section is displayed in the Inspector when you select one or more note beams, and allows you to make fine adjustments to beam position and angle, and also change the spacing of beamed notes.

Clef

This section appears when you select a clef: the tick box allows you to turn on/off the display of a preceding courtesy clef.

Articulation

This category appears when you select an articulation or ornament. The following options are available:

• Direction: Whether the symbol points up or down: only applicable to certain symbols.
• Anchor: The vertical placement of the symbol:
• Play: Turn on/off playback effect.
• Time stretch: Obsolete. Jump to Fermata instead.
• Ornament style: A choice of default or Baroque playback.

Fretboard diagram

See Fretboard diagrams.

Line

This category is displayed when a line is selected. Here, you can set various general properties.

• Visible: Hide or display just the line: any text remains visible.
• Allow diagonal: The default is horizontal (unticked). Tick if you want to edit the line to create a slope.
• Line color/thickness/style: Set various properties of the line.

Text Line Details

This category is displayed when a line is selected. It allows you to set the wording of a line, edit text properties, set line hooks, and align the text in relation to the line.

• Begin hook / Height: At the beginning of the line, specify None, 90° (vertical), 45° (angled), or 90° centered; set hook length.
• End hook / Height: Ditto for the very end of the line.
• Begin Text / Continue Text / End Text: Refers to text at the very beginning of the line; at the beginning of any continuation line; or at the end of the very last line. All have the same properties, as follows:
• Text: Create or edit the text associated with the line.
• Font face / Size / Style: Set the text properties, and/or edit the text style of the line.
• Align: Set the horizontal and vertical alignment of the text in relation to the line.
• Placement: Place the text on (Above/Below), or to the left of the line.
• Offset X / Y: Adjust the x and y offsets for exact positioning.

Properties dialogs

Some object types have additional properties. These are accessed by right-clicking on the object and choosing a "... properties" option from the context menu. The settings available in these dialogs are explained in the description of the object type in Notation or Advanced topics.
See:

• Articulations and ornaments
• Time signatures
• Staff and system text
• Measure operations
• Staff/Part properties

See also

• Note input
• Layout and formatting
• Parts

Instruments, staff setup and templates

This chapter discuss real world instruments and vocals, Musescore Instruments, score instrument setup and score template files.

Instruments

An instrument in Musescore is an abstraction that contains the tablature(s) or staff(s) (the most useful aspect, see Layout and formatting), notation styles (clefs, noteheads etc), the musical behaviors (transposition, playable range) and settings related to playback audio created by the Musescore synthesizer.

An Musescore instrument contains staff(s) that can represent a single or multiple real world instrument(s), for example in Beethoven's Symphony No.3, Op.55 First edition published by Cianchettini & Sperati, n.d.[1809] London, the third staff Corni 1 & 2 in Eb represents two French horn players:

To transcribe this, you should add one Musescore instrument "Horn in Eb", and rename it, playback is not affected by naming.

Real world instrument, instrument section, vocals, and choir, are supported in Musescore in several ways:

• A Musescore Instrument that has the same name such as "Piano", "Violin", "Violins", "Strings", "Soprano", "Voice", "Women" and some percussions such as "Timpani", "Concert Bass Drum", "Cymbal" (concert). Similar items might have different playback.
• "Drumset" Musescore instrument "Standard", a single item containing "Snare", "Bass Drum", "Ride Cymbal" etc. There is no seperate MuseScore Instrument for these. This is the option "Drumset" when you change instrument setup.
• "Drumset" Musescore instrument "Standard 1" and other variations, (same for "Room", "Power", "Jazz" and theirs), use them by changing Mixer: Sound dropbox. They are different in playback only.
• "Drumset" Musescore instrument "Brush" and variations, use them by changing Mixer: Sound dropbox. The brush snare is the "Electric Snare" item in Drum notation, only creates short brush playback. There is no seperate MuseScore Instrument for brush snare.

You can manage instruments and staffs individually in any score, or use pre-configured template when you create a new score.

Instruments supported by Musescore 3.6.2 (archived https://musescore.org/en/instruments page December 2022). To suggest adding a missing instrument, see https://musescore.org/en/contribute

Choose instruments

Two ways to open this window to manage setup:

• File New Score Wizard window: Choose Instruments when you create a new score, or
• In a score, use the keyboard shortcut I; or select from the menu Edit→Instruments....

The Choose Instruments window contains the following items:

• The search box at the top left filters items to be shown underneath. Clear it out to show all available instruments.
• The type filtering dropdown box under the search box filters items to be shown in the space underneath. "Common" is selected by default, which filters out some uncommon instruments or voice parts. Select "All instruments" to show all available instruments.
• The left column space shows a list of instruments or voice parts you can add to the current score. They are grouped by the instrument families they belong to. Click on a family name subheading to expand or collapse that group.
• The Ordering dropdown box at the top right shows the current system of instrument ordering. 'Orchestral' is the default preset. Instruments added to the score will be inserted into a correct position according to ordering. The ordering setting contains the position for soloist instruments.
  • You cannot create custom or edit existing ordering system presets inside Musescore, but you can create a score with desired setup and save as a reusable template.
• The right column space shows currect score setup, the vertical order represents the real instrument vertical order on score. Empty column means the score contains no staffs.

The main actions available in this window are :

• Add a new instrument to the score: This is the essential and most common action. This adds a new instrument, along with all of its editable staff(s), to the current score. Each instrument has its own playback settings, see Mixer.
• Add a staff to an existing instrument: This inserts an extra editable staff to an existing instrument on the current score, so that you can create your own custom instrument.
  • For example, to create a piano that use three staffs rather than normally two staffs.
  • This action is rarely used because its limitation on playback. In Musescore, playback setting is instrument based - those three piano staffs cannot be configured to use two different sounds, nor can they be muted individually (To do these you should create multiple instruments instead) .
• Add a linked staff to an existing instrument: This inserts an non-editable, ready-only staff to an existing instrument on the current score, it automatically shows the same content of the staff it is linked to.
  • The only real purpose is to allow you to have two staffs for a guitar (or similar instruments) where one staff is the standard notation, the other is the tab notation, and everything you enter onto the standard staff is automatically reflected an tab.
• Make an existing instrument soloist: This reorders an existing instrument on the score (all its staffs) to the soloist position, add "solo" to their name. Soloist instruments will be numbered separately from non-solo instruments, where relevant.
  • The soloist position is defined in the instrument ordering setting chosen in Ordering dropdown box. For example, in an 'Orchestral' ordering system, soloists are above the strings. You can designate multiple soloist instruments.
  • You can rearrange order manually.
  • The soloist designation is a score layout feature only and has no impact on playback.

Add instrument

Understand the main actions available first.
To manage instruments of "Drumset" Musescore instrument, see Drum notation

To add a new Musescore instrument to the score, use any of the following options:

• Select one or more instruments in the left column, and then click Add to score in the middle of the window, or
• Double-click an instrument in the left column.

The instrument names, and their associated staff lines, now appear in the list of instruments in the right column.

Add Staff

Understand the main actions available first.

To add an editable staff to an existing instrument in the score:

1. Select a staff of the instrument in the score list on the right-hand side
2. Click Add Staff at the top.
3. Adjust the Staff type, if applicable.

Add Linked Staff

Understand the main actions available first.

To add a non-editable ready-only staff to an existing instrument in the score:

1. Select a staff to be linked in the score list on the right-hand side.
2. Click Add Linked Staff at the top.
3. Adjust the Staff type, if applicable.

See also, Combine pitched staff with tablature.

Make / undo soloist

Function of this button is explained in Choose instruments window above.

To make an existing instrument soloist, or to undo it:

1. Select an instrument name subheading in the score list on the right-hand side.
2. Click Make soloist or Undo soloist at the top.

Change order of instruments or staffs on a score

• Click either an instrument name or a staff in the right-hand column, and click the arrow buttons.

Delete an instrument or staff

• Select an instrument (all of its staffs) or a staff in the right-hand column and click Remove from score in the middle.

Change instrument and staff setup

• To change instrument setup of a score: In a score, use the keyboard shortcut I; or select from the menu Edit→Instruments... to open the Instruments window.
• To change instrument setup of a Musescore Part: See Parts.
• To change instrument setup of a the "drumset" Musescore Instrument: See Drum notation: edit drumset.
• To change the Musescore Instrument used by staff on score: See Staff / Part properties: Change instrument.
• To change staff size: It is recommended to use Page settings to change all staffs everywhere on a score , before changing each staff's Staff / Part properties.
• To change staff layout:
  • To change staff type and staff layout everywhere on a score (change number of lines, hide etc): See Staff / Part properties, and Tablature
  • To hide a staff under certain conditions : See Style window: Score settings.
  • To create ossia: See Staff / Part properties: external links
• See also other global style settings in Layout and formatting.

Templates

Not to be confused with Staff / Part properties : staff type template

Score template can be used to quickly set up a new score. A template contains:

• instrument setup,
• the level 2 layout and formatting information (see Layout and formatting) of the 'Full score' only,
• the View→ Show visible, Show Invisible, Show Unprintable, Show Frames, Show Page Margins, Mark irregular measures, and toolbar's Concert pitch, Zoom level and Page View/Continuous View/Single Page options (see Viewing and navigation) of the 'Full score' only, and
• the setup of Musescore Parts.

Everything else are not re-used (Title frames, all text, or any layout and formatting information of any of its Parts).

A template file is a score file under certain directory that Musescore uses. You can create a score from scratch and save it as template, or copy any existing .mscz file to that directory to use it as template. There are two kinds of templates:

• Pre-defined System templates shipped with MuseScore, sorted into categories in Choose template file window when you create a new score.
• User templates: Custom templates must be stored inside the user templates folder. They are in Choose template file window : Custom Templates when you create a new score.

Check out the Score from Template plugin by parkingb which improves template function.

Save a score as a custom template

Click File > Save as and save the score file as .mscz format into the template directory Musescore uses. File name is used as the template name.

Creating a score from a custom template

1. Make sure the custom template file is in the correct folder.
2. Choose a custom template when you create a new score. In Musescore 3, the preview window shows what the template file looks like when opened as a score, it is not the preview of what a new score looks like when created from this template.

System templates folder

Not recommended to use this folder for custom templates

This folder contains the pre-defined templates. It can be found in the following directory:

• Windows: Usually at C:\Program Files\MuseScore 3\templates or C:\Program Files (x86)\MuseScore 3\templates (Actually %ProgramFiles%\MuseScore 3\templates or %ProgramFiles(x86)%\MuseScore 3\templates, respectively) .
• Linux: Under /usr/share/mscore-xxx if you installed from the package manager. If you compiled MuseScore on Linux yourself, then look under /usr/local/share/mscore-xxx (with xxx being the version you are using).
• MacOS: Under /Applications/MuseScore 3.app/Contents/Resources/templates.

Custom templates folder

Custom template files must be stored here. The default directory of the custom templates folder is as follows (The folder name "Templates" varies with the language version of Musescore installed):

• Windows: %HOMEPATH%\Documents\MuseScore3\Templates.
• MacOS and Linux: ~/Documents/MuseScore3/Templates.

To configure the directory of custom templates folder: From the menu, select Edit→Preferences...→General.

External links

• Instruments supported by Musescore 3.6.2 (archived https://musescore.org/en/instruments page December 2022)
• Instruments supported by latest Musescore

Measure operations

Note: To ensure that inserted or appended measures display correctly, multimeasure rests should be set to off (toggle M).

Select

Single measure

• To select a single measure, click on a space within the measure.

Range of measures

• To select a continuous range of measures, see Shift + click selection and Shift selection.

Insert

Insert an empty measure into the score

Use one of the following options:

• Select a measure or a frame, then press Ins (Mac: Shift+I).
• Select a measure or a frame, then choose from the menu: Add→Measures→Insert Measure.

Insert multiple measures

Use one of the following options:

• Select a measure or a frame, then press Ctrl+Ins (Mac: Shift+Del+I); fill in the "Number of measures to insert" field and press OK.
• Select a measure or a frame, then choose from the menu: Add→Measures→Insert Measures...; fill in the "Number of measures to insert" field and press OK.

Append

Append an empty measure to the end of a score

Use one of the following options:

• Press Ctrl+B (Mac: Cmd+B).
• Select from the menu: Add→Measures→Append One Measure.

Append multiple measures to the end of a score

Use one of the following options:

• Press Alt+Shift+B; fill in the "Number of measures to append" field and press OK.
• Select from the menu: Add→Measures→Append Measures...; fill in the "Number of measures to append" field and press OK.

Remove

Remove a single measure

1. Select the measure
2. Press Ctrl+Del (Mac: Cmd+Del).

Remove a range of measures

1. Select a range of measures;
2. Press Ctrl+Del (Mac: Cmd+Del).

Note: In multistaff scores, measure deletion also removes all corresponding measures in the other staves of the system;

Remove empty trailing measures

To automatically remove any blank measures from the end of the score:

• From the menu, select Tools→Remove empty trailing measures.

Delete measure contents

To delete only the measure contents (and not the measure itself):

1. Select one or more measures;
2. Press Del.

Properties

To edit the properties of a measure, right-click an empty part of the measure and select Measure Properties...:

You can use the buttons, at the bottom left of the dialog, to navigate to the previous or next measure.

Staves

• Visible: Check/uncheck to show/hide notes and staff lines for the selected measure.
• Stemless: Check/Uncheck to show/hide all note stems for the selected measure.

Measure duration

This section of the dialog allows you to adjust the duration of a single measure independently of the displayed time signature. Use it to create a pickup measure (also known as anacrusis or upbeat), cadenza, ad lib section etc.

• Nominal is the apparent time signature and cannot be edited.
• Actual can be set to anything you like regardless of the nominal time signature.

Example: In the image below, the quarter note pickup measure has a nominal time signature of 4/4, but an actual time sig. of 1/4. The measures in the middle are in normal 4/4 time. The complementary measure at the end of the staff, with a dotted half note, has an actual time sig. of 3/4.

Note: A small - or + sign appears above the measure when its duration is different than indicated by the time signature (see image below). This does not appear in any printed or PDF copy. You can turn off these marks by unchecking "Mark Irregular Measures" in the View menu.
Pressing Ctrl+Del on a note or pause also reduces the duration of the measure, while via insert mode you can increase the duration of the measure.

Other

Exclude from measure count

• Exclude from measure count: Tick to exclude the selected measure from measure numbering (e.g. a pickup measure).

Break multimeasure rests

• Break multimeasure rests: Tick to prevent a multimeasure rest at the start of the selected measure. This option should be checked before turning on "Create multimeasure rests" in Format→Style...→Score. The default program setting for scores is OFF; for parts is ON.

Note: Multimeasure rests are broken, by default, at important breaks—such as rehearsal marks, time signature changes, double barlines, irregular measures, etc.

Measure number mode

This allows you to control whether and how measure numbers display on the selected measure:

• Auto: Follows the setting in Format→Style...→Measure Numbers.
• Always Show: Forces display of number.
• Always Hide: Hides number.

Layout stretch

• Layout stretch: Controls the amount of horizontal space between score elements (notes, rests, etc.).

This setting allows a more precise degree of control than offered by the Increase/Decrease Stretch ({ and }) commands.

Add to measure number

• Add to measure number": Enter a positive or negative number to change the number of the selected measure, and subsequent meaures. A value of "-1" has the same effect as marking a measure to be excluded from measure count.

Play Count

• Play count: If a measure precedes an end repeat barline, this value controls the number of times that the entire repeat section plays back: see also, Repeats and jumps.

Vertical alignment

See Barlines:Vertical alignment

Numbering

By default, MuseScore numbers the first measure of each System (except for the first measure in a section), but other numbering options are available: see Format→Style...→Measure Numbers.

Split and join

To make a measure longer or shorter in duration—without changing the time signature—you can adjust its Measure Properties (above). But it is also possible to join or split measures.

Join measures

Method A. To join two measures only:

• Select the barline between the two measures and press Ctrl+Del.

Method B. To join any number of measures:

1. Select the measures you want to join;
2. From the menu bar, select Tools→Measure→Join Selected Measures.

Notes: (1) If you select measures on only one staff in a score with multiple staves, the same measures will be joined in each staff of the system. (2) Beaming may be automatically modified. (3) If you have generated parts already, this option is disabled.

Split a measure

Choose one of the following methods:

• Select a note; then hold Ctrl and click a barline in a palette (double-click in versions prior to 3.4).
• Hold Ctrl and drag a barline (from a palette) to the note that starts the next measure.
• Select a note; then, from the menu bar, select Tools→Measure→Split Measure Before Selected Note/Rest.

Note: If you select only one note from one staff, each staff of the system will be split at the same place.

See also

• Barlines
• Measure (Layout and formatting style)

External links

• How to span a measure over multiple systems (MuseScore HowTo, 1.x)
• How to split a measure (MuseScore HowTo, 1.x)
• How to delete measures (MuseScore HowTo)
• How to get scores without time signature (and clef) (MuseScore HowTo)

Voices

Not to be confused with MuseScore Parts feature, see also Glossary: Part

Daily usage of the term voice refers to a musical line or part which can have its own rhythm. Musescore Voices is different, it refers to the software feature that provides automatic stem direction function, allows individual stem direction within a chord, and allows easier playback control. It has nothing to do with pitch range. Voices is also known as "layers" in other notation software.

For each staff that contains a clef symbol, Musescore offers exactly 4 Voices for composers to assign notes to.

To demonstrate the Voice feature better, this article use:

• Voices 1, Voice 2, Voice 3, Voice 4 (the word Voice with captial letter V) to indicate MuseScore Voice,
• S (Soprano), A (Alto), T (Tenor), B (Bass) to indicate four voices in any four-part harmony composition (wikipedia).

Read on to learn about this feature, or jump to section below to see tips on writing SATB scores and common pitfalls.

How Voices are displayed

Selecting a section of the score highlights each Voice in a different color: Voice 1 blue, Voice 2 green, Voice 3 orange and Voice 4 purple.

Why do you need to use Voices

• You have multiple musical lines that have different rhythm, that is, notes of different note lengths playing at the same time. A common case is a chord composed of notes of varying duration.
• You want to write polyphonic music easily with the automatic stem direction function.
• You plan to generate and print separate scores for voice singers using the MuseScore Parts function. Also see Separate chords into Voices below (jump to).
• You plan to convert SATB open score to and from short score easily. See Manipulations below (jump to).
• You need stems pointing in opposite directions within a chord, on a single staff. See also Glossary: Shared note head.
• You need to mute musical line separately in the Mixer.
• You need to use a plugin such as Check for parallel fifths and octaves.

If you are not sure, use Voice 1 only.

Why you may not need Voices

• You simply want to write notes with one fixed stem direction. For example, when you are creating a single line cantus firmus (wikipedia) in a part-writing exercise only. In this situation, you should use Voice 1 only and use Inspector: Chord: Stem direction instead, choose the direction as requied and press the S symbol to set as default.

Limitations of Voices

• You cannot apply dynamics symbols to individual Voice.
• You cannot change volume of individual Voice with a slider in the Mixer, you can mute though.

How to enter notes in different Voices

The following instructions show you how to notate a passage of music using Voice 1 and Voice 2:

1. Enter Voice 1 notes first: Make sure you are in note input mode : the Voice 1 button becomes highlighted in blue in the toolbar. Always enter lower numbered Voice first, in this example Voice 1. On inputting, some notes may have down-stems, but these will flip automatically when the Voice 2 is added.

   The following excerpt shows a treble staff with just the Voice 1 notes entered:

   

2. Move cursor back to start of section: When you have finished entering a section of Voice 1 notes, press the ← key repeatedly to move the cursor, note-by-note, back to the first note of the section; or alternatively use Ctrl+← (Mac:Cmd+←) to move the cursor back one measure at a time. Or else you can simply exit note input mode (press Esc) and click directly on the first note.

3. Enter Voice 2 notes: Make sure you are in note-input mode and that the Voice 1 note at the beginning of the section is selected. Click on the "Voice 2" button (on the right of the toolbar), or use the shortcut Ctrl+Alt+2 (Mac: Cmd+Alt+2). Enter all the lower Voice notes (down-stem).

   The following image shows the above example after the addition of Voice 2 notes:
   

Features of MuseScore Voices

Automatic stem direction

• Notes in Voice 1 and Voice 3 have upward stem ; Voice 2 and Voice 4 have downward stem. Use this function to write polyphonic music easily. This feature will not activate in any measure where Voice 1 is used but Voice 2 is missing.
• You can always override and set each note's stem direction directly using Stem direction property under Chord section in Inspector, or press X.
• If you do not want this function at all, use only Voice 1 in each staff whenever you can.
• Beginner's error: for a Close/Closed score SATB, beginners often use Voice 1 for B (bass), this will not activate the automatic stem direction function, jump to tips

Automatic rests

Rests are automatically added to Voices of lower number if they contains no notes. It may come as unfavorable sometimes, you should consider adjusting your usage of MuseScore Voices:

• Your composition may not need Voices at all.
• Your composition may not need as many Voices as you think,
  • Avoid automatic rests by using lowest Voice number possible in each staff,
  • Beginner's error: for a Close/Closed score SATB, beginners often use Voice 3 for T (tenor) or Voice 4 for B (bass), this will create unwanted rest symbols. jump to tips.
• If your composition requires more than one Voice,
  • Hide rests in lower numbered Voice.

Deleting and hiding rests

All rests can be made invisible, if required: select the desired rest(s) and press V, or uncheck the "Visible" checkbox in the Inspector. Rests in Voices 2, 3 or 4 (but not Voice 1) can also be deleted (by selecting them and pressing Delete) but it is not recommended: make them invisible instead.

A Voice 1 rest can only be deleted by removing that part of the measure from the score as well: see Remove selected range; or Delete measure(s).

Restoring deleted rests

If a rest has been deleted in Voices 2-4, you will need to restore it before you can enter a note on that beat in that Voice (the problem may arise, for example, in imported XML or MIDI files). The easiest way to fix such a measure is to exchange that Voice with Voice 1 twice. For the exact method, see Exchange Voices of notes (below).

Manipulations on Voices

Exchange Voices of notes

To swap the notes between any two Voices:

1. Select one or more continuous measures (or a range of notes);
2. From the Menu bar, select Tools → Voices;
3. Select the option for the two Voices you want to exchange.

Notes: (a) The selection can encompass content of any Voice, but only two will be processed at once. (b) If you select a partial measure the operation will still apply to the whole measure.

Move notes to another Voice (change notes' Voice but not swap)

You can also move notes from one Voice to another (without note-swapping):

1. Ensure you are not in note input mode.
2. Select one or more noteheads (in any Voice).
3. Click on the destination Voice in the Note Input toolbar or use the shortcut Ctrl+Alt+1–4 (Mac: Cmd+Alt+1-4).

Note: For a successful move, the following conditions need to be met:

• The chord in the destination Voice must be the same duration as the note to be moved there.
• Alternatively, if the destination Voice is occupied by a rest, it must be of sufficient duration to accommodate the moved note.
• Notes should not be tied.

Navigate between Voices

To select a note in a higher-numbered Voice than the current one:

1. Use Alt + ↓, to move the selection to the bottommost note in the current Voice;
2. Press Alt + ↓, to move to the higher-numbered Voice;
3. Repeat any of the above steps, as necessary, until the desired note is selected.

To select a note in a lower-numbered Voice than the current one:

1. Use Alt + ↑, to move the selection to the topmost note in the current Voice;
2. Press Alt + ↑, to move to the lower-numbered Voice.
3. Repeat any of the above steps, as necessary, until the desired note is selected.

Separate chords into Voices

1. Either:
   • Manually select a continuous range of notes or a discontinuous list of notes, or
   • Select notes using the Chord Level Selector plugin.
2. Press the toolbar button to assign Voice to selected notes as required.

To further separate into staffs, see Tools: Explode

Merge Voices into chords

Chord inside Musescore has a stricter definition than in daily usage, constituent notes of a chord must have the same duration. You cannot merge Voices of varying duration into one chord (of one Voice).
See Tools: Implode

Assign different sounds to Voices

Sound in Musescore 3 is instrument channel based, see Instrument channel (an abstraction). Use Mid-staff sound (channel) change to assign a sound to a Voice.

Alternatively, use Explode to separate Voices into staffs, then sound by Staff / Part properties: Change instrument, edit "Instrument Name" as requied.

Tips for writing SATB scores

• In Open score SATB (where four staves are used for the four voices separately), use Voice 1 in each staff.
• In Close/Closed score SATB (where two staves are used for the four voices, e.g., as in hymnals),
  • use Voice 1 and Voice 2 only, for both upper and lower staves: in the upper staff use Voice 1 for S (soprano) and Voice 2 for A (alto) ; in the lower staff use Voice 1 for T (tenor) Voice 2 for B (bass)
  • Beginner's error: use Voice 3 for T (tenor) or Voice 4 for B (bass), this will create unwanted rest symbols, jump to automatic rests.
  • Beginner's error: use Voice 1 for B (bass), this will not activate the automatic stem direction function.
• There is usually no need to use Voice 3 and Voice 4, jump to Why do you use voices

See also

• Keyboard shortcuts: Voices
• Tools (Implode, Explode)
• Glossary: Shared note head
• Noteheads: Shared noteheads

External links

• How to merge/combine/implode two staves in one with two voices (MuseScore HowTo)
• How to input multiple notes on a staff with different durations (MuseScore HowTo)

Copy and paste

MuseScore supports standard copy, cut, paste and swap with clipboard operations. These commands can be applied to a range of:

• Musical notes: e.g. to repeat a section of music, or shift a passage by a beat or a measure.
• Other score elements: such as articulations, staff text, dynamics, fingering etc.

Copy/cut/paste/swap commands are accessed in three ways:

• From the Edit menu (above the document window).
• From the menu displayed by right-clicking on an element or range of elements.
• Using one of the standard keyboard shortcuts.

Summary of commands

Note: Before carrying out a copy, cut, paste or swap procedure, you should be in normal mode. Press the Esc key to exit into normal mode.

Notes

You can cut, copy, paste or swap notes as follows:

Copy or cut

To copy/cut a single chord

1. Hold down Shift and click on a note in the chord.
2. Apply a Copy or Cut option (see table above).

To copy/cut a range of chords

1. Click on the first note or measure that you want to select.
2. Shift+Click on the last note or measure that you want to select. A blue rectangle highlights the region you selected.
3. Apply a Copy or Cut option (see table above).

Paste

1. Click on the note or measure where you want your pasted selection to begin.
2. Apply a Paste option (see table above).

Swap with Clipboard

The swap with clipboard operation combines two commands into one: (1) First it overwrites a selected part of the score with the contents of the clipboard, just like the paste command; (2) Secondly, it transfers the overwritten part of the score back to the clipboard, just like the copy command.

It can be used, for example, to swap two equal-length sections of a score, A and B:

1. Select section A, then apply the cut command;
2. Clear the selection (by pressing Esc or clicking on a blank area of the document window);
3. Press Shift and click on a note at the start of section B. Or, if B begins at the start of a measure, you can also simply select the measure;
4. Apply a Swap with clipboard option (see table above).
5. Section B is now in the clipboard. Paste it back to the blank area of score left by step "1."

Copy pitch of a single note only

It is possible to copy the pitch of a note only (and no other properties), by clicking on the notehead and applying the standard copy and paste, or copy and swap procedure. The pitch of the destination note changes to match that of the copied note but the duration remains the same.

Other elements

Some elements such as staff text, dynamics, fingering, etc. can be cut, copied and pasted only one at a time. However, other elements support "multiple-selection" cut/copy/paste: such as articulations (sforzato, staccato etc.), fretboard diagrams, and chord symbols.

Note: The Swap with clipboard command is only intended for use with sections of music and not other score elements.

Copy or cut

1. Select the element (or elements).
2. Apply a Copy or Cut option (see table above).

Paste

1. Click on the note where you want your pasted selection to begin.
2. Apply one of the Paste options (see table above).

In the case of articulations, they are pasted to the destination notes in exactly the same order (continuous or intermittent) as they were in the initial selection.

Quick repeat

To quickly copy and paste a note, measure, or passage:

1. Select a chord, measure, or passage as described above.
2. Press R .

MuseScore copies and pastes the selected notation to a point immediately after the last note in the selection. Any existing music in the destination range is replaced.

Duplicate

To instantaneously copy and paste a text element, line, or other object:

1. Hold down Ctrl+Shift (Mac: Cmd+Shift), click on the element and drag it anywhere in the score.
2. Release the mouse button, and the selected element is cloned to the new location.

Paste half/double duration (version 3.1 and above)

These commands allows you to copy/cut a section of the score, then paste it back anywhere with all the note durations either halved or doubled.

1. In Normal mode, select a range of notes in the score;
2. Cut or copy the range;
3. Select a destination note (or measure);
4. From the menu, select one of the following:
   • Edit→Paste Half Duration.
   • Edit→Paste Double Duration.

or use keyboard shortcuts:

• Ctrl+Shift+Q : Paste half duration
• Ctrl+Shift+W : Paste double duration

Selection filter

The Selection Filter allows you to choose exactly which voices and elements you want to include in your selection.

• To display the Selection filter, press F6 (Mac: Fn+F6); or from the menu, choose View→Selection Filter.

The Selection Filter appears by default below the Palettes. To change the viewing location, see Viewing and Navigation: Side panels.

Example: Suppose you want to copy measures 1 and 2 in the following passage (see image), to give measures 3 and 4:

1. Make sure the Selection Filter is displayed (see above);
2. Uncheck the "Articulations & Ornaments" and "Slurs" tickboxes;
3. Copy and paste the desired measures (in this example, 1-2 into 3-4).

Note: The Selection Filter works with the swap with clipboard command as well.

See also

• Note input.
• To change notes without altering the rhythm, use Re-pitch mode with copy and paste.

External links

• How To Paste Special - Changing note duration (MuseScore HowTo)
• Video tutorial: Lyrics, copying & dynamics

Selection modes

Objects in the score—such as notes, measures, articulations etc.—can be selected in several ways: (1) one at a time, (2) as a continuous range, or (3) as a list.

Selection is invariably used before applying commands such as delete, copy/cut and paste, transpose and so on.

Select a single object

Most score objects can be selected by simply clicking on them in Normal mode.

Select a single note

• In Normal mode, click on a notehead.

Note: Selecting a single note then copying and pasting it, will only copy and paste the pitch—not duration or other properties (such as stemless). To copy the entire note, including all properties, you need to hold down Shift—as for chord selection (below).

Select a chord

• In Normal mode, press and hold Shift, then click on a notehead in the chord.

Select a single measure

• Click on a blank space within the measure.

Note: To select a range of consecutive measures, see Shift selection and Shift + click selection (below).

Select an overlapping element

To select an element from a group of overlapping elements:

• Hold Ctrl and click until the desired element is selected.

Select a continuous range of objects

There are several ways to select a continuous range of notes, chords or measures etc.:

1. Shift + click selection

To select a range of notes or rests:

1. Make sure you are in Normal mode;
2. Click on the first note or rest in the range;
3. Press and hold Shift, then click on the last desired note or rest.

Note: The final selected element can be in the same staff or in staffs above or below the initial note/rest. All selected elements will be enclosed in a blue rectangle, including associated lines and articulations (but not voltas). You can repeat the operation to extend the selected range as required.

Select chord symbols, lyrics etc. (as of version 3.5)

As of MuseScore 3.5, the shift + click method has been refined to make it easier to select a continuous range of items such as chord symbols, lyrics etc. For example:

1. Click on the first chord symbol in the desired range.
2. Shift + click on the last chord symbol in the range.

Result All chord symbols in that range are selected, and nothing else.

Select a range of measures

1. Click on a blank space in the first desired measure;
2. Hold down Shift, then click on a space in the last measure of the desired range.

Note: As with selecting notes, the range can be extended vertically as well as horizontally.

2. Shift selection

1. Make sure you are in Normal mode;
2. Select the first note, chord, rest or measure in the range. You can extend the selection up or down to adjacent staves, if needed, using Shift+↑ or ↓;
3. Then choose one of the following options:
   • To advance the selection one chord at a time to the right: Press Shift+→.
   • To advance the selection one chord at a time to the left: Press Shift+←.
   • To advance the selection one measure at a time to the right: Press Shift+Ctrl+→ (Mac: Shift+Cmd+→).
   • To advance the selection one measure at a time to the left: Press Shift+Ctrl+← (Mac: Shift+Cmd+←).
   • To advance the selection to the beginning of the line: Press Shift+Home (Mac: Shift+Fn+←).
   • To advance the selection to the end of the line: Press Shift+End (Mac: Shift+Fn+→).
   • To extend the selection to the beginning of the score: Press Shift+Ctrl+Home (Mac: Shift+Cmd+Fn+←).
   • To extend the selection to the end of the score: Press Shift+Ctrl+End (Mac: Shift+Cmd+Fn+→).

3. Drag selection

This method can be used to select notes or rests, or, independently, to select non-note symbols such as staccato dots, lyrics etc.:

• Press and hold Shift, then drag the cursor across the desired range.

4. Select All

This method selects the whole musical score including notes, rests and associated elements. Use one of the following options:

• Press Ctrl+A (Mac: Cmd+A).
• From the menu bar, select Edit → Select All.

5. Select section

This method is used to select a section—a region of the score starting and/or ending with a section break:

1. Click on an empty space in a measure in the section;
2. From the menu bar, select Edit → Select Section.

6. Selection Filter

The Selection Filter allows you include or exclude certain types of elements within a range selection. See Copy and paste: Selection filter

Select a list of objects

To select a list (or discontinuous range) of score elements:

1. Click on the first element;
2. Hold down Ctrl (Mac: Cmd) and successively click on the desired additional elements.

Note: This method cannot be used to select measures. Use single or range selection instead.

Modify an existing selection (as of version 3.5)

You can also use the Ctrl + click method to add to, or subtract from, an existing selection. For example:

1. Make a selection in the score using any of the methods above.
2. To add a non-selected element to the selection, press Ctrl and click on it. Repeat as required.
3. To remove an already-selected element from the selection, press Ctrl and click on it. Repeat as required.

Select all similar

To select all elements of a specific type (e.g., all barlines, all text elements, all staccato markings):

• Click on the first object of the type of element you want to match. Then shift-click the last similar element you want included. This creates a List Selection that includes the clicked element, the shift-clicked element and all similar elements in-between. NOTE: If you shift-click on a dissimilar element then only that element becomes selected. If you use this technique on notes or rests you'll invoke a Range Selection.

— OR —

• Right-click on the type of element you want to match and choose Select… from the contextual menu;
  Several options will appear in the submenu:
  • All Similar Elements
          To select all similar elements in the entire score:
               Right-click the element;
               then choose Select … All Similar Elements
  • All Similar Elements in Same Staff
          To select all similar elements within a particular staff:
               Right-click the element;
               then choose Select … All Similar Elements in Same Staff
  • All Similar Elements in Range Selection:
           NOTE: This only applies if a range has been selected.
                   Within an established range selection,
                   right-click the element you want to match similarly;
                   then choose All Similar Elements in Range Selection
  • More...: opens a dialog that lets you fine-tune more options. For example, if you have a notehead selected, the dialog will look something like this:
    
    Select
  • Same notehead: In this example, only noteheads of the same group will be selected;
  • Same pitch: Only noteheads of the same pitch will be selected;
  • Same string: (tablature only) selects fretmarks on same string.
  • Same type: All noteheads (of any group) will be selected;
  • Same duration: Only noteheads of same duration will be selected;
  • Same note name: Noteheads of that name in all octaves will be selected;
  • Same staff: Only noteheads on the same staff will be selected.
  • Same voice: Selects all notes of same voice.
  • In selection:
  • Same system:
    Action
  • Replace selection: The default option—starts the selection from scratch;
  • Add to selection: Keeps everything you have already selected, and adds the current selection to it;
  • Search in selection:
  • Subtract from selection: Keep everything you have already selected, but takes away the current selection.

What selections are useful for

• Copy and paste
• Edit mode
• Inspector and object properties
• Tools

See also

• Basics chapter, esp. Note input
• Notation chapter, esp. Accidental
• Text chapter, esp. Text editing and Grid-based movement of symbols and staff text

Undo and redo

MuseScore remembers an unlimited number of undo/redo actions.

The standard shortcuts are:

Or use the toolbar buttons:

Viewing and navigation

This chapter describes the options available in the View Menu, and in the Zoom and Page View/Continuous View menus (located in the toolbar above the score). It also details the various navigation commands and functions.

View menu

Show sidebars/panels

• Palettes: F9
• Master palette: Shift+F9 (Mac: Fn+Shift+F9)
• Inspector: F8 (Mac: Fn+F8)
• Play Panel: F11 (Mac: Fn+F11)
• Navigator
• Timeline: F12
• Mixer: F10 (Mac: Fn+F10)
• Synthesizer
• Selection filter: F6 (Mac: Fn+F6)
• Piano keyboard: P
• Score comparison tool

Zoom in/out

There are several ways to zoom the score in or out:

• Keyboard shortcut:

  • Zoom In: Ctrl++ (Mac: Cmd ++)
  • Zoom Out: Ctrl +- (Mac: Cmd +-).

• View menu:

  • Zoom In: View→Zoom In
  • Zoom Out: View→Zoom Out.

• Mouse

  • Zoom In: Scroll up with the mouse wheel while holding down Ctrl (Mac: Cmd)
  • Zoom Out: Scroll down with the mouse wheel while holding down Ctrl (Mac: Cmd).

• Drop-down menu: To set a specific zoom, use the dropdown menu in the standard toolbar to set the view magnification of the score (25–1600 %) or display it using the options "Page Width", "Whole Page", or "Two Pages".

  
  You may type a custom zoom % into the dropdown field if your desired zoom level isn't available by default.

• To return to 100% zoom: Use the shortcut Ctrl+0 (Mac: Cmd+0).

Toolbars

The Toolbar area is located between the Menu bar and the document window.

It contains the following toolbars:

• File Operations: New score, Load score, Save, Print, Undo, Redo.
• Zoom/Page View.
• Playback controls: Enable MIDI, Rewind, Play/Stop, Loop, Play Repeats, Metronome.
• Concert Pitch: Displays score in written or concert (sounding) pitch.
• Image Capture: Allows you to take a snapshot of part of the score.
• Note Input: Note entry mode, Duration, Tie, Rest, Accidentals, Flip stem direction, Voice (1, 2, 3, 4).

Show/hide toolbars

To show or hide certain toolbars:

• Select View→Toolbars, and tick/untick the options as required.
• Alternatively, right-click on an empty space in the toolbar area, or the title bar of the Inspector, and, from the menu, check or uncheck the required options.

Note: This option also allows you to show or hide the Timeline, Score Comparison Tool, Script Recorder, Piano Keyboard, Selection Filter, and Drumset Tools.

Customize toolbar area

• Select View→Toolbars, and click on "Customize Toolbars…"

  

The dialog shows the toolbars that can be customized on the left, the current tool buttons for the selected toolbar in the middle, and the buttons that can be added on the right. When you have selected a toolbar in the left panel, you can do any of the following actions:

• Remove a toolbutton: Select the button in the middle panel, and press →.
• Add a toolbutton: Select the button in the right panel, and press ←.
• Move a toolbutton: Select the button in the middle panel, and move it up or down using ↑ or ↓.

Note: The toolbar cannot be customized unless a custom workspace is selected (see below).

Workspaces

Select this option to create a custom workspace or to edit an existing workspace.

Show Status bar

The Status bar, at the bottom of the screen, gives information about selected score elements. Tick/untick this option to display or hide.

Split display

It is possible to split the document display so as to view two documents at once, or to view two different parts of the same document. Tabs allow you to choose which document to display in each view. You can drag the barrier separating the two scores to adjust the amount of space in the window devoted to each:

• Documents Side by Side: Divides the window vertically into two score views.
• Documents Stacked: Divides the window horizontally into two score views, one above the other.

Visibility options

This section allows you to display or hide various non-printing elements:

• Show Invisible: View/hide elements that have been made invisible for printing and export. If this option is ticked, invisible elements are shown in the score window as light gray.
• Show Unprintable: View/hide breaks and spacer symbols.
• Show Frames: View/hide the dotted outlines of frames.
• Show Page Margins: View/hide Page Margins.

Mark irregular measures

A plus sign or minus sign at the top right of a measure indicates that its duration differs from that set by the time signature.

Full screen

Full Screen mode expands MuseScore to fill your screen so more content is visible.

Page/Continuous View

You can switch between different views of the score using the drop-down list in the toolbar area:

To scroll the score:

• Vertically: Move the mouse wheel up or down.
• Horizontally: Press Shift and move the mouse wheel up or down.

Page View

In Page View, the score is formatted as it will appear when printed or exported as a PDF or image file: that is, page by page, with margins. MuseScore applies system (line) and page breaks automatically, according to the settings made in Page settings and Style…. In addition, you can apply your own system (line), page or section breaks.

To choose between horizontal or vertical page scrolling, see Preferences: Canvas (Scroll pages).

Continuous View

In Continuous View, the score is shown as one unbroken system. Even if the starting point is not in view, measure numbers, instrument names, clefs, time and key signatures will always be displayed on the left of the window.

Note: Because the layout is simpler, MuseScore may perform faster in Continuous View than Page View.

Single Page View

In Single Page View the score is shown as a single page with a header but no margins, and with an infinite page height. System (line) breaks are added automatically, according to the settings made in Page settings and Style…. In addition, you can apply your own system (line) or section breaks.

Side panels

The workspaces, Inspector and Selection filter are conveniently displayed as side panels to the left and right of the score window. To undock a side panel use one of the following methods:

• Drag the panel;
• Click on the double chevron at the top of the panel;
• Double-click in the title area at the top of the panel.

To dock a panel use one of the following procedures:

• Drag the panel to the top/bottom of an existing side panel and it will stack vertically above/below that panel.
• Drag the panel to the middle of an existing side panel and it will overlay that panel. Both panels can then be accessed by tabs.

Alternatively, double-clicking the title bar of the panel will restore it to its previously docked position.

Navigation

Commands

Various commands are available to help you navigate more easily through the score. These are listed under Keyboard shortcuts: Navigation.

Navigator

The Navigator is an optional panel which displays page thumbnails of the score at the bottom or to the right of the document window.

• To view or hide the Navigator, select View→Navigator; or use a customized shortcut.

The Navigator appears at the bottom of the document window if scrolling pages horizontally; or on the right if scrolling pages vertically (see Preferences: Canvas).

The blue box represents the area of the score that is currently visible in the document window: drag the box, or click directly on the navigator panel to bring another part of the score into view. You can also drag the scrollbar.

Timeline

The Timeline panel provides a detailed overview of the score, with expanded possibilities for navigation and interaction.

• To display the Timeline, press F12; or select View→Timeline.

For details, see Timeline.

Find / Go to

The Find / Go to function allows you to speedily navigate to a specific measure, rehearsal mark or page number in the score:

1. Press Ctrl+F (Mac: Cmd+F), or select Edit→Find. This opens the Find (or Go to) bar at the bottom of the workspace.

2. Use one of the following options:

   • To go to a numbered measure: enter the measure number (counting every measure, starting with 1, irrespective of pickup measures, section breaks or manual changes to measure number offsets).
   • To go to a numbered page: enter the page number using the format pXX (where XX is the page number).
   • To go to a numerical rehearsal mark: enter the number using the format rXX (where XX is the name of the rehearsal mark).
   • To go to a rehearsal mark starting with a letter: enter the name of the rehearsal mark (the search is case insensitive).

   N.B.: It is best to avoid naming rehearsal marks with the single letters "R", "r", "P", "p", or one of these letters with an integer (e.g. "R1" or "p3"), as this can confuse the search algorithm.

Note: The "Pan score automatically" toolbar button must be enabled for the Find command to be able to reposition the score view to the correct location.

See also

• Save/Export/Print
• File format
• Layout and formatting

Concert pitch

You can choose to display the score in either written or concert (sounding) pitch. Written pitch displays the score as it should look when printed for musicians to read. However, during preparation you may prefer the convenience of seeing the transposing instruments notated as they sound, without transposition. In this case you should select the "Concert pitch" option.

To toggle the score display between written or concert pitch:

• Press the Concert Pitch button (located in the top right of the toolbar area). When this button is highlighted the score is in concert pitch.

Before printing the score, exporting it to PDF or saving it online, you should ensure that the Concert Pitch button is off, and that the individual parts are correctly transposed.

See also

• Transposition: Transposing instruments
• Accidental: Respell pitches

External links

• Concert pitch (Wikipedia article)
• Transposing Instrument (Wikipedia article)
• Concert pitch or not? (MuseScore forum discussion)

Open/Save/Export/Print

Native format compatibility

MuseScore native format (*.mscz and *.mscx) are backward compatible: MuseScore 4 opens MuseScore 3's *.mscz without error.

MuseScore native format has never been forward compatible, see forum discussion. Although partial data retrieval is still possible as of MuseScore 4.0.2, you should not rely on it for score data integrity. Some features present in MuseScore 3 have not (yet) been included in MuseScore 4, and internal data conversion occurs when you open a older version file with a newer version program and then overwrite the file using the save function.

Some users find it useful to keep all data intact by creating seperate folders to store score files designated for editing on different Musescore versions, it is recommended to duplicate files before opening them as required.

File menu

In the File menu you can find options for opening, saving, exporting and printing your file:

Open

Apart from native format files (*.mscz and *.mscx), MuseScore can also open MusicXML, compressed MusicXML and MIDI files, as well as a variety of files in other formats.

To open any supported file:

1. Choose one of the following options:
   • Press Ctrl+O.
   • Click on the "Load score" icon on the left side of the toolbar area.
   • From the menu bar, select File→Open....
2. Select a file and click Open; or simply double-click a file.

Open recent allows you to choose from a list of recently-opened scores.

Save

Save, Save As…, Save a Copy… and Save Selection… allow you to save native MuseScore files (.mscz and .mscx).

• Save: Save current score to file.
• Save As...: Save current score to new file.
• Save a Copy...: Save current score to new file, but continue to edit original file.
• Save Selection...: Save selected measures to new file.
• Save Online...: To save and share your scores on the web at MuseScore.com. For details, see Share scores online.

Export

Export... allows you to create non-MuseScore files, such as PDF, MusicXML, MIDI, and various audio and image formats. In the Export dialog, you can choose which format to export to.

• Export...: Export current score to format of your choice.
  
  Here you can also select whether to export parts and which

MuseScore remembers which format you picked the last time and makes that the default for the next time.

Print

Print... allows to print your MuseScore file directly to a printer from MuseScore. Depending on your printer you will have different options, but generally you can define the page range, number of copies and collation.

If you have a PDF printer installed, you could also "export" to PDF using Print, but it's usually better to use the native PDF option under Export for more accurate rendition. Note: For this to work properly with Adobe PDF, make sure to uncheck "Rely on system fonts only, do not use document fonts" in Printer properties.

See also

• File format
• Part extraction

Share scores online

Musescore.com allows you to:

• View and listen to scores from a large repository created by the MuseScore community.
• Download any score in a variety of formats—MuseScore, MusicXML, PDF, MIDI, MP3.
• Upload your own scores: control whether to share them publicly or privately (via a secret link).
• Synchronize your score with a YouTube video ("Videoscores").

Note: A MuseScore Pro account is required for all scores not marked as PD (Public Domain) or "Original" work, the latter must also have the approval of the score owner.

Create an account

1. Visit MuseScore.com and click on "Create new account". Pick a username and enter a valid email and press "Create New Account".
2. Wait a few minutes for an email from MuseScore.com support. If no email arrives, check your spam folder.
3. Click the link in the email and visit your user profile to change your password.

Share a score directly from MuseScore

To save a score online:

1. Make sure that the Concert Pitch button is off, and that the individual parts are correctly transposed.

2. From the menu, select File→Save Online.... The "Log in to MuseScore" dialog will appear:

   

3. Enter your email address or MuseScore username, and password, then click OK. Note: If you don't have a MuseScore account yet, create one first by clicking on the "Create an account" link. That will open your browser app and bring you to musescore.com/user/register.

4. Upon successfully logging in and if the score already exists online, it will be updated automatically. Uncheck Update the existing score to save online as a new score.

   

5. If you are using a different SoundFont than the default one and if you are able to export MP3 files (may not be the case on some Linux versions), a checkbox Upload score audio will be visible:
   
   If the checkbox is checked, MuseScore will render the audio of the score using the current synthesizer settings and upload the audio to MuseScore.com.

6. Now you'll be able to enter your score information.

   

   • Make the score private: If selected, the score can only be viewed via a private link. If set to public, the score is visible to all.
   • Ensemble type: A list of possible values
   • Genre: A list of possible values
   • Title: The title of the score.
   • Description: The descriptive text that will appear next to it.
   • Copyright and download settings: Choose an appropriate copyright license from the drop-down list.
     Note: Creative Commons license, allows people to use your scores under certain restrictions.
     Here you also can restrict the ability of others to download your score (requires a Pro membership on MuseScore.com).

Upload a score on MuseScore.com

You can also upload a score on MuseScore.com directly:

1. Click the Upload link on MuseScore.com.
2. You have the same options as with the Save Online menu, except for uploading score audio.

Edit a score on MuseScore.com

If you want to make changes to one of your scores on MuseScore.com, edit the MuseScore file on your own computer, save it, and then do the following:

• If you originally shared the score directly from within MuseScore, simply go to File→Save Online... again to update the online score.
• If you originally uploaded the score via the Upload page on MuseScore.com, then you must follow these steps to update the online score:
  1. Go to the score page on MuseScore.com.
  2. Click the three dots menu ⋮ on the right and choose "Update this score".
  3. In the form, you can upload a replacement score file as well as change the accompanying information and privacy settings.

Switch to the direct method of updating an online score

It is much more convenient to update online scores from directly within MuseScore than by updating the score manually from the score page. Follow these steps if you originally uploaded the score via the Upload page and now want to switch to the direct method:

1. Go to the score page on MuseScore.com and copy the URL.
2. Open the score file on your computer with MuseScore.
3. From the menu, select File→Score Properties... and paste the URL into the "Source" field.

Now whenever you want to update the online score simply go to File→Save Online....

Note: The URL should be follow the format of https://musescore.com/XXXXXXXX/scores/XXXXXXXX and should not contain 'Nice Link's.

External links

• How to delete a score saved on MuseScore.com (MuseScore HowTo)
• Score download becomes a part of the Pro subscription
• Download becomes a part of the Pro subscription

Barlines

A range of barline symbols for most ordinary purposes can be found in the Barlines palette (Basic workspace); repeat barlines, only, are also available in the Repeats & Jumps palette (Basic and Advanced). Additional symbols can be found in the Barlines palette of the Advanced workspace. It is also possible to create your own custom barlines (see below).

Change barline type

To change an existing barline, use one of the following:

• Select a barline, or measure, in the score, then click an icon in the Barlines palette (double-click in versions prior to 3.4).
• Drag an icon from the Barlines palette onto a barline, or measure, in the score.
• Select an existing barline in the score, then adjust "Style" in the "Barline" section of the Inspector.

To change a non-single to a single barline:

• Select the barline and press Del.

To hide a barline:

• Select the line and press V, or uncheck Visible in the Inspector.

Insert barline

To insert a new barline between existing ones, either:

• Drag an icon from the Barlines palette onto a note or rest.
• Select a note or rest, then click an icon in the Barlines palette (double-click in versions prior to 3.4).

Split a measure

You can insert a barline in order split a measure into two separate ones. Use one of the following methods:

• Press Ctrl (Mac Cmd) and drag the line from the Barline palette to the first note of the new measure.
• Select the first note of the new measure and press Ctrl (Mac Cmd) while you click a barline in the Barline palette (double-click in versions prior to 3.4).
• If the first two methods cause crashes in Musescore 3.6.2 on Windows, select the first note of the new measure and press Alt while you double-click a barline in the Barline.

Note: As of version 3.1 (or earlier), all barlines entered this way are entered as Normal Barlines. See also Split a measure.

Custom barlines

It is possible to create custom barlines by selecting one or more barlines, and adjusting the properties in the "Barlines" section of the Inspector:

• Style: Choose from a range of preset barlines.
• Span to next staff: joins the selected barline to the barline in the staff below.
• Span from: Sets the position of the top of the barline. "0" is the top staff line. Positive numbers start lower down the staff, negative numbers above.
• Span to: Sets the position of the bottom of the barline (see "Span from").
• Span presets: Use the buttons to apply preset customized barlines.

See also Mensurstrich.

Changes to color and horizontal/vertical offset can also be made in the Inspector.

Connect barlines

Barlines may extend over multiple staves, as in the grand staff of a piano, or in an orchestral score to join instruments in the same section. To join barlines:

1. Enter Edit mode on a barline.

   

2. Click on the lower blue handle and drag it down to the staff you wish to connect to. The handle snaps into position so there is no need to position it exactly.

3. Press Esc to exit edit mode. This will update all other relevant barlines as well.

   

Vertical alignment

Vertical alignment is absent because barlines are layout automatically according to content. A workaround for vertical alignment is to insert invisible short rests of same length at another voice, or Anchors for Dynamics and Hairpins plugin to automate the process.

See also

• Measure operations (Measure Properties dialog)
• Measure (Layout and formatting style)
• Repeats and jumps for information on repeat barlines
• Add fermata to barline

Clefs

Commonly used Clefs (Treble, Bass, Alto, Tenor) can be found in the Clefs palette in the Basic workspace. For a more complete range, see the Clefs palette in the Advanced workspace (see image below).

Add a clef

Add/change clef at the beginning of a measure

• Select a measure or an existing clef and click a clef symbol in the palette (double-click in versions prior to 3.4).
• Drag a clef from the palette onto a measure or an existing clef.

Add/change a mid-measure clef

• Select a note or rest, then click a clef in the palette (double-click in versions prior to 3.4).
• Drag a clef from the palette onto a note or rest
• If a mid-measure clef is already present you can also:
  • Select the clef and click a clef in the palette (double-click in versions prior to 3.4).
  • Drag a new clef from the palette onto the clef.

Note: "Mid-staff" clefs are always smaller than the main system clef.

Example: In the following image, the top staff starts with a treble clef and switches immediately to bass clef, then after a note and a rest, changes back to treble clef.

Note: Changing a clef does not change the pitch of any note. Instead, the notes move to preserve pitch. If you want, you can use Transposition in conjunction with a clef change.

Remove a clef

• Select a clef and press Del.

Courtesy clefs

When a clef change occurs at the beginning of a system, a courtesy clef will be generated at the end of the previous system.

To show or hide all courtesy clefs:

1. From the menu, select Format→Style...→Page;
2. Check/uncheck "Create courtesy clefs."

It is also possible to show/hide courtesy clefs on a case-by-case basis:

1. "Create courtesy clefs" should already be ticked in the "General" menu (see above);
2. Select a clef and tick/untick "Show courtesy" in the Inspector.

Hide clefs

Display clef only in the first measure (for all staves)

1. From the menu, select Format→Style...→ Page;
2. Uncheck "Create clef for all systems."

Display clef only in the first measure (for a particular staff)

1. Right-click on the staff (Mac: Ctrl-click) , select Staff properties... and uncheck "Show clef;"
2. Open the master palette and select the "Symbols" section;
3. Drag and drop a clef from the master palette onto the first measure of the staff; OR select the first note and click a clef in the master palette (double-click in versions prior to 3.4).

Note: This option may be useful to TAB users who do not want the clef to repeat on every subsequent line.

Hide all clefs in a particular staff

1. Right-click on the staff (Mac: Ctrl-click) , and select Staff properties...;
2. Uncheck "Show clef."

Key signatures

Standard key signatures are available in the Key Signatures palette in the Basic or Advanced workspaces. It is also possible to create custom key signatures (below).

Note that key signatures are always defined relative to concert pitch. If you are adding a key signature to a staff for a transposing instrument you should add the relevant concert pitch key signature. The correctly transposed key signature will show on the staff (unless you are viewing in concert pitch mode).

Add a new key signature

Add new key signature to all staves

Use any of the following methods:

• Select a measure and click a key signature in the palette (double-click in versions prior to 3.4).
• Select a note or rest and click a key signature in a palette (double-click in versions prior to 3.4).
• Drag a key signature from the palette onto an empty part of a measure or a note or rest.

Add new key signature to one staff only

If you wish to change the key signature of only one staff line, leaving others unchanged:

• Press Ctrl (Mac: Cmd) and hold while you drag a key signature from a palette onto a measure.

Replace an existing key signature

Replace key signature for all staves

Use any of the following methods:

• Select the key signature to be replaced, and click a new key signature in a palette (double-click in versions prior to 3.4).
• Drag a key signature from the palette onto the key signature to be replaced (or onto the measure containing the key signature).

Replace key signature for one staff only

If you wish to replace the key signature of only one staff, leaving others unchanged:

• Press Ctrl (Mac: Cmd) and hold while you drag a key signature from a palette onto the key signature to be replaced (or onto the measure containing the key signature).

Remove a key signature

Use any of the following methods:

• Click on an existing key signature and press Del.
• Drag the empty key signature ("open/atonal") from the palette (in the advanced workspace) onto the measure.

Naturals on key signature changes

By default, MuseScore only shows cancelling naturals when the key signature changes to that of C Major/A minor (no sharps or flats). In all other cases, it simply shows the new key signature without cancellations:

However, you can opt to display cancelling naturals for all key signature changes:

1. From the menu, select Format → Style... → Accidentals. You'll see the options:

   

2. Select one of the three options.

3. If you are in a part and want the new option to apply to all parts, click on Apply to all parts.
4. Click OK to exit.

For example, selecting the option "Before key signature if changing to fewer ♯ or ♭" gives:

And the option "After key signature if changing to fewer ♯ or ♭. Before if changing between ♯ and ♭" gives:

Key signature changes and multimeasure rests

Multimeasure rests are interrupted if there is change of key signature:

Courtesy key signatures

To turn off the display of a particular courtesy key signature:

• Select the relevant key signature and untick "Show courtesy" in the "Key Signature" section of the Inspector.

To turn off the display of all courtesy key signatures:

• From the menu, select Format → Style... → Page, and untick "Create courtesy key signatures."

Note: Courtesy key signatures are not displayed at section breaks.

Custom key signatures

To create a custom key signature:

1. Press Shift+K to display the Key signatures section of the Master palette.

   

2. In the Create Key signature panel, drag accidentals from the palette onto the staff above to create the desired key signature. Note: The treble clef is only decorative—custom key signatures for any type of staff can be created here.

3. Use the Clear button, if required, to remove all accidentals from the "staff."
4. To move the new key signature into the library (center panel), press Add. To delete a key signature from the library, right-click it (Mac: Ctrl-click) and, in the drop-down menu, select Delete.

Note: A limitation of custom key signatures is that they cannot be transposed in the usual way. If a transposition is needed, or where there is a clef change, you will need to create a new custom key signature.

To move a key signature from the Master palette to a custom palette:

• Drag and drop the key signature onto a palette.

To apply a key signature to the score directly from the Master palette, use one of the following methods:

• Select a measure and click a key signature in the Master palette (double-click in versions prior to 3.4).
• Drag a key signature from the Master palette onto a measure; alternatively, to apply to one staff only, hold Ctrl (Mac: Cmd) while dragging.

External links

• How to change enharmonic key signatures for transposing instruments (MuseScore HowTo, video)

Accidentals

The most common types of accidentals are provided in the Note Input Toolbar above the score and in the Accidentals Palette in the Basic workspace preset.
A more comprehensive range can be found in the Accidentals Palette after applying the Advanced workspace preset.

Add or remove an accidental and brackets

Accidentals are automatically added, replaced or removed to a note when you change its pitch:

• Change note pitch:
  • ↑: Increase the pitch of a note by one semitone (favors sharps).
  • ↓: Decrease the pitch of a note by one semitone (favors flats)
• And then change the enharmonic spelling

To add directly either (i) a bb double flat or x double sharp, (ii) a courtesy (also known as cautionary or reminder) accidental, or (iii) a non-standard accidental, use one of the following options:

• Select a note and click on an accidental in the Toolbar above the score, or
• Use the Accidentals Palettes, either
  • Select a note and click an accidental (double-click in versions prior to 3.4), or
  • Drag an accidental on to a note; or

• Add from Accidentals category of the Master palette using the select and click or drag and drop method. Do not add from Symbols category, they are non-functional visual symbols, see Notation types.

  
  In the above diagram, the second accidental is added from Symbols category of the Master palette, it does not use automatic layout and the note pitch does not change (C instead of C#).

To add brackets (only available for courtesy/cautionary/reminder accidental), use one of the following:

• Select the accidental in the score and click the parentheses symbol in the Accidentals palette (double-click in versions prior to 3.4), or
• Drag the parentheses symbol from the palette onto the accidental, or
• Select the accidental and choose from the Bracket type dropdown in the Inspector.

Delete an accidental directly by selecting it and pressing Del, note pitch corrects automatically.

Change enharmonic spelling

To change the enharmonic spelling of a note, or notes, in both written and concert pitch views:

1. Select a note, or group of notes;
2. Press J;
3. Continue pressing J to cycle through the enharmonic equivalents.

To change the enharmonic spelling in the written pitch view, without affecting the concert pitch view, or vice versa:

1. Select a note, or group of notes;
2. Press Ctrl+J (Mac: Cmd+J);
3. Continue pressing the same combination of keys to cycle through the enharmonic equivalents.

Note: If the pitches of selected notes are not all the same, the effect may be unpredictable.

Respell pitches

• From the menu, select Tools→Respell Pitches.

See also

• Key signature: Change
• Tuning systems, microtonal notation system, and playback

External links

• Accidental at Wikipedia
• Enharmonic at Wikipedia

Time signatures

Time signatures can be found in a Palette of the same name in both the Basic and Advanced workspaces.

Note: Whether or not a time signature is actually shown depends on the staff properties, by default it is not shown for tablature.

Add or replace a time signature

Use any of the following methods:

• Select a time signature, measure, note or rest, and click a time signature in a palette (double-click in versions prior to 3.4).
• Drag and drop a time signature from a palette onto a space in a measure, or onto an existing time signature.

Delete a time signature

• To delete a time signature in the score, select it and press Del.

Create a time signature

If the time signature you require is not available in any of the existing palettes, it can be created using one of the following methods:

From the Time Signatures palette

Available as of version 3.3.

1. In the Time Signatures palette, click on "More", then, in the supplementary palette, click on the "Create Time Signature" button;
2. In the top line, enter the Numerator, Denominator, and Text (the latter is optional where you need the display to be different from the actual time signature).
3. Adjust the default note beaming in the Note Groups section. To restore the default beaming pattern, press Reset;
4. Press the "Add" button to transfer the newly-created time signature to the Time Signatures palette.

From the Master palette

1. Press Shift+T to display the Time signatures section of the Master Palette;
2. Select a time signature to edit in the center panel;
3. In the top line of the Create Time Signature panel, enter the Numerator, Denominator, and Text (the latter is optional where you need the display to be different from the actual time signature).
4. Adjust the default note beaming in the "Note group" section". To restore the default beaming pattern, press Reset;
5. Press Add to add the newly-created time signature to the center panel. To delete a time signature from the center panel, right-click (Mac: Ctrl-click) on it and select Clear.
6. Drag and drop the time signature from the Master Palette to the Time Signatures palette. You can also drag the time signature direct to the score, if desired.

Fractional time signatures

Starting in version 3.5.1 there is limited support for fractional time signatures. Only ½ and ¼ are supported at this time. If your keyboard does not have the characters on them you can enter them using Alt+0189 for ½ and Alt+0188 for ¼ on some operating systems. You can also copy/paste from here.

Time signature properties

To display the Time Signature Properties dialog, use any of the following:

• Select the time signature, then click on "Properties" in the "Time Signature" section of the Inspector.
• Right-click (Mac: Ctrl-click) on a time signature and select Time Signature Properties….

• Global value: Shows the global time signature and is set automatically when you add a time signature to the score. It is the reference for beats (as shown in the status bar) and tempo markings.
• Actual value: Shows the time signature associated with a particular staff. This is normally the same as the global time signature, but can be set independently if required. See Local time signatures.
• Appearance: Allows you to edit the displayed text without affecting the underlying time signature. For an example, see Additive meters.
• Note Groups: Allows you to change the default beaming of notes associated with a time signature. See Change default beaming.

Change default beaming

To change beaming of individual notes, see Beams instead.
To adjust note-beaming for a particular time signature:

1. Select the time signature, then "Properties" in the "Time Signature" section of the Inspector; or right-click (Mac: Ctrl-click) on the time signature and select, Time Signature Properties…;
2. To break a note beam in the Note Groups panel, click on the note following it. To reset the beam, click in the same place. Alternatively, you can change beaming by dragging a beam icon onto a note, as follows:
   • Start beam at this note.
   • Do not end beam at this note.
   • 1/8th note beam to left of this note.
   • 1/16 note beam to left of this note.

Checking the box for "Also change shorter notes," means that any beam changes at one level are applied automatically to shorter durations as well. The Reset button cancels any changes made in that session.

Additive (composite) meters

Additive (or composite) time signatures are sometimes used to clarify the division of beats within a measure. To use an additive time signature:

• Create a new custom time signature, see above, or
• Modify an existing time signature on the score:
  1. Right-click (Mac: Ctrl-click) on a time signature in the score and select Time Signature properties…;
  2. In the Appearance section, adjust the "Text" property as required;
  3. Adjust note beaming in the Note Groups section if required.

Local time signatures

In certain cases a score may show staves with different time signatures running at the same time. For example, in Bach's 26. Goldberg Variation:

In the above example, the global time signature is 3/4, but the time signature of the upper staff has been set independently to 18/16.

To set a local time signature for just one staff:

• Hold down Ctrl (Mac: Cmd) and drag and drop a time signature from a palette onto an empty measure.

Resize time signature

• Select one or more time signatures and, in the "Time Signature" section of the Inspector, adjust the "Scale X" (width) and "Scale Y" (height) values.

Pickup measures and cadenzas

Occasionally you will need to decrease or increase the duration of a measure without changing the time signature—for example, in a pickup measure (anacrusis) or in a cadenza etc. See Measure operations: Measure duration.

Time signature changes and breaks

Multimeasure rests are interrupted when a time signature change occurs. Also, a section break will prevent a courtesy time signature being shown at the end of the previous measure.

See also

• Key signature

External links

• How To Using Polyrhythm, mixed meters and local time signatures in MuseScore (MuseScore HowTo)
• Additive meters at Wikipedia.

Arpeggios and glissandi

Arpeggio, strum arrow, glissando (slide), portamento (glide), brass or wind instrument articulation (Fall, Doit, Plop and Scoop) and guitar slide in or slide out symbols are usually added from the "Arpeggios & Glissandi" palette.

Add symbol

To add to the score, use one of the following methods:

• Select one or more notes, then click a symbol in a palette (double-click in versions prior to 3.4).
• Drag a symbol from a palette onto a note.

Adjust dimensions

To adjust the length and height of a symbol:

• Enter Edit mode for the symbol, and adjust the handles using keyboard shortcuts.

Change appearance and playback

After selecting a symbol, various useful properties can be adjusted in the "Glissando" or "Arpeggio" section of the Inspector.

Inspector:Glissando section

• Type: Choose between a straight or wavy line;
• Show text: Tick this box if you want the symbol to display text. Then set the wording, font-face, font-size and font-style underneath. Note: If there isn't enough room between notes, the text is not displayed;
• Play: Check/uncheck the box to turn playback on or off.
• Play style: Choose how the glissando plays back. There are five options: Chromatic, White keys, Black keys, Diatonic, Portamento (this option creates a portamento between two notes, see portamento);

Inspector:Arpeggio section

• Stretch: Increase this to lengthen the duration of the arpeggio.
• Play: Untick if you don't want the symbol to affect playback.

If needed for future use, you can save the result in a custom palette.

Arpeggios and strum arrows

When an arpeggio or strum arrow is added to the score, it initially spans only one voice. To change the height, see Adjust dimensions (above). Playback of the symbol can be turned on or off in the Inspector.

Adjust vertical range of an arpeggio

Add the arpeggio to the top staff, select it and use Shift+↓ to extend it downwards to the next stave without it affecting distance between those staves.

Note: For this to work the notes in the 2 staves need to be in the same voice. And it won't affect playback.

Portamento

To add a slide or "portamento" between two notes, add a glissando symbol and change its appearance and playback.

To add a slide or portamento before or after a note before a note (a string instrument or guitar technique), add either one of the four wind instrument articulation symbols (Fall, Doit, Plop and Scoop) or a slide in/slide out. Alternative wavy symbols are found in the Symbols category in Master palette window. All of these do not affect playback, but you can mimic to an extent with a hidden Bends (found in Articulations Palette).

To control piano and vocal portamento playback, try Articulations and ornaments and Piano Roll Editor.

Glissandi or "portamento" between two notes

A Glissando or slide may be wavy or straight, and be with or without text. E.g.:

Adjust start and end points

To move an end handle vertically or horizontally, from one note to the next:

1. Enter edit mode on the symbol;
2. Click on the start or end handle:
   • Use Shift+↑↓ to move the handle up or down, from note to note.
   • Use Shift+←→ moves the handle horizontally, from note to note.

This method change length and anchors together.

Simultaneous glissandi between chords and Cross-staff glissando

Use adjustment method (repeatedly) to create one.

Brass or wind instrument articulations

Fall, Doit, Plop and Scoop symbols are provided. To change the length and curvature, select the symbol, enter edit mode and adjust the handles as described in Slurs: method 1. Do not affect playback.

Slide in/out

Slide in and Slide out lines for guitar. To edit the length and angle of a line, double-click on it and drag the handle (or use the Inspector or keyboard arrows for finer adjustment). Do not affect playback.

External links

• Arpeggio at Wikipedia
• Glissando at Wikipedia
• Portamento at Wikipedia

Articulations and ornaments

A comprehensive set of symbols can be found in the Articulations palette in the Advanced workspace:

and the Ornaments palette (Advanced workspace):

There is also an abbreviated version of Articulations palette in the Basic workspace.

Articulations

Articulations are the symbols added to the score to show how a note or chord is to be played. The principal symbols in this group are:

• Fermatas
• Accents (>)
• Staccato and variations—including mezzo-staccato (portato), staccatissimo.
• Tenuto
• Marcato (^)

Specialist articulations are also included for bowed and plucked strings, wind instruments etc.

Ornaments

Ornaments include:

• Mordents, Inverted Mordents, Pralltrills
• Trills
• Turns
• Bends

Note: Appoggiaturas and acciaccaturas can be found in the Grace Notes palette.

Add articulation/ornament

Use either of the following methods:

• Select a note or a range of notes, then click a symbol in a palette (double-click in versions prior to 3.4).
• Drag a symbol from a palette onto a notehead.

Add accidental to an ornament

To apply an accidental to an existing ornament, such as a trill:

1. Select the note to which the ornament is attached;
2. Open the Symbols section of the Master palette;
3. Search for and apply the desired accidental to the score (small accidentals can be found using the search term "figured bass");
4. Drag the accidental into position (or reposition using keyboard shortcuts or the Inspector).

Add fermata to a barline

Use one of the following methods:

• Select a barline, then click a fermata symbol in a palette (double-click in versions prior to 3.4).
• Drag a fermata symbol from a palette onto a barline in the score.

Note: This does not affect playback.

Keyboard shortcuts

• Toggle Staccato: Shift+S
• Toggle Tenuto(─): Shift+N
• Toggle Accent(>): Shift+V
• Toggle Marcato(^): Shift+O
• Add Acciaccatura (grace note): /

Keyboard shortcuts can be customized in MuseScore's Preferences.

Adjust position

Immediately after adding an articulation or ornament from a palette, the symbol is automatically selected: It can then be moved up or down from the keyboard as follows:

• Press up/down arrow keys for fine positioning (0.1 sp at a time);
• Press Ctrl+↑ or Ctrl+↓ (Mac: Cmd+↑ or Cmd+↓) for larger vertical adjustments (1 sp at a time).
• To flip a symbol to the other side of the note (where applicable), select it and press X.

To enable adjustments in all directions from the keyboard:

1. Enter Edit mode on the symbol;
2. Press arrow keys for fine positioning (0.1 sp at a time); or press Ctrl+Arrow (Mac: Cmd+Arrow) for larger adjustments (1 sp at a time).

You can also change the horizontal and vertical offset values in the Inspector. To position more than one symbol at a time, select the desired symbols and adjust the offset values in the Inspector.

Note: The symbol can also be repositioned by clicking and dragging, but for more precise control, use the methods above.

Articulation and ornament properties

For Fermatas, see Fermatas section in Tempo for their properties and effect on playback.
These can be edited from the Articulation section of the Inspector and may include:

• Placement: Above or below the staff.
• Direction: Auto / Up / Down.
• Anchor: Adjust the vertical placement of the symbol.
• Time stretch: Obsolete. Use Fermatas section of Inspector instead
• Ornament style: Default or Baroque.
• Play: Turn playback on or off.

For Bend properties, see Bends.

You can find additional global style settings for articulations and ornaments under Articulations, Ornaments.

Playback

Playback of note affected by articulation symbols varies among instruments, the general effect:

• Staccato : shorter
• Tenuto(─): longer (no effect on Strings eg violins)
• Marcato (^) : louder and shorter
• Accent (>) : louder (louder than using a Marcato) and longer (no duration extension effect on Strings eg violins)

To find out the effect of each instrument, save your score as .mscx, open it as plaintext, find <Articulation> and its <velocity> and <gateTime> values. see <Articulation name="sforzato"> for accent (>) symbol

To achieve your desired playback, either:

• inside Musescore: add multiple symbols, toggle their Play and Visible properties. You can also set the note itself's Velocity and Velocity type properties, or
• edit per instrument settings in your saved file: save your score as .mscx, open it as plaintext and edit the instrument articulation definitions. These modifications do not affect new instruments added later, or
• edit default settings in instrument.xml affecting new instruments.

See this battle between jazz and classical musicians on the forum for more details.

See also

• Grace notes
• Fermatas in Tempo
• Dynamics (sfz symbol)

External links

• How to create trills and ornaments with accidentals (and playback) (MuseScore HowTo)
• Ornaments at Wikipedia

Beams

Adjust automatic note beaming

By default, MuseScore beams notes according to settings in the Time Signature Properties dialog. To change this automatic pattern of note-beaming, see Change default beaming.

Change beaming of individual notes

MuseScore also allows you to override the default beaming of any note, using the beam symbols in the Beam Properties palette of the "Basic" or "Advanced" workspaces:

To change one or more note beams (except feathered beams, below), use one of the following methods:

• Drag and drop a beam symbol from the Beam Properties palette onto a note or rest in the score.
• Select one or more notes and/or rests in the score and click the desired symbol in the Beam Properties palette (double-click in versions prior to 3.4).

To apply feathered note beams, use either of the following methods:

• Drag and drop a feathered-beam symbol from the Beam Properties palette onto a note beam in the score.
• Select one or more note beams in the score, then click on a feathered-beam symbol in the Beam Properties palette (double-click in versions prior to 3.4).

Notes: (1) Feathered beams may use 2 or 3 lines depending on the tempo and the desired rate of the change; (2) To create a 2-line feathered beam, you need to start with a continuous run of beamed sixteenth notes; (3) To create a 3-line feathered beam, you need to start with continuous run of beamed thirty-second notes; (4) Playback of feathered beams is not supported.

Beam symbols and their effects

Icon	Name	Description
	Beam start	If the note is beamed to a previous note, break the beam.
	Beam middle	Create a beam from the selected note to the previous note (if applicable). This applies to Beam 16th sub and Beam 32nd sub as well.
	No beam	Break beams before and after the selected note.
	Beam 16th sub	Start a second level beam at this note.
	Beam 32nd sub	Start a third level beam at this note.
	Automatic Beam	Apply default beaming as determined by the current time signature (see above).
	Feathered beam, slower	Start feathered beam to indicate gradually slower tempo.
	Feathered beam, faster	Start feathered beam to indicate gradually faster tempo.

Note: Be aware that the beam between two notes/rests is determined by both of the note/rests. For example: Two consecutive notes with a status of start beam here will not have a beam between them. If the two consecutive notes are set up to connect to each other they will beam, if one of them is not set up for this, the two notes will not beam.

Adjust beam angle

To adjust with the keyboard or mouse:

1. Enter edit mode on the note beam—the right adjustment handle is automatically selected.
2. Use the up/down arrows or drag the right end handle to change the angle of the beam;
3. Press Esc to exit edit mode.

To adjust with the Inspector:

1. Click on a note beam.
2. Tick the "User position" box in the "Beam" section of the Inspector;
3. Set the "Position" values to get the desired beam angle.

Adjust beam height

To adjust with the keyboard or mouse:

1. Enter edit mode on the note beam—the right adjustment handle is automatically selected.
2. Press Shift+Tab or click the middle handle to select it (use the left handle prior to 3.4);
3. Use the up/down arrows or drag the middle handle to change the height of the beam (use the left handle prior to 3.4);
4. Press Esc to exit edit mode.

To adjust with the Inspector:

1. Click on a note beam.
2. Tick the "User position" box in the "Beam" section of the Inspector;
3. Set the "Position" values as desired.

Make beam horizontal

1. Select a note beam
2. Tick the "Force Horizontal" box in the "Beam" section of the Inspector;

Note: "Force Horizontal" in the "Beam" section of the Inspector can only be selected if "Custom position" has been deselected previously. This setting overrides the Custom Position values and automatically sets the horizontal bar to its original height.

If you want all note beams in the score to be horizontal there is a "Flatten all beams" option in Format→Style…→Beams. If this option is not selected, automatically inclined beams will be set according to the pitch of the connected notes. This global setting can be overridden for individual beams according to the methods described above.

Adjust feathered beams

To adjust feathered beams:

1. Select a note beam.
2. Adjust the values in the "Grow left" and "Grow right" boxes in the "Beam" section of the Inspector.

Local relayout

MuseScore spaces notes according to their time values, allowing for accidentals, lyrics etc. In systems where there is more than one staff, this may result in irregular note spacing, as in the following example:

Local relayout is a tickbox option in the Inspector allowing you to specify those passages in the score where you want the note spacing to be independent of other staves in the system. Applying "Local relayout" to the note beams in the top staff of the previous example results in a more even distribution of notes:

To do a local relayout:

1. Select one or more note beams.
2. Tick the option Local relayout in the "Beam" section of the Inspector.

Flip note beam

To flip a beam from above to below the notes, or vice-versa:

1. Select one or more note beams.
2. Use any of the following options:
   • Press the X key;
   • Press the "Flip direction" icon, , in the toolbar.
   • Select a "Direction" option (Auto, Up or Down) in the "Beam" section of the Inspector.

Reset Beam Mode

To restore beams to the mode defined in the local time signatures:

1. Select the section of the score you want to reset. If nothing is selected, the operation will apply to the whole score;
2. Select Format→Reset Beams.

See also

• Cross-staff notation
• Edit mode
• Note input
• Change default beaming

External links

• How beams work (MuseScore Tutorial)
• How to add a beam over a rest (MuseScore HowTo)
• How to place a beam between notes (MuseScore HowTo)
• Traditional Vocal Beaming (MuseScore Plugin)

Brackets

MuseScore provides brackets and a curly brace in the Brackets palette (Advanced workspace).

When a new score is created using a template, MuseScore automatically sets the correct brackets.

Add

To add a bracket or brace to systems, use one of two methods:

• Select a measure on the staff where you want the bracket/brace to start, and click the desired icon in a palette (double-click in versions prior to 3.4).
• Drag a bracket/brace icon from a palette on to the staff where you want the bracket/brace to start.

Delete

• Select the bracket and press Del.

Change

• Drag the desired icon from a palette onto an existing bracket/brace in the score.

Edit

When you first apply a bracket it only spans one staff. To extend to other staves:

1. Enter Edit mode.
2. Drag the handle downwards to span the required staves. The handle snaps into position, so exact placement is not required.

Style

The default thickness and distance from the system of brackets and braces can be adjusted in Format→ Style... → System.

In the System Brackets section, you can set the properties for the brackets in the two boxes on the left, and the properties for the braces in the two boxes on the right.

Notation types

There are two fundamentally distinct types of notational functionality in Musescore, designed and implemented from the beginning for different purposes:

• 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 uses different classes of elements internally, their usage are not interchangeable: They have distinct property fields that serves different purpose besides engraving or visual display. For example, if you add a Staff Text and type a #, it can never be configured to change a note's pitch, you must create a new accidental. See also Text types.

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. Use a non-functional symbol or text when:

• you do not want it interpreted by Musescore,
• you 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.

See also

Text types

External links

Discussion on symbol usage

Breaths and pauses

Breath and pause markings are available in the Breaths & Pauses palette (Advanced workspace).

Add symbol

To add a breath, or pause (aka caesura / "tram lines" / "railroad tracks") to the score, use one of the following options:

• Select a note or rest and click a breath or pause symbol in a palette (double-click in versions prior to 3.4).
• Drag a breath or pause symbol from a palette onto a note or rest in the score.

The symbol is placed after the note. Its position can be adjusted by editing the X and Y offsets in the Inspector, or, in edit mode, using the arrow keys.

Adjust pause length

You can adjust the pause length (in seconds) of the added symbol in the Inspector.

Grace notes

A grace note is a type of musical ornament, usually printed smaller than regular notes. The Short grace note, or Acciaccatura, appears as a small note with a stroke through the stem. The Long grace note, or Appoggiatura, has no stroke.

Create grace notes

Grace notes can be found in the "Grace notes" palette in the Basic or Advanced workspace.

Add a grace note

Use one of the following methods:

• Select a regular note and click a grace note in a palette (double-click in versions prior to 3.4).
• Drag a grace note symbol from a palette onto a regular note.
• Select a note and press / to create an acciaccatura only.

This will add a grace note of the same pitch as the regular note. To add a sequence of grace notes to a regular note, simply repeat the above actions as many times as required. See also, Change pitch (below).

Note: When a grace note is added to the score, a slur is not automatically created with it, so the latter needs to be added separately. See Slurs.

Add a chord of grace notes

Grace note chords are built up just like regular chords:

1. Enter the first note of the chord as shown above
2. Select this first grace note and enter subsequent notes as you would for any other regular chord (i.e. Shift+A...G).

You can also create a grace note chord by using the add interval shortcut in step 2: Alt+1...9 for intervals from a unison to a ninth above.

Change pitch

The pitch of a grace note can be adjusted just like a regular one:

1. Select one or more grace notes
2. Adjust pitch using the keyboard arrow commands, namely:
   • ↑ or ↓ to increase or decrease the pitch by a semitone;
   • Alt+Shift+↑ or Alt+Shift+↓ to increase or decrease the pitch one step at a time, according to the key signature.

Change duration

• Select the grace note and either click a duration icon on the toolbar, or apply the duration with the appropriate keyboard shortcut: i.e. 1...9 (see Note input).

Manual adjustment

Horizontal position

To adjust the horizontal space between a grace note and its regular parent note, use one of the following:

• Go into edit mode on the grace note, then use the left/right arrow keys to reposition as desired.
• Select the grace note and change the X-offset value in the Chord section of the Inspector.

Other adjustments

Various other properties of the grace note can be adjusted in the Inspector (see "Element," "Chord", and "Note" sections)—such as vertical position, size, stem properties etc. The exception is "Leading space" which only applies to standard notes.

External links

• Grace note at Wikipedia
• Appoggiatura at Wikipedia
• Acciaccatura at Wikipedia

Hairpins

Hairpins are symbols used to indicate gradual changes in volume in the score. There are two kinds: crescendo (getting louder) and decrescendo (getting quieter).

Add a hairpin

1. Select a range of notes or measures;
2. Use one of the following shortcuts:
   • <: to create a crescendo hairpin.
   • >: to create a diminuendo hairpin (decrescendo).

Alternatively, use one of the following options:

• Select a range of notes or measures, and click a hairpin in a palette (double-click in versions prior to 3.4).
• Drag and drop a hairpin from a palette onto a staff line.

NOTE: Placing hairpins on different voices of the same staff at the same time does not create desired playback, it is a limitation of Musescore, because the minimal area of effect on playback loudness (Dynamic Range property) is staff, not voice. If playback is priority, try splitting voices into individual instruments.

Adjust length and height

A hairpins is a type of Line with playback properties, and its length is adjusted similarly:

1. Enter edit mode on the hairpin. Then click on the end handle that you want to move:

   

2. Use one of the following shortcuts:

   • Shift+→ to move the end handle, and its anchor, right by one note or rest.
   • Shift+← to move the end handle, and its anchor, left by one note or rest;
   • and then Tab once to select the start handle, then Shift+→ and Shift+← to adjust it.

   This method of extending or shortening the hairpin maintains playback integrity and allows it to cross line breaks:

   

3. To fine-tune the horizontal position of an end-handle (without changing playback), use the following shortcuts:

   • → to move the handle right by 0.1 sp.
   • ← to move the handle left 0.1 sp.
   • Ctrl+→ (Mac: Cmd+→) to move the handle right one sp.
   • Ctrl+← (Mac: Cmd+→) to move the handle left one sp.

To change the height of a hairpin:

• Adjust Height property, or
• Adjust the lower handle at the mouth of the hairpin (e.g. the blue square below):

Cresc. and dim. lines

In addition to hairpins, there are cresc.   _     _     _ and dim.   _     _     _ lines with the same function in the Lines palette. Edit the text in the Text Line Details property.

To turn a hairpin into its equivalent text line:

Pick an option in the Type property.

Copy hairpins

From version 3.1, a hairpin can be cut, copied and pasted just like a text element: see Summary of cut / copy / paste commands.
For versions prior to 3.1, you can only duplicate a hairpin: see Copying lines.

Edit hairpin properties

Properties of the hairpin can be edited in the Inspector:

• Under Element Section: Edit the Y offset to change the height of the hairpin above or below the staff.
• Under Line Section: Edit line properties such as color, line style and thickness.
• Under Text Line Details Section: Add text and set text properties.
• Under Hairpin Section:
  • Type: 4 options of hairpins (Arrow symbol, or expression text with a dashed line).
  • Circled tip: Additional circle symbol at the narrower end.
  • Height: The width at the wider end.
  • Continue height: The width of the hairpin at the end of a system on a page, before it continues to the next system.
  • Placement: Position on page, above or below staff. Press X to flip.
  • Dynamic range: Area of effect of the symbol:
    • System: Every instrument in the score.
    • Part: One instrument (all of its staffs), default.
    • Staff: One staff (eg one hand in piano) regardless of voices. As of MuseScore 3.6.2, this option is incompatible with the Staff / Part properties: single note dynamics playback mechanism, see forum discussion.
  • Velocity change:
    • 0 to 127. Magnitude of change in playback loudness across the span of the hairpin.
    • Choose an appropiate Type for desired direction of change.
    • The end MIDI velocity calculated by adding this value to (or subtracting this value from) the starting note's MIDI velocity (see Dynamics (symbol): loudness of a note), without any other mathematical conversion (it is not a percentage change).
    • For examples, a crescendo of Velocity change = 15 placed on a phrase with a starting note of MIDI velocity = 49 affects playback loudness of the phrase by assigning MIDI velocity from 49 up to 64 to the phrase across its timespan.
  • Use single note dynamics: (Version 3.1 and above) Enable playback loudness variation across the timespan of each of the note itself. Affects instrument supporting Single Note Dynamics only.
  • Dynamic Mode: (Version 3.1 and above) Rate of transition: Linear (default), Ease-in and out, Ease-in, Ease-out, or Exponential.

Playback of hairpins

MuseScore development focuses on engraving support, rather than playback support. Using hairpins without dynamics symbols are perfectly acceptable in real life scoring, but do not create desired playback inside Musescore.

To create playback loudness variation across a hairpin, either:

• create a note loudness difference (see "To create desired loudness" below) between the two ends of the hairpin, and make sure the difference does not contradict with the meaning of the hairpin, or
• use a non-zero "Velocity change" value, see above.

To create desired loudness:

• One popular way is to place Dynamics symbols and, optionally, make them invisible in the Inspector. eg p crescendos f .
• Note loudness is mainly determined by MIDI velocity, which is most commonly assigned by Dynamics symbols placed onto a score, a dynamics symbol affects playback from the parent note onward until the next dynamics symbol. Final barlines or rests do not reset the loudness to default. Notes which do not have loudness affected by any dynamics symbol can be considered to be in mf (mezzoforte), and has MIDI velocity 80.

To create desired timing, create anchor points for hairpin to adjust its length upon:

• Split a note and add a tie, or
• Add short rests to an unused voice and make them invisible in the Inspector, or
• Use the Anchors for Dynamics and Hairpins plugin to automate this process.

Complex notations are handled this way:

• Only the first hairpin affects playback loudness in case of redundant hairpins, such as two crescendos between p and f.
• Only the last placed hairpin affects playback loudness in case of redundant hairpins affecting the same note (overlapped Dynamic range settings).

Incorrect hairpins do not affect playback: eg f crescendo p.

For all instruments, each individual note under a hairpin can have its playback loudness affected by presence of hairpins at the moment of note start.

MuseScore 3.1 and above
For instruments supporting Single Note Dynamics (e.g. strings, brass etc.), loudness variation can also occur across the span of the note, and across a series of tied notes . This can be switched off individually with the Use single note dynamics checkbox property.

See also

• Dynamics symbols
• How to setup Musescore 3.x for correct playback for all dynamics and hairpins

Lines

Overview

This chapter focuses on Musescore Lines, a type of objects capable of attaching (anchoring) to a horizontal continuous range of more than two notes or rests, or vertical collection of notes (chord). A Musescore Line object contains a length of string or arc, and optionally a text. These objects can functionally affect the score, and share similar configurable properties.

Musescore Line objects include these subtypes, follow the hyperlink on text to read their dedicated main chapters, or "jump to section" on this chapter:

• Line (a simple general purpose, straight line) (jump to section)
• Slurs
• Staff text lines and System text lines (jump to section)
• Hairpins and crescendo, decrescendo lines
• Volta brackets (repeat section brackets on top)
• Octave lines (ottava, 8ve etc)
• Pedal markings (jump to section)
• (Long) Trill lines and upprall, downprall, prallprall are interchangeable by adjusting properties. They affect playback. Accidentals (not affecting playback) can be added.
• Arpeggios
• Glissandi (slides) and portamento between two notes
• Guitar Barre line (jump to section)
• "let ring" line, affects playback
• vibrato line, affects playback
• vibrato sawtooth, tremolo sawtooth, affects playback
• P.M. --- (guitar palm mute), does not affect playback
• Early music features: Ambitus

These markings contain length of string or arc, but do not belong to Musescore Line objects because they cannot attach (anchor) to a continuous range:

• Bends (brass or guitar articulation)
• Ties
• Tremolo
• Single note Articulations and ornaments such as turns, (short) trills and mordent
• (Staff) Brackets
• Barlines

Standard lines

Standard line or plain line is a simple general purpose, straight line. It can be adjusted to be diagonal or vertical.

Text lines

A text line has text embedded. Examples of this subtype are Staff text lines, ornament lines, pedal, Volta, Octave lines etc.

When you apply a text line to the score from a palette, the line properties always remain unchanged, but the text properties may, under certain circumstances, assume those of the current style for text lines. For details, see Behavior of applied text and lines.

Staff text lines and System text lines

General purpose text-lines. Staff text lines, when attached to a single staff will appear in Parts that feature that staff or tablature. System text lines, appearing in all Parts.

Adding accidentals to an ornament line

To add an accidental to an ornament line (e.g. a trill line) and pralls, select the line and click on a symbol in the Accidentals palette (double-click in versions prior to 3.4), toolbar buttons will not work. Does not affect playback.

Guitar barre line

To add a guitar barre line, use either:

• a Staff text line or System text line, or
• a barre object existed in previous Musescore versions but was since removed, they are the same.

Piano Pedal

This section focuses on the types of piano pedal engraving available, for knowledge of various piano pedals see wikipedia article.

Types of pedal markings

In terms of visual representation

Supported engravings including:

• Line at either or both ends, have no hook or hooks at angles of either 45 or 90 degrees, or "T" end;
• Ped. followed by such a line, or a rosette symbol (*) : The line from the built-in Ped. * palette item is invisible and non-printing. Adjust on-screen display with View menu > Show > Show invisible setting accordingly, see Viewing and navigation: visibility options. To convert the line to visible in printing, or style it as dashed, change properties.;
  
• Sost. (sostenuto pedal) marking and other related symbols and pictogram can be found under Symbols category in Master palette window.
  
• Create custom sim. or pedal ad lib marking with Staff text.
• Full pedal is implied for playback, embed images to add pedal strength symbols for engraving need.

In terms of function inside Musescore

There are three different subtypes:

Type 1 includes:

• Line with 45 degree angled End hook or no End hook, with or without Ped. beginning text.
• Ped. followed by a rosette symbol (*)

Visually, the line or symbol only extends horizontally to the notehead attached to the end anchor.
Functionally, if that note is attached to another marking's start anchor, the following marking will automatically connect and make a shape resembling "-^-", which is indicative of the piano technique "pedal released and pressed again without releasing this note".

shown above is the auto connect, their playback are also in line with the piano technique
Sustain (MIDI CC 64) is created by the synthesizer. When consecutive type 1 markings create a "-^-", playback matches the piano technique, the first marking is interpreted by synthesizer as released at the note attached to the end anchor. Single or trailing type 1 markings creates playback like type 2: sustain until the note attached to the end anchor ends.

The last two type 1 markings shown above are single or trailing, they create the same playback as type 2

Type 2 includes:

• Line other than described in Type 1, with or without Ped. beginning text.

Visually, the line extends horizontally to an aprpopiate length spanning the full duration of note attached to the end anchor.
Functionally, sustain (MIDI CC 64) is created by the synthesizer. Type 2 always sustain until the note attached to the end anchor ends.

Type 1 and 2 are interchangable by adjusting properties.

Type 3 includes marking added from Symbols category in Master palette window such as sostenuto pedal marking, custom Staff Text markings, and embedded images, they are for engraving purpose only and are non-functional.

Adding pedal markings to your score

shown above a type 2 marking on score

Add pedal markings from Lines palette, see "Applying lines to the score" (jump to). If you add marking to a single note, end anchor is attached to end of its measure.

Adjust with Shift+←/→, switch handle with Tab, see "Line anchors and playback properties" (jump to).

Unfortunately, you might need to make compromise with engraving style or not notate at all if you must create a desired playback, because of the functional limitation of Type 1 and Type 2 explained. Musescore 3 pedal marking always create sustain playback only (cannot be turned off), making it impossible to use "add redundant symbol, make it invisible" trick.

To create shape resembling "-^-" with consecutive Type 1 markings, make sure the end anchor is attached correctly, which is usually to the first note of the next measure instead of the last note of the previous measure. This big picture shows the correct end anchor result.

MuseScore does not offer keyboard shortcut bindings to palette items, but you can configure a shortcut to apply the same (last used) times consecutively to improve efficiency, see Palettes: Apply the last selected item

Pedal properties

Per symbol settings see "Inspector properties of Lines" (jump to). Global settings see Layout and formatting: Pedal, and Layout and formatting: Text-line .

Applying lines to the score

The commonest way to add a new Musescore Line is to use either:

• a predefined keyboard shortcut, for example S to add slurs (see the respective chapter above),
• the Lines palette (see screenshot below), or
• assign and use the keyboard shortcut "Apply current palette element" (jump to section).

A Line, except Slurs, Volta brackets and Ambitus, can be applied from a palette in the following ways:

To apply a line to just one note

1. Click on a note, then Ctrl+Click on the next note;
2. In a palette, click on a line (double-click in versions prior to 3.4).

To apply a line across a range of notes

1. Select a range of notes;
2. In a palette, click on a line (double-click in versions prior to 3.4).

To apply a line from a note to the end of that measure

Use any of the following methods:

• Click on a note, then, in a palette, click on a line (double-click the latter in versions prior to 3.4).
• Drag and drop a line onto the score.

To apply a line across a range of measures

1. Select one or more measures;
2. In a palette, click on a line (double-click in versions prior to 3.4).

To repeatedly apply the same line

To efficiently apply the same item again, such as adding end to end pedal marks to a piano phrase, setup and use a keyboard shortcut, see Palettes.

Inspector properties of Lines

Any line in the score can be customized by adjusting its properties in the Inspector, as follows:

1. Select the line;
2. If line hooks are needed, make a selection from Begin hook, End hook and Height (in the Text Line Core section);
3. To add text, tick Begin Text, Continue Text or End Text, then type in the "Text" box:
   • Begin: Text added here appears at the beginning of the line;
   • Continue: Text added here appears at the beginning of the next system if any;
   • End: Text added here appears at the end of the line;
4. Edit text properties and alignment as required;
5. Edit Placement: "Above" or "Below" sets the text so that it is on the line. "Left" places the text to the left of the line;
6. Toggle line printing and exporting visibility with "Line visible" checkbox in the Line section.
7. Make adjustments to the line color, thickness and style (solid, dashed etc.) in the Line section. The Diagonal option allows you to create a diagonal line by dragging the end handles;
8. To save the result for future use, see Custom palettes.

Adjust vertical position

In Normal mode, apply one of the following methods:

• Click on one or more lines and change the vertical offset in the Inspector;
• Click on a line, press and hold Shift and drag it up/down with a mouse.

Note: You can also adjust the vertical position in Edit mode.

Line anchors and playback properties

Some lines, such as Hairpins, Voltas, Ottavas etc. affect playback. The start handle and end handle are connected by a pink dotted line to their respective anchors on the staff, which are visible in Edit mode only. These anchors indicate the extent of the playback effect.

Change length and anchors together

Note: The following two methods adjust the length of the line engraving and the anchors affecting playback together. This ensures that correct playback of the score is maintained (if applicable), and that the line can be extended between systems if required.

Using keyboard shortcuts

1. Enter Edit mode, the end handle is automatically selected, if not, click to select it;
2. Apply one of the following shortcuts:
   • Shift+→ to move the end handle, and its anchor, to the right by one note (or, in the case of Voltas, one measure)
   • Shift+← to move the end handle, and its anchor, to the left by one note (or, in the case of Voltas, one measure);
3. If you wish to adjust the starting anchor position, Tab once to select the start handle, then Shift+→ and Shift+← to adjust it.

By dragging (as of version 3.5)

• Click on a handle of a line and drag it with the mouse.

Fine adjustment

To make fine adjustments to the position of the line end (without changing the position of the anchor):

1. Enter Edit mode and click on an end handle;
2. Apply one of the following shortcuts:
   • → to move the handle right by 0.1 sp (1 sp = one staff space = the distance between two staff lines).
   • ← to move the handle left 0.1 sp.
   • Ctrl+→ (Mac: Cmd+→) to move the handle right one sp.
   • Ctrl+← (Mac: Cmd+→) to move the handle left one sp.

Copying lines

Once applied to the score, lines cannot be copied using the usual copy and paste procedures. However, you can duplicate lines within a score:

• Press and hold Ctrl+Shift (Mac: Cmd+Shift), click on the line and drag it to the desired location.

External links

• Piano pedal marks at Wikipedia
• Guitar Barre at Wikipedia

Measure rests

Full measure rest

A whole rest, centered within a measure (shown below), is used to indicate that an entire measure (or a voice within a measure) is silent, regardless of time signature.

To create one or more full measure rests

Use the following method if all selected measures are "standard"—i.e. with no custom durations:

1 Select a measure, or range of measures.
2. Press Del (Mac: Backspace).

If one or more of the measures contains a custom duration, use the following method instead:

1. Select a measure, or range of measures.
2. Press Ctrl+Shift+Del (Mac: Cmd+Shift+Backspace).

To create a full measure rest in a particular voice

1. In the appropriate voice, enter a rest that extends for the full measure.
2. Make sure the rest is selected, then press Ctrl+Shift+Del (Mac: Cmd+Shift+Backspace).

If the voice contains only rests you can select the first rest and invoke the conversion keystroke.

Multimeasure rest

A Multimeasure rest indicates a period of silence for an instrument: the number of measures is shown by the number above the staff.

Multimeasure rests are automatically interrupted at important points, such as double barlines, rehearsal marks, key- or time signature changes, section breaks etc. and also at measures that are set to break multimeasure rests.

To display multimeasure rests

To turn multimeasure rests on or off:

• Press M on your keyboard.

Alternatively:

1. From the menu, choose Format→Style….
2. Click on the "Score" tab, if it is not already selected;
3. Tick/untick "Create multimeasure rests". Here you can also set the minimum of empty measures to combine into a multimeasure rest (see also Layout and formatting: Score).

Note: It is recommended that you enter all notes in the score first before enabling multimeasure rests.

Break multimeasure rest

You may want to have a multimeasure rest divided into two multimeasure rests:

1. Ensure that the option to display multimeasure rests in the score is off (see above).
2. Right-click on the measure where you want the second multimeasure rest to start;
3. From the menu, choose Measure Properties and tick "Break multimeasure rest."
4. Enable multimeasure rests again

See also: Measure operations: Break multimeasure rest.

Octave lines

Octave (Ottava) lines are used to indicate that a section of music is to be played one or more octaves above or below written pitch: The line may be dotted or solid. Ottavas are available in the Lines palette of the Basic and Advanced workspaces.

8─────┐or 8va─────┐: Play one octave above written pitch
8─────┘or 8va─────┘: Play one octave below written pitch

8va alta/bassa lines are particularly common in piano scores, though they are sometimes used in other instrumental music.¹ 15ma alta (2 octaves above) and 15ma bassa (2 octaves below) are also occasionally used.

MuseScore automatically adjusts playback of the score under the ottava to the correct pitch.

Apply an octave line

See Applying lines to the score.

And to adjust the vertical position, see Lines: Adjust vertical position.

Change length

See Lines: Change length.

Custom lines

Ottavas can be customized just like any other line. See Custom lines and line properties.

Properties unique to Octave lines can be adjusted in the Ottava section of the Inspector:

• Type: Change the Ottava line text.
• Placement: Set to "Above" or "Below" the staff.
• Numbers only: Untick for both number and text (e.g. "8va"). Tick for a number only (e.g. "8").

External links

• Octave at Wikipedia

Slurs

A slur is a curved line between two or more notes indicating that they are to be played legato—smoothly and without separation. Not to be confused with Ties, which join two notes of the same pitch.

There are a number of ways to add a slur to a score, and all may be useful depending on the context (adding a slur from the lines palette is also possible but not recommended).

Add slur in note-input mode

1. While in Note input mode, type in the first note in the slurred section;
2. Press S to begin the slurred section;
3. Type in the remaining notes in the slurred section;
4. Press S again to end the slurred section.

Add slur in Normal mode

Method 1

1. Make sure you are in Normal mode;

2. Select the note where you want the slur to start:

   

3. Press S to add a slur extending to the next note:

   

4. (Optional) Hold Shift and press → (right arrow key) to extend the slur to the next note. Repeat as required:

   

5. (Optional) Press X to flip the slur direction:

   

6. Press Esc to exit edit mode:

   

Method 2

1. Make sure you are in Normal mode;
2. Select the note where you want the slur to start;
3. Choose one of the following options:
   • To add a slur to one voice only: Hold down Ctrl (Mac: Cmd) and select the last note that you want the slur to cover.
   • To add slurs to all voices: Hold down Shift (Mac: Cmd) and select the last note that you want the slurs to cover.
4. Press S.

Adjust slur

If you only want to adjust the position of a slur:

1. Select the slur;
2. Use any of the following methods:
   • Drag the slur.
   • Adjust the horizontal and vertical offset values in the Inspector.

To adjust all the properties of a slur (length, shape and position):

1. Make sure you are not in note input mode;
2. Go into Edit mode on the slur;
3. Click on a handle to select it, or use Tab to cycle through the handles;
4. To move the left and right handles from note to note, use the following shortcuts:
   • Shift+→: Move to next note.
   • Shift+←: Move to previous note.
   • Shift+↑: Move to lower voice (voice 2 to voice 1 etc.).
   • Shift+↓: Move to higher voice (voice 1 to voice 2 etc.).
5. To adjust the position of any handle, use any of the following methods:
   • Drag the handle.
   • Use the arrow keys for fine adjustment (0.1 sp. at a time). For larger adjustments (1 sp. at a time) use Ctrl+→ ← ↑ ↓.
6. Press Esc to exit edit mode.

Note: The two outer handles adjust the start and end of the slur, whilst the three handles on the curve adjust the contour. The middle handle on the straight line is used to move the whole slur up/down/left/right.

Extended slurs

A slur can span several systems and pages. The start and end of a slur is anchored to a note/chord or rest. If the notes are repositioned due to changes in the layout, stretch or style, the slur also moves and adjusts in size.

This example shows a slur spanning from the bass to the treble clef. Using the mouse, select the first note of the slur, hold down Ctrl (Mac: Cmd) and select the last note for the slur, and press S to add the slur.

X flips the direction of a selected slur.

Dotted/dashed slurs

Dotted slurs are sometimes used in songs where the presence of a slur varies between stanzas. Dotted slurs are also used to indicate an editor's suggestion (as opposed to the composer's original markings). To change an existing slur into a dotted or dashed slur, select it and then in Inspector (F8) change Line type from Continuous to Dotted or Dashed.

See also

• Tie
• Edit mode
• Note input

Ties

A tie is a curved line between two notes of the same pitch, indicating that they are to be played as one combined note (see external links below). Ties are normally created between adjacent notes in the same voice, but MuseScore also supports ties between non-adjacent notes and between notes in different voices.

In note-input mode, if you specify a tie immediately after entering a note or chord, the program automatically generates the correct destination notes to go with the ties. Or, you can simply create ties "after the fact," between existing notes.

Note: Ties, which join notes of the same pitch, should not be confused with slurs, which join notes of different pitches and indicate legato articulation.

Add ties in Note Input mode

The following command adds an identical tied chord to the selected chord.

1. Ensure that a note is selected (i.e. highlighted). This can be a single note on its own or part of a chord.
2. Select a new note duration for the following note(s), if required (but see "Note" below).
3. Press + or the tie button, .

Note: This shortcut works, as described above, only if there is no chord following the selected note. If there is, then the duration is ignored and the tied note is added instead to the following chord.

Add ties in Normal mode

Method 1

1. Select one or more noteheads in the "start" chord.

   

2. Press +, or the toolbar tie button, :

   .

Ties will be created between the selected note(s) and the next available note(s) of the same pitch.

To remove ties, as of MuseScore 3.3.3, use the same command (toggle)

Method 2

This method ties all notes in the "start" chord (where possible):

1. Select the stem of the "start" chord;
2. Press +, or click on the toolbar tie button .

Ties will be created between all the notes in the selected chord and the following notes of the same pitches.

To remove ties, as of MuseScore 3.3.3, use the same command (toggle).

Add extra tied notes to a previously tied chord

Occasionally you may need to return to an existing tied chord in order to add one or more extra tied notes. In this case a different command is used. For example:

1. Add the extra notes to the first chord. e.g.
   
2. In Note input mode, and with any of the notes in the first chord selected, press Alt++. Corresponding notes are added to the following chord and the extra notes are tied:
   

Add ties to unison notes

A workaround is required to create ties between unison notes:

1. Create the first note as usual;
2. Any additional unison notes should be added at an interval other than unison: e.g. 2nd, 3rd, 4th etc.
3. Create a tied chord (as shown above): e.g.
   
4. Move the unison note(s) into position: e.g.
   

Flip a tie

X flips the direction of a selected tie, from above the note to below the note, or vice-versa.

See also

Slur

External links

• How to create ties leading into a 2nd ending (MuseScore HowTo)
• Ties (music) at Wikipedia

Tremolo

Tremolo is the rapid repetition of one note or chord, or a rapid alternation between two notes or chords. One-note and two-note tremolo symbols can be found in the Tremolo palette in the advanced workspace, trem. text marking see Articulation Text (Mid-staff sound change)

A one-note or one-chord tremolo is indicated by strokes through the stem of the note or chord (or above/below if a whole note). E.g.

In a two-note or two-chord tremolo, bars are drawn between the notes. E.g.

Tremolo symbols are also used to notate drum rolls.

Add a Tremolo

Single note/chord tremolo

1. If a single note, select that note; if a chord, select any note in the chord;
2. Click the desired symbol in the Tremolo palette (double-click in versions prior to 3.4).

Alternatively, you can drag the tremolo symbol onto the applicable note.

Two note/chord tremolo

1. Input the notes at half the desired final duration;
2. If a single note, select the first note of the pair; if a chord, select any note from the first chord;
3. Click the desired symbol in the Tremolo palette (double-click in versions prior to 3.4).

Alternatively, you can drag the tremolo symbol onto the applicable note.

Example: To enter a two-note tremolo with the duration of a half note (minim), enter two normal quarter notes (crotchets). After applying a tremolo symbol to the first note, the note values automatically double to half notes.

External links

• Tremolo (Wikipedia)
• How to create 'old style' and other special tremolos? (MuseScore HowTo)

Repeats and jumps

Simple repeats

You can create a simple repeat by placing a start and an end repeat barline at the beginning and end of a passage. These can be applied from the Barlines or Repeats & Jumps palette.

Note: If the start of a repeat coincides with the beginning of a piece or section, the start repeat barline can be omitted if desired. Similarly, an end repeat barline can be omitted at the end of a score or section.

1st and 2nd endings

First create a simple repeat (as shown above), then apply the first and second time endings—see Voltas.

Playback

Turn repeat playback on/off

• Toggle the "Play Repeats" button on the toolbar.

Adjust repeat section playback

Simple repeats, such as the ones illustrated above, or "1, 2" volta sections, usually play back correctly first time. More complex repeats may need further adjustment as follows:

1. Ensure that the start and end barlines are correctly positioned. For a volta section, ensure that each volta, except the last one, terminates with an end repeat barline.
2. In the case of a simple repeat, where more than one repeat is needed, right-click on the measure containing the end repeat barline and select Measure properties. Adjust Play count so that it is equal to the number of times you want the section to play back.
3. In the case of a complex volta section, such as the following:
   
   Make sure that the volta "Repeat list" is set up correctly—see Volta properties. Right-click on the measure containing the end repeat barline and select Measure properties. Adjust Play count so that it is one greater than the number of measures listed in the Volta "Repeat list." In this case, since 5 measures are listed, the "Play count" needs to be set to 6.

Repeat symbols and text

Text and symbols related to repeats are located in the "Repeats & Jumps" palette (in the Basic and Advanced workspaces). This palette contains:

• Symbols for measure repeat, Segno, Segno Variation (Serpent), Coda, and Coda Variation (Codetta)
• D.S., D.C., al Coda, al Fine, To Coda, and Fine text
• Repeat barlines

To add a repeat symbol to the score use either of the following:

• Select a measure, then click the desired repeat symbol in the palette (double-click in versions prior to 3.4).
• Drag and drop a repeat symbol from the palette onto (not above!) the desired measure (so the measure changes color).

Jumps

Jumps are symbols in the score which tell the musician to skip to a named marker (see below). Jumps include the various kinds of D.C. (Da Capo) and D.S. (Dal Segno) text.

To set correct playback of jumps:

• Make sure that the "Play Repeats" button on the toolbar is selected. This is a toggle, so you can turn off playback by clicking the same button.

• After the jump, and following established convention, only the last round of any simple repeat section is played back. If you want playback to take these repeats in full:

  1. Select the applicable jump symbol;
  2. In the "Jump" section of the Inspector, check "Play Repeats".

  Note: Jumps are taken only after all simple repeats in the section are played through.

If you click on a jump, some text boxes and a checkbox are displayed in the Jump section of the Inspector. These have the following effects on playback:

• Jump to: Playback jumps to the marker whose "Label" is the same as the "Jump to" tag.
• Play until: Playback continues until it reaches a marker whose "Label" is the same as the "Play until" tag.
• Continue at: Playback jumps to the next marker whose "Label" is the same as the "Continue" tag.

• Play repeats: Ticking this box tells MuseScore to play repeats after D.C. (Da Capo) or D.S. (Dal Segno) jumps. If this option is not ticked then simple Repeats are not taken after jumps and playback works as if it were the last repeat.

  Note: The tags start and end, referring to the beginning and end of a score or section, are implicit and don't need to be added by the user.

Markers

Markers are the places referred to by the jumps. A list of markers (in addition to the implicit "start" and "end") follows:

• : Segno (tag: segno)
• : Segno Variation (tag: varsegno)
• : Coda (tag: codab)
• : Coda Variation (tag: varcoda)
• Fine: (tag: fine)
• To Coda: (tag: coda)

If you click on a marker, the following properties appears in the Marker section of the Inspector:

• Marker type: This can be changed from the dropdown list, if required.
• Label: This is the (identifier) tag associated with the marker. See also, Jumps (above).

Examples of jumps

• Da Capo (D.C.): At the "D.C." sign, playback jumps to the start (i.e. to the implicit start tag) and plays the entire score or section again (i.e. up to the implicit end tag).
• Da Capo (D.C.) al Fine: At the "D.C. al Fine" sign, playback jumps to the start (i.e. to the implicit start tag) and plays the score up to the Fine (i.e. the fine tag).
• Dal Segno (D.S.) al Fine: At the "D.S. al Fine" sign, playback jumps to the Segno symbol (i.e. the segno tag) and then plays up to the Fine (i.e. the fine tag)
• Dal Segno (D.S.) al Coda: At the "D.S. al Coda" sign, playback jumps to the Segno symbol (i.e. the segno tag) and then plays up to the To Coda (i.e. the coda tag). Playback then continues at the Coda symbol (i.e. the codab tag).

Note: The properties (i.e. the tag names) of jumps and markers can be set via the Inspector.

You need to modify them if using multiple jumps and markers.

See also

• Barlines
• Volta

External links

• MuseScore in Minutes: Repeats and Endings, part 2 (video tutorial)
• How to separate a coda from the rest of the score (MuseScore HowTo)
• How to create a 2-measure repeat sign with playback (MuseScore HowTo)
• How to use Jumps and Repeats (MuseScore HowTo with examples)

Tuplets

Tuplets are used to write rhythms beyond the beat divisions usually permitted by the time signature. For example, a triplet consists of three notes in the time of two:

And a duplet consists of two notes in the time of three:

Create a tuplet

The exact method of tuplet entry depends on whether you are starting off in Note input mode or Normal mode. We'll start off with a simple example: the creation of an eighth note triplet.

Create a triplet in normal mode

1. Select a note or rest that specifies the full duration of the desired triplet group. In the case of an eighth note triplet, you will need to select a quarter note or rest—as in the example below:

   

2. Press the keyboard shortcut for a triplet, Ctrl+3 (Mac: Cmd+3); alternatively use the menu, Add→Tuplets→Triplet. This will give the following result:

   

3. The program automatically changes to note-input mode and selects the most appropriate duration—in this example an eighth note. Now enter the desired series of notes/rests. For example:

   

Alternatively, use the Duration Editor to switch between tuplet and non-tuplet.

Create a triplet in note input mode

1. Ensure you are in note input mode (press N).
2. Navigate to the note/rest (or blank measure) where you want the triplet to start (use the left/right arrow keys as required).
3. Select a final duration for the whole triplet group. In the case of an eighth note triplet, click on the quarter note in the note input toolbar (or press 5 on the keyboard).
4. Press the keyboard shortcut for a tuplet, Ctrl+3 (Mac: Cmd+3); alternatively, use the menu, Add→Tuplets→Triplet. This creates a triplet number/bracket and appropriately divides the original note/rest (see image above).
5. The program automatically selects the most appropriate duration—in this example an eighth note—allowing you to immediately start entering the desired series of notes/rests.

Create other tuplets

To create other tuplets substitute one of the following commands at the relevant step above:

• Press Ctrl+2–9 (Mac: Cmd+2–9). 2 for a duplet, 3 for a triplet etc.
• From the menu, select Add→Tuplets, then click on the desired option.

For more complex cases, see below.

Custom tuplets

To create other tuplets than the default options (e.g. 13 sixteenth notes in the space of one quarter note):

1. In Note input mode, select a note duration equaling the total duration of the tuplet; or, if in Normal mode, select a note or rest of the desired overall duration;
2. Open the Create Tuplet dialog from the menu: Add→Tuplets→Other...;

3. Select the desired number ratio (e.g. 13/4 for thirteen sixteenth notes in the space of a quarter note) under "Relation" in the "Type" section. Specify "Number" and "Bracket" using the radio buttons in the "Format" section;

   

4. Click OK to close the dialog:

   

5. Enter the desired series of notes/rests.

Triplet examples

Delete a tuplet

Use either of the following:

• Select the number or bracket and press Del.
• Select any element of the tuplet, then in the Note section of the Inspector press the "Tuplet" button (bottom right), and press Del.
• Select the entire tuplet, using the shift + click method, then press Del.
• Use the Duration Editor to switch between tuplet and non-tuplet.

Change display of tuplets

Using the Inspector

To change the display properties of tuplets in the score, select the tuplet numbers/brackets, and adjust the desired properties in the "Tuplet" section of the Inspector:

• Direction: 'Auto' places the bracket/number in the default position. 'Up' always places the bracket above the note heads; 'Down' always places the bracket below the note heads.
• Number type: Choice of 'Number', 'Ratio', or 'Nothing'.
• Bracket type: 'Automatic' hides the bracket for beamed notes and shows the bracket if the tuplet includes unbeamed notes or rests. 'Bracket' displays the bracket. 'None' hides the bracket.

Using the Tuplets Style dialog

To make fine adjustments to the way that all tuplets in the score are displayed: from the menu, select Format → Style...→Tuplets.

The legend below illustrates some of the properties that can be adjusted in the Tuplets style dialog: