Create your first score

Overview

This chapter is a quickstart tutorial suitable for absolute beginners who have zero knowledge of this notation software. It demonstrates the most basic workflow. There are also a number of similar learning resources available online, see Getting help.

In this chapter we'll

1. create a quick new score which has
   • a common predefined instruments setup (template) of your choice,
   • no sharps or flats in the key signature,
   • 4/4 time signature, and
   • 32 measures,
2. add notes and rests and other notational objects,
3. listen to the result,
4. adjust notational objects' properties and the number of measures,
5. save the score file in a native file format, so that it is fully editable later in Musescore, and
6. export score data as non-native formats such as PDF, MusicXML, MIDI, which are useful for various purpose, but not the recommended way to store a score if you wish to edit it again in Musescore later on.

Create a quick new score

When you open Musescore, no score file is created or opened by default (unless you have changed settings in Preferences:General:Program start). You need to create an empty score and the first thing to consider is adding blank staffs using instruments setup. The quickest way is to apply a predefined template:

1. Do either one of the followings:
   • in the Home: Scores tab, select New score, or click New (bottom right).
   • From the menu, select File→New.
   • Use the keyboard shortcut, Ctrl+N (Mac: Cmd+N).
2. In the New score dialog that appears, click Choose from template, browse templates by Category, or use the search bar to look up a template directly,
3. Click Done to create your new score.

Learn more about instruments and how to add them and their staffs individually in Setting up your score:Instruments.
Learn more about template in Setting up your score:Create from template, and Templates and styles.

Entering score information

For the sake of simplicity, we're skipping these setups and using the default values listed eariler, but you should know that you can either add info such as key signature, time signature, tempo, pickup measure (anacrusis or upbeat measure):

• conveniently in a Additional score information screen while creating a new score (in New score dialog, click Next instead of Done), see the main chapter Setting up your score:Additional score information, or
• by various other methods anytime later on, such as those covered in chapters Keyboard shortcuts, Using the palettes, project properties etc.

Entering notes and rests

Note entry with a computer keyboard is designed so that it feels natural and similar to typing in a word processor such as Microsoft Word. The simplest way to enter notes in MuseScore is to:

1. Hit N on your keyboard to enter note input mode
2. Start typing note names (A, B, C, D, E, F, G), type zero (0) for rest.

You’re now engraving in MuseScore! You’ll notice the blue note input highlight, which indicates that you are in note input mode. It shows you where in the measure your next note will be entered.

You can specify the duration of each note you enter in the Note input toolbar. To change note duration:

1. Ensure you are in note input mode (See above)
2. Click on the desired note duration, or
3. Use shortcut keys 1 through 7 to select different note values

Learn more about this topic in Entering notes and rests.

Adding items from the palettes

The Palettes panel contains almost every notational object you might need to add detail to your score. The simplest way to add palette items to your notation is to:

1. Select an existing object (or range of objects) in your score (e.g. a notehead, clef, measure, etc.)
2. In the Palettes panel, open a palette by clicking the triangular arrow button
3. Click once on a palette object

Learn more about this topic in Palettes

Listen to the result

Musescore's notation object interpreter and audio synthesizer provides audio playback. Simply press Space, or use the Play toolbar, see Playback controls.

Dynamics symbols affect instrument playback depending on the sound data used (SoundFonts, Muse Sounds, or VSTi, see MuseScore 3 features not (yet) implemented in MuseScore 4:Velocity controls). If an instrument use SoundFonts such as MS Basic, and you do not specify any dynamics symbol, its loudness is equavilent to MIDI velocity 80, or as if a mf (mezzoforte) is added, see Dynamics:Loudness of a note.

Playback of passages not affected by any Tempo markings will use the pace of crotchet (quarter note) = 120 beats per minute (bpm).

Making adjustments in Properties

The Properties panel can be revealed by clicking on the Properties tab on the left side of the screen:

The Properties panel has a similar / the same function as the Inspector in other Musescore versions.

The properties panel will show settings that are specific to the object being selected. These settings usually affect the visual appearance of the selected object. Most of the time, changes you make in Properties will apply only to the object you have selected (e.g. you’ll change the selected hairpin, and not every hairpin in your score).

As you add details to your score, click on any object to see what settings are available.

Learn more about this topic in Properties.

Inserting and deleting measures

To insert a single measure:

1. Click on a measure to select it
2. In the Measure section of Properties, click Insert measures
3. Click the + button

This Measure section contains controls that allow you to insert multiple measures at once. Simply set the number of measures you wish to insert in the text field. You can also use the dropdown menu to change the point where new measures will be inserted.

To delete a measure or group of measures:

1. Select the measure(s) you wish to delete
2. In the Measures section, click the trash can icon

Learn more about this topic in the main chapter Measures.

Saving your score

Save the score file in a native file format, so that it is fully editable later in Musescore. Scores can be saved locally or to a cloud storage provided free of charge to every registered user.

To save your score:

1. Go to File
2. Click Save
3. A dialog opens asking you “How would you like to save”, then offering you the options of “Save to the cloud” or “Save to computer”.

Learn more about this topic in the main chapter Opening and saving scores.

Save to computer

The Save to computer option triggers your operating system’s “Save” dialog, allowing you to save the score as a (compressed) MuseScore file, .mscz.

Save to the cloud

Scores saved online (to the cloud) appear in the program’s Home: Scores tab with a cloud symbol at the corner of the file icon. A copy is also automatically saved on your computer in the Cloud scores folder in your user “MuseScore 4” folder.

Alternatively Publish to musescore.com and Share on Audio.com.

Exporting your score

Export to useful non-native formats, such as PDF, MusicXML, MIDI. It is not the recommended way to store a score if you wish to edit it again in Musescore later on.

To export your score:

1. Select the Publish tab
2. Click Export
3. Select the parts you wish to export
4. Choose the file format for your exported file(s)
5. If exporting multiple parts, choose whether you want each part combined into one file or exported as a separate file
6. Click Export

Learn more about this topic in the main chapter File export.