Customised keyboard shortcuts

[Tim Mariott]

Is there any way of creating my own keyboard shortcuts?

My specific requirement is working with imported MIDI hymn scores with two staves - SA and TB. Some of my singers get a bit annoyed when for example Alto notes on the upper (SA) stave have tails "up" instead of "down".

I have tried the process of selecting Non-melody Accompaniment Notes and setting these to Lower Voice but this seldom works.

So I am left with selecting each Alto note in turn and setting it to Lower Voice - and the combination of "l" and "v" is fatiguing to say the least: it is a reach to do with one hand. If I could place this command on a single key (e.g. a function key) it would be much easier and quicker.

I then have to repeat this operation with the TB stave, this time manually setting Tenor notes to Upper Voice.

Or do you have some cunning trick I can copy?

Thanks
Tim

[Sherry C]

Hi Tim,


I'll do my best inline here.....

Originally Posted by Tim Mariott

Is there any way of creating my own keyboard shortcuts?

The short answer is no - sorry about that. To try to implement that with the already existing hundreds of shortcuts would be a nightmare.

My specific requirement is working with imported MIDI hymn scores with two staves - SA and TB. Some of my singers get a bit annoyed when for example Alto notes on the upper (SA) stave have tails "up" instead of "down".

Yes, the default if there are upper and lower voice notes of the same location and pitch is that the note will be "single voice" with just one tail (upper or lower depending on location on the staff) - this notation is intended to help keep the score cleaner.



Is this "single voice" note convention at issue, or is it just for notes of different pitches? Perhaps a screen shot and/or file with some specific instances would help me better understand.

I have tried the process of selecting Non-melody Accompaniment Notes and setting these to Lower Voice but this seldom works.

I suspect that this may be due to the "single voice" default convention above. Many notes that are of the same pitch will be left out of such a conversion.

So I am left with selecting each Alto note in turn and setting it to Lower Voice - and the combination of "l" and "v" is fatiguing to say the least: it is a reach to do with one hand. If I could place this command on a single key (e.g. a function key) it would be much easier and quicker.

You can click-drag with the mouse to select multiple notes at a time to do the voice change. It's not a magic trick, but would save some time rather than doing them individually. In testing here, I can get an entire system done in one go.

I then have to repeat this operation with the TB stave, this time manually setting Tenor notes to Upper Voice.

The unfortunate "lather, rinse, repeat" scenario....

Or do you have some cunning trick I can copy?

Not off the top of my head, but perhaps if you send me a file, either as an attachment here, or via email to support@notation.com I can have a look at it and see what we can do.

Way back when I sang in choirs and chorales I didn't actually read the notation, but having the soprano and alto parts together did help me "tune my ear" for the intervals that they showed, so I'm guessing that having the SATB parts on their own separate staves is probably not an option that you'd want to pursue either.



ttfn,
Sherry