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Introduction of notes and rests (5)

Subjects covered:

• Adding triplets and tuplets
• The enharmonic tool

Watch also the following video:

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

Adding triplets and tuplets [Light] [Beginner] [Professional]

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

Let us see how to create these measures.

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

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

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

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

• Place the cursor as follows:

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

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

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

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

• Place the cursor as follows:

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

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

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

Here is how to erase a tuplet:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The enharmonic tool [Light] [Beginner] [Professional]

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

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

Create a new document and fill in the following measure:

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

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

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

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

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

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