Light
Beginner
Professional
Notation
Composition Light
Composition Pro
Drums and Percussion
Guitar
Choir
Keyboard
Soloist
| Instruction manual - Pizzicato 3.6.2 | EN500 - Revision of 2013/05/29 |
Light |
Beginner |
Professional |
Notation |
Composition Light |
Composition Pro |
Drums and Percussion |
Guitar |
Choir |
Keyboard |
Soloist |
The text tool
Subjects covered:
Watch also the following video:
Creation of a text block [Light] [Beginner] [Professional] [Notation] [Composition Light] [Composition Pro] [Drums and Percussion] [Guitar] [Choir] [Keyboard] [Soloist]
It is often useful to add an indication in a measure, to specify the way to play or an action which must be done by the performer. When you do the page layout, you may add a title in the score and page numbers. All this can be done with the text tool.
- Open the Ex058 document. Open the Main Palette and select the
tool. It is the text tool. Place the mouse cursor below the first measure:
- Click. The following dialog box appears:
This dialog box is used to introduce all characteristics of a new text block. Write the words Text example in the large blank area. It is the text that will appear on the score.
- Click on the Select colour... button. A dialog box gives you a choice of various colours. Click in the red box and then click OK.
- Click now in the Select font... button. The font dialog box appears:
The left list contains the various fonts among those available on your computer. It will not necessarily be the same list as above.
- Select the Times New Roman font.
- Change the size, i.e. the height of the characters by replacing number "9" by "12" in the text area.
- In the list of the styles, select Bold Italic. Click OK and you go back to the previous dialog box. Notice that the text is not displayed yet with the selected font. On the other hand, in the lower part of the dialog box (right side on the Mac), a text sample shows the colour and graphic aspect.
The little menu located next to the word Justify lets you select between 4 modes : justify the text on the right, on the left, in the center or left and right. This is used when you introduce several lines of text. Pizzicato will align them as required.
The top left multiple choice specifies how the text block is managed. Leave it now on On measure 1 of staff 2. We will come back to this option further. Click OK. The first two measures become:
The text block was added with its top left corner where you clicked, with the requested font, colour and characteristics.
With the "+" and "-" buttons, you can zoom in and out in to edit the text more easily.
In the font selection box, you can also select the script, which means the set of characters used, for instance in Hebrew, Greek or Arabic.
Moving, modifying and erasing a text block [Light] [Beginner] [Professional] [Notation] [Composition Light] [Composition Pro] [Drums and Percussion] [Guitar] [Choir] [Keyboard] [Soloist]
- Activate the reference marks tool by typing the sign (:) on the keyboard. The measures become:
A rectangle shows the text block shape, exactly as it was the case for the symbols. Notice that you are not forced to activate these reference marks to modify, erase or move blocks of text or symbols. These reference marks are there only to help you locate the text block area or the symbol.
To move, modify or erase a text block, the text tool or the arrow tool must be activated. Move now this text area to the left, as you would have done for a symbol. The block follows your movement.
To modify the text contained in this block, double-click inside its borders. The text block dialog box comes back and allows you to modify it. Click OK.
- Place the cursor slightly below the second staff second measure and type lower case letter "t". It is the shortcut to create a new text block. The text block dialog box appears. Fill in the following text, by respecting the way lines are arranged (return key):
This is a nice little text
intended to show what is
justification of a text block
in the Pizzicato program
- Notice that the style and colour of characters are the same as the previous block. Select Left and right justification. Select the black colour and the Times New Roman, Normal font, size 9. Click OK. The measures become:
- You can now increase the size of the text block by dragging the small red square in its bottom right corner, as for the symbols. Resize it to obtain the following result:
As the text is justified on both sides, Pizzicato does not take into account the line breaks and organizes the text so that it is in the width of the block. You can test by yourself what the other justification modes give.
- To erase a text block, it is the same principle as for a symbol. Place the cursor arrow in the first text block area and use the erase key. The block disappears.
Adding a title / Page numbers [Light] [Beginner] [Professional] [Notation] [Composition Light] [Composition Pro] [Drums and Percussion] [Guitar] [Choir] [Keyboard] [Soloist]
The text blocks which we added were automatically associated with the nearest measure to the location where you clicked to add them. When you do a page layout or if you move measures around, these text blocks will move with measures and keep the same position compared to their reference measure. The multiple choice located in the upper part of the dialog box lets you associate a text block with a page, so as to create a title and a page number.
- Place the mouse cursor as follows:
- Type the small letter "t". The upper part of the dialog box shows:
Pizzicato selected by default the second choice, showing that the text block belongs to the first staff second measure. For a title, this text block must be independent of any measure. Check the first choice On page 1. This block will thus be attached to page 1 and will not move with a page layout or any measures displacement. Notice that it will not be visible in linear mode.
The third choice is used to associate the text block to a range of pages. It is useful for example to number the pages or indicate a copyright notice.
In the case of a page text block, you can specify if the text is displayed on even pages and/or odd pages.
For a block associated with a page (first and third choices), you can specify the type of the block with a multiple choice:
- Normal block: the block can be moved all over the page
- Header: the vertical position of the block is aligned on the upper internal margin
- Footer: the vertical position of the block is aligned on the lower internal margin
The Do not move option prevents from moving the text block, which is then fixed to the page.
The Center on page option fixes the horizontal position of the block at the horizontal center of the page.
Just below, it is possible to fix the space between lines for a block with several lines.
The Copy button memorizes the text block and its characteristics. After that, when creating a new text block, the Paste button lets you copy the same text and characteristics as the block previously copied.
Fill in "Score title" in the large text area. Select the Times New Roman font, size 16 and select the Bold style. Click OK. The score becomes:
We will now add a page number. Place the cursor as follows:
and type the shortcut "t" on the keyboard. Take the third choice, From page 1 to page X (last page). Select the Times New Roman font, size 10, normal, and check the Underlined option. In the main text area of the dialog box, fill in "- $1 -". The "$1" group specifies to Pizzicato that it must replace these 2 characters by the number of the current page. You could also indicate "Page $1" or any other text which contains the $1 group. Each time Pizzicato finds this group in a text block, it replaces it to display the current page number. Click OK and disable the reference marks. The score becomes:
The $ sign is used to add a parameter to the text block. There are presently 3 possible values:
- $1 is replaced by the current page number
- $2 is replaced by the total number of pages of the score
- $3=xx$ is an expression which will not be displayed but that will fix the number "xx" of the first page. For instance, if you need to number the pages starting from 11, insert the expression "$3=11$- $1 -" and Pizzicato will display "- 11 -" for the first page, "- 12 -" for the second page, etc. Please note that this expression must be inserted in the beginning of the text block, or at least before the use of the "$1" expression.
Exercise
As an exercise, place your name below the title, slightly to the right. In the top left corner, write in very small characters: Printed with Pizzicato.
Light |
Beginner |
Professional |
Notation |
Composition Light |
Composition Pro |
Drums and Percussion |
Guitar |
Choir |
Keyboard |
Soloist |
