In this tutorial we’ll show you how to get notes on the page. If you’re brand new to NotePad, we recommend you start with this tutorial to get a good introduction to navigating around NotePad. Simple Entry is easy to learn; just click the notes onto the staff with a mouse. By the end of this tutorial, you should be able to enter your notes into NotePad using the Simple Entry method.
Tip: To take a crash course in Simple Entry, you could also jump straight to the Simple Entry Exercises for hands on training: Find "NotePadEntryExercise.mus" on your hard drive.
You are probably familiar with Wizards from other applications, such as word processors and spreadsheets. This Wizard is designed to help you set up a new NotePad document. Let’s create a simple vocal score.
If you haven’t already started NotePad, do so now. If NotePad is already started, click on the File menu and choose New.
Click in the Title box and type Frere Jacques. When the Wizard creates your score, your title will be centered at the top. If you want to make the accented è for Frère Jacques,
Notice that you can select from portrait or landscape orientation, and you can choose a page size other than the standard 8.5" by 11"; your printer must, of course, be able to handle whatever size paper you select.
Click Next. The Wizard asks you what parts or instruments you want in your new score. In the first column is a list of instrument categories; the second contains a list of specific instruments in the category currently selected in column one. The third column is empty, but will eventually contain a list of instruments you will be using for your score.
In the first column, click on the word Chorus. A list of common voice parts appears in the second column.
In the second column, click on the word Soprano; click Add. Now the third column contains the voice you intend to use in this score.
You should be aware that the order in which the instruments appear in the third column is the order in which they will appear, from top to bottom, in your score. If you are creating a multi-instrument score and the Document Setup Wizard incorrectly orders your instruments, you can use the small up and down arrows to move the instruments around in the list until they are correct.
Your Wizard should now look like this:
Click Next. The Wizard asks for the time signature and key signature. Several common time signatures are offered.
In the lower half of the box, you use the scroll bar to select a key. Click the up arrow to add sharps to the key signature (or subtract flats). Click the down arrow to add flats (or subtract sharps). You can also specify whether the key is minor or major from the drop-down menu.
Click the Common Time c button.
Click the down arrow once to set the key signature to F Major. Your Wizard should now look like the picture below:
Click Finish. NotePad now presents you with a new, Untitled document, displaying your "Frère Jacques" title and containing the soprano staff in the correct key and time signature.
Take a look around the screen. Across the top, you’ll find the standard menu bar. The right side of the screen has a vertical scroll bar, which you’ll use to move the music you’re viewing up or down; and across the bottom of the screen is a horizontal scroll bar, which you’ll use to move left or right through your piece.
You’ll also see the Page counter; this number identifies the current page on the screen. To jump to any page in the score, highlight the current page number, then type a new number into the box and press enter. (This piece has only one page.)
At the bottom of the window, you’ll see the Status Bar.
Below the menu bar is the Main tool palette. You’ll also see the Simple Entry palette below the Main tool palette. Each square tile on these toolbars contains a symbol representing its function. All of these toolbars can be hidden, providing you with more space to view your music, or they can be viewed as palettes that float in front of the music. (Note: Depending on your monitor's video resolution, the toolbars may first appear as palettes on your screen.) To hide any toolbar, simply select it from the Window menu to remove the checkmark. Selecting it again will cause it to reappear. (This also applies to the Smart Shape palette, which will be discussed later.)
Click the mouse pointer across the tools on the Main tool palette. As the pointer touches or selects each tool, the Status Bar identifies it by name, and gives you the first instruction for how to use it.
If you look at your score, you may notice that NotePad automatically fills any empty measure with a whole rest (hereafter called a default whole rest). That’s just to save you time. You’ll also notice that the music is displayed as a page of sheet music.
If you’re new to computers, take a moment to click and drag (while holding down the mouse button!) across the menu titles at the top of the screen, noticing how the lists of commands drop down as you pass over each title.
Now that you’ve had a look around, let’s get to work on our masterpiece. If measure 1 of the piece isn’t visible, click the horizontal and vertical scroll bar arrows until it is.
Click the Simple Entry tool 
. The Simple Entry palette, containing the following tools, becomes active. An optional Simple Entry Rests palette is also available.
Another menu has appeared on the menu bar. This menu contains several items: "Check for Extra Notes," "Fill with Rests at End of Measure", and "Playback Notes on Entry." When Check for Extra Notes is selected (a check mark appears next to it; this command is selected by default), NotePad will consult the time signature and not allow you to inadvertently enter extra notes in a given measure. Fill With Rests at End of Measure will add enough rests to fill the measure if you leave the measure and start entering notes in another measure. If you have a soundcard or computer speakers, you’ll hear a brief note upon entering notes when Playback Notes on Entry is selected.
The tools on the Simple Entry palette are divided into different groups. There are duration tools, like quarters, eighth notes, etc. You can also choose an accidental tool, like a sharp or flat tool. Keep in mind that you’ll have to click on the tool to de-select it, if you don’t want to use it anymore. To select a tool and clear all the other tools, double-click on it.
Click the Quarter Note icon 
on the Simple Entry palette or type the number 5 on the number keypad. The Quarter Note icon is highlighted. You can use the keyboard shortcuts to switch between different tools. See the Simple Entry Keyboard Shortcuts.
Move the cursor to the first measure. As you move the cursor above and below the staff, NotePad draws temporary ledger lines to help you place new notes. The cursor also changes to show you where you are and what will happen if you click the mouse. You should have a ghostly quarter note floating above your music, waiting for your click to place it into the score. Tip: Be careful that the ledger lines attach to the correct staff.
Click the A space anywhere in the first measure. A quarter note appears and the default whole rest disappears. If Playback was selected, NotePad briefly sounds an A. We didn’t actually want to add an A, so we’ll move it down to the F space.
Notice that the note is a different color from the other notes. This indicates that the note is selected. When you click a note into the score, it is selected automatically. You can also control-click any note to select it.
Hit the down arrow key twice. The note moves down two steps to the F space. You could also click and drag the selected note down to the F space.
You probably noticed that the measure width changed when you entered the note. This is a function of NotePad's Automatic Music Spacing feature, which widens or narrows a measure to professional publishing standards depending on the notes present in that measure. NotePad may also move measures from one system to another to maintain the optimum measure layout, based on the new measure width.
Click the G line to the right of the first note. Another quarter note appears. Both notes are adjusted for proper spacing. The F note changed to black to show that it is no longer selected.
Add the A and the F in the same way. If you ever make a mistake, there’s an Eraser 
at the top of this toolbar. Click with the Eraser on a notehead to remove the note. Click above or below a chord to remove the whole chord. Click on an accidental, tuplet, tie or dot to remove it.
One nice thing about NotePad is that you never have to enter the same music twice. For example, we know that the second measure of "Frère Jacques" has exactly the same melody as the first. Instead of reentering these four notes, you can just copy the first measure into the second.
You’ll always use the Selection tool for copying, moving, and erasing music.
Click the Selection tool 
.
Click the first measure. The measure is now highlighted. You’ve just selected it, or told NotePad that this is the measure you intend to manipulate.
Drag the first measure to the right until its image is superimposed directly on the second measure. A dotted outline of the selected measure moves with the cursor, showing exactly where NotePad will copy the music. You’ve just dragged the image of measure 1 onto measure 2.
Voila! You’ve just copied the music from measure 1 into measure 2. Now finish entering the melody.
Click the Simple Entry tool again. Enter the first two notes of the third measure by clicking the staff:
The next note in this measure is a half note, so you’ll have to change rhythmic values.
Click the Half Note 
or press the number 6 on the number keypad. Click the C space in the third measure. A half note appears. Note that the cursor changed to a half note to show you that you were entering a half note instead of a quarter note. To complete the fourth measure, you can once again use the Selection tool to copy it from the third measure, just as you copied the second measure from the first. But if you’d rather, you can simply repeat the procedure you used in constructing the third measure (note by note).
Complete the fourth measure.
You could complete the melody the same way, first choosing the rhythmic duration, and then clicking the staff. However, you can enter notes faster and just as easily using your computer keyboard and the Simple Entry Caret.
Press the right arrow key. The Simple Entry Caret appears at the beginning of the first measure. This is much like a cursor in a word processing program. It shows you the beat at which the next note entered will appear.
Using the number keypad on the right side of your computer, press the 4 key. You now see an eighth note on the caret. (If you are using a notebook computer without a number keypad, a function key should be available to convert the right side of the letter keys to act as a number keypad).
On your computer keyboard, press C, D, C, and then B. NotePad enters these note into the score.
You can change the rhythmic duration just as if you were clicking notes in. In the number keypad, press the 5 key to select the quarter note, and then type A, F to add beats three and four. Remember, you can always use the left arrow key to select the previous note, and the up and down arrows to change their pitch.
While typing pitches using the caret, NotePad enters the pitch closest to the previous note entered. So, to specify that the next note will be fourth space C, you need to move the caret up an octave. Hold down the Shift key and press the up arrow. The caret moves to the top line F.
Now, press 4 in the number keypad and type C, D, C, and B. Finish the measure just like before.
Enter the last two measures using the Caret. Note that there are many keyboard shortcuts that you can use to navigate and easily enter notes. For details see Simple Entry Keypad.
Congratulations! You’ve completed your first NotePad melody.
Let’s add some blues to our melody line to illustrate how to add accidentals. You can add accidentals as you enter the notes by clicking on a duration tool and an accidental tool. While using the caret, after entering a note press - (minus) to add a flat and = to add a sharp. You can also add accidentals to notes that have already been entered. The Sharp tool 
and Flat tool 
will add a sharp or flat to the note, if needed by the key signature.
Double-click on the Flat tool . Only the Flat tool is selected.
In measure 5, on the third beat, click on the A. A flat appears next to the quarter note.
In measure 5 on the first beat, click on the C. A flat appears next to the eighth note and a natural appears on the second C in the measure. NotePad assumes you only want to affect the note you clicked, so a natural is needed to reverse the flat. Since we actually want the flat through the entire measure, click on the second beat C as well.
But what if you wanted to add a double-flat?
Control-click on the D to select it. Hold down Shift and press the - (minus) key. A double-flat appears next to the D. Let’s try a sharp now.
Click on the Sharp tool . In measure 4, third beat, click on the C. A sharp appears next to the half note. Note that when you selected the Sharp tool, the Flat tool automatically deselected. You can only have one accidental tool selected at one time.
Now, let's use the caret to enter notes with accidentals. Click the Selection tool .
Click measure 5 and press Backspace to clear the measure.
Click the Simple Entry tool . Then click the Eighth note icon in the Simple Entry palette (or press 4 on the numpad).
Click the third space C in measure 5, then press the right arrow to activate the caret.
Type D and then press the - (minus) key to add a flat.
Type C and then press = to add a sharp.
Type B5AF to complete the measure.
To add a double flat, hold down Shift and press - (minus). (To add a double-sharp, you would hold down Shift and press =).
Because this melody probably wouldn’t sound too great, we’ll remove the accidentals.
Building chords is a snap with Simple Entry. Just select the same duration icon as the note already entered, and then click on the staff above or below the note.
Click the Quarter Note tool. In measure 8, center the cursor on the second beat C. Now move the cursor up half a step to the D space and click. A D is added to the chord. Note that NotePad automatically places the D notehead, as an interval of a second, on the right side of the stem.
Note: While using the Simple Entry Caret, type an interval in the number row to add a note above the previous entry. For example, to create a triad over a pitch, simply type 3 twice. Hold down shift and press a number key to add an interval below the last note entered.
Tuplets are any irregular grouping, including triplets, quintuplets, and so on. Let’s add a triplet to the third beat of measure 5, and then a triplet on the last beat.
Click on the Eraser tool , then double-click on the last beat of measure 5.
Click on the Eighth Note tool. Click on the Tuplet tool 
on the Simple Entry palette. Click on the quarter note A flat. The quarter note changes into an eighth note starting an eighth note triplet. NotePad automatically fills out the triplet with rests. NotePad will simply ignore attempts to create a nested tuplet with the Simple Tuplet tool. If you want nested tuplets, see the Tuplet tool.
Click on the first eighth rest to add an eighth note B. Since we know we’ll want to continue the A flat through the measure, we’ll add it at the same time we add the note.
Click the Flat tool . Click on the remaining eighth rest to add an A flat at the end of the measure. The A flat is entered – without the flat symbol which is held from the previous A flat in the measure. Notice that the bracket disappeared, leaving only the number 3. NotePad automatically follows standard notation practice to remove the bracket from a beamed tuplet. Let’s keep going for the triplet on the last beat. The Simple Tuplet tool should still be selected.
Click to deselect the Flat tool . Add an F to the end of the measure. NotePad creates the eighth note starting an eighth triplet, filling out the triplet with rests.
Click on the eighth rests to add a G and an F to complete the triplet. If you’d clicked in the notes first then created the triplet, you would have run out of room in the measure. (An eighth note triplet takes up less room than three eighth notes.) Remember: create the tuplet first, then add the notes.
Note: While using the Simple Entry Caret, type 9 to initiate a tuplet, then type the notes in as you would normally.
NotePad automatically creates twenty-one measures in a new file. Our short song only uses 8 measures, so we’ll need to delete the extra measures.
Click the Selection tool .
Click on measure 9.
Hold down the shift key and click on the last measure (you may need to scroll down). Measures 9 through the end of the piece should now be highlighted or "selected."
Double-click to ensure the measure stack is selected. A full measure stack must be selected in order to delete measures.
From the Edit menu, choose Delete Measure Stack. The extra measures disappear and NotePad adjusts the layout.
Although this tutorial now has the right number of measures, there will undoubtedly come a time when you need to add more.
Type in the number of measures to be added, and click OK.
Since we don’t actually want the extra measure, click on the Edit menu and choose Undo.
Note that as you add or delete measures, the final barline will move to the last measure of the score.
You’re about to discover that your folk song masterpiece, "Frère Jacques," not only looks good—it sounds good, too.
It doesn’t matter which tool is currently selected.
From the Window menu, choose Playback Controls (if they’re not already on the screen). The Playback Controls appear. The Playback Controls are docked at the top of the screen.
Click the Play button. If you have a soundcard, you’ll hear NotePad play the song. To stop playback, click either Pause or Stop. If, during playback, you want to hear a certain passage again, click and hold down the << button for a moment. The number in the Measure text box decreases, showing you the measure you’ll hear when playback resumes. The far left button enters 1 in the Measure text box, so that playback resumes with the beginning of the score. The >> button increases the Measure so that you can skip ahead during playback. The far right button jumps you to the last measure of the score.
As you’re about to find out, you don’t have to use the Playback Controls to play back your score:
While pressing the Spacebar, click any measure. Once again, NotePad plays back your score, this time beginning with the measure you clicked. Click anywhere on the screen to stop.
You can play any NotePad document using either this "Spacebar-click" method or the Playback Controls. Feel free to listen to any of the tutorial documents, even if you’re not specifically instructed to do so.
NotePad offers a quick way to set the tempo.
On the Playback Controls, double-click the Tempo text box, and type 200. You can also click the small up and down arrow buttons to increase or decrease the number in the Tempo text box. If you want the tempo to be measured in half notes per minute—or any other rhythmic unit—choose the value you want from the Tempo drop-down list.
Click the Play button. NotePad plays your song back at a more sprightly tempo.
When you created this document, the computer transferred the song from the disk into its memory; at this moment, all the changes you’ve made to "Frère Jacques" exist only on the screen. If someone trips on the computer’s power cord at this moment, all of your work will be lost.
For this reason, it’s a good idea to save your work back onto the disk at regular intervals—perhaps every 15 minutes or so. To save your work on the disk:
From the File menu, choose Save.
NotePad displays a standard Save As dialog box. If you wish, you can change the directory where the file will be saved.
Give the file a name, such as Frere Jacques.
Click Save. Your changes have now been saved on the hard disk.
From the File menu, choose Close to close the active document. If you haven’t saved your work, NotePad lets you know, and gives you the option of saving the changes or leaving the document as it was when it was last saved.
The Simple Entry Rests palette works just like the Simple Entry palette; simply select the desired rest value and click it into your score.
Here’s another trick you may find useful: instead of clicking a rhythmic-value icon before entering a note, you can press a number key on the numeric keypad as you click the staff. Each number key corresponds to a rhythmic value: the 5 key means quarter note, 6 means half note, and so on. Thus, to enter a whole note on the staff, you’d click the staff while pressing the 7 key, no matter what icon is currently selected on either Simple palette.
A diagram showing which keys correspond to which rhythmic values or commands appears in the Simple Entry topic. If you want to take time out for some experimentation before proceeding to Tutorial 2, choose New from the File menu. NotePad will open a new document using the Setup Wizard.
If you’re ready to move on, go right ahead to the next tutorial. If you’ve had enough for one lesson, choose Exit from the File menu.
Some of the entries in the Help contain discussions of topics you’ve just covered. See, for example:
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