Document Menu
How to get there
The Document Menu is one of SongWriter’s
unchanging menus.
What it does
This menu contains the keys to SongWriter’s
notational flexibility. Each command brings up a dialog box that governs
some aspect of the way SongWriter displays the music in the active document.
- Show Active Layer Only. Each SongWriter
staff is actually four transparent layers, each of which can contain its
own rhythmically independent inner voice. Only one layer can be active
(frontmost) at a time, however; the active layer is always identified
by the popup menu depressed button in the lower-left corner of the document
window and with a check mark in Select Layers submenu of the View Menu.
When this item is selected (displaying
a check mark), SongWriter hides the three inactive layers. Bear in mind
that hidden layers are unaffected by almost every tool. For example, the
music in a hidden layer won’t be copied, pasted, or otherwise affected
by Selection tool operations—a useful fact to remember if you want to
copy or paste the music of one layer only.
Choose this command a second time to make the check mark
disappear (and make the other three layers reappear).
- Display in Concert Pitch. You have the option of viewing
the full score in either its transposed or concert form. Choose this command
if you want SongWriter to display the score in concert key. If you don’t
select it, all staves will appear showing transposing instruments in
their transposed keys. (Music you enter using the Simple Entry
tool is considered already transposed. In other words, if you play a
C on the MIDI keyboard using the MIDI input feature of the Simple Entry
tool, it appears as a C on the transposed staff, even though it will play
back as some other note, because you’ve just entered a written C.)
- Display Courtesy Items. If a clef, key
or time signature change occurs at the end of a line (system) of music,
it’s traditional to forewarn the musician by displaying the incoming clef,
key or time signature at the rightmost end of the preceding system. If
you want this courtesy clef, key or time signature to appear, select this
menu item. A checkmark will appear when it is selected. Choose the menu
item again to deselect it.
- Left
Barline from Previous Measure. Select this menu
item to use the barline style of the previous measure as the left barline
for measures starting a new system. A checkmark will appear when it is
selected. Choose the menu item again to deselect it.
- Pickup Measure. The Pickup Measure command
allows you to set the first measure of the piece to a pickup measure.
See Pickup
Measure Dialog Box.
- Select
Default Fonts. This command displays the Select Default Fonts dialog box,
which lets you set the default font for Text, Lyrics and Chords. See Select
Default Fonts dialog box.
- Ignore Repeats During Playback and Recording. Choose this command to tell SongWriter to disregard repeat barlines and repeat text indications during playback and recording. See Repeats (barlines and text indications).
