Arpeggios and glissandos
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, , , and can be applied from the Arpeggios & glissandos :
Many have an adjustable playback effect (see ).
To add an arpeggio/strum to a score:
Click on any note in a chord (multiple selection is possible)';
Click on an arpeggio/strum symbol in the palette.
Alternatively you can drag an arpeggio/strum symbol from a palette onto a notehead.
Click on an arpeggio and two adjustment handles will appear at the top and bottom of the symbol. You can move either up or down by dragging, or by selecting a handle and using the up/down keyboard arrows.
Arpeggios only span the voice to which they are input initially, but then can then be adjusted to span multiple voices in the same instrument, even across multiple staves.
To adjust an arpeggio to span multiple voices:
Select either the top or bottom handle of the arpeggio
Press Shift+Up or Shift+Down to move the handle up or down to the next adjacent voice
The handle will jump to the next voice above or below that has any notes at that point. This includes voices on staves above or below, in the case of multi-staff instruments.
The arpeggio is considered to 'belong' to the uppermost voice that it spans, and will be coloured accordingly.
To change the speed of a selected arpeggio:
Go to the Properties panel
Click Playback
In the popup, adjust the Spread delay property.
If you want to turn off playback altogether:
Go to the Properties panel
Untick the Play checkbox.
Default properties for all arpeggios in the score can be adjusted from the style menu at Format -> Style -> Arpeggios:
Select one or more start notes;
Click on the desired glissando icon in the palette. A glissando is created extending to the next note in the same voice:
Alternatively you can drag a glissando symbol from the palette onto a notehead.
Glissandos can cross staves if needs be:
If required, you can change the start or end position of a glissando as follows:
Select the edit handle whose position you want to change;
Press Shift+Up/Down/Left/Right to move the handle in the specified direction, one note at a time.
This method can also be used to move the edit handle between voices and across staves.
To change the playback of a glissando:
Go to the Properties panel
Click Playback
In the popup, select an option from the Style dropdown.
To turn off playback off the glissando entirely:
Go to the Properties panel
Untick the Play checkbox.
The following properties are available in the Glissando section of the Properties panel:
Line type: either Straight or Wavy. For a straight line, the following additional options are available:
Thickness: the thickness of the line
Line style: continuous, dashed or dotted
Show text: whether to show text over the glissando
Text: the text to show (by default, "gliss.").
Text will only appear if there is sufficient space for it, i.e. if the glissando line is long enough.
The default style of glissando text is defined in Format -> Style -> Text styles under Glissando.
The Arpeggios & glissandos palette also contains bend symbols for brass or woodwind instruments:
These have a playback effect on the score.
The four icons represent fall, doit, plop and scoop. (If you are not sure which are which, hovering over the palette icon will display a tooltip with the name of the symbol.) Falls and doits come after the notehead, plops and scoops go before it.
Select a notehead
Click on the desired bend symbol in the palette.
Alternatively, drag a bend symbol onto a notehead in the score.
To change the shape of the bend, click on it and four adjustment handles become visible. Drag the handles, or click on them and press the keyboard arrows, until you get the shape you want.
To add a slide or portamento between two notes, add a line and and .
To add a slide or portamento before or after a note before a note (a string instrument or guitar technique), add either or a , see also . Alternative wavy symbols are found in , those do not affect playback.
Note: Guitar slides are covered in .
The line type of a selected glissando - whether straight or wavy - and any text associated with it, can be changed in the Glissando section of the panel. You can also turn off text by unchecking the Show text box.
The available options are Chromatic, White keys, Black keys, Diatonic and Portamento. This last option creates a portamento between two notes; to add other types of slide see , above.
Not to be confused with .
