Tip #36 - Use insertion shortcuts to speed up notation entry

After using keyboard codes for entering notation, the next most useful MusEdit feature for speeding up notation entry is to use the "Insertion Shortcuts". These are described in the MusEdit manual, but I'll repeat that info here...

Here's a summary:

1) Use Ctrl+n to insert the nth previous chord.
In this case "chord" means one or more notes all at the same chord position. The first image below shows how this works. The second last chord (a stack of two 16th notes) was entered by simply hitting Ctrl+3 because counting backward from where the chord was entered we have 1) down 8th, 2) another down 8th, and 3) two up 16th notes. The third chord was reinserted at the caret position when Ctrl+3 was hit. (note that the bar was not counted - only things with notes are counted). The stack of three quarter notes was entered next by hitting Ctrl+8.

2) Use Ctrl+Shift+n to insert the nth previous note cluster.
A note cluster is two or more chords beamed together. In the second image below the 2nd last cluster (two down 8th notes) was entered by hitting Ctrl+Shift+3 (the up 8th and down 8th clusters are counted as two, even though they overlap; the simple chords (arrowed) are not counted). The last cluster (two up 8th notes) was entered by simply hitting Ctrl+6.

3) Use Alt+n to insert the nth previous bar of music.
In the third image, the second last measure (three quarter note chords) was entered by hitting Alt+3. The last measure (two 8th and a half note) was entered by hitting Alt+2.

A few principles are followed for all these shortcuts:

-if you are in a treble line only chords/clusters/measures in treble lines are counted (eg. if you have a mix of treble and tab you won't get a tab measure inserted!)

-if your lines have labels, only lines with the same label are counted This is useful if you are working with line groups where you may have, say, a treble for lead guitar and a treble for vocals. If the lines are labeled MusEdit will only count treble lines with the same label, so you won't insert vocal bars into guitar staff.

-the 10th previous object is n=0. eg. Ctrl+0 enters the 10th previous chord. Insertion shortcuts don't work beyond the tenth (at that point counting backwards is probably more tedious than selecting and copying. And don't forget: double clicking on a chord selects it, double clicking on a cluster selects it).

If you aren't used to using these shortcuts I'd suggest you try practising them on the Asturias sample installed with MusEdit. This piece illustrates why these shortcuts are so handy: a lot of music has repeating patterns, so often entering the first few measures by the "brute force" way can soon be followed by using Insertion Shortcuts for subsequent measures. And don't forget, even if a measure or cluster isn't exactly what you want it can still be quicker to use an insertion shortcut to enter it, then go back and tweak individual notes by using Alt+Up/Down arrow to adjust their positions (Tip #14).

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