Lyrics and text

Words under the notes, syllable by syllable on up to five lines, text over a beat, and any symbol of the music font.

Available on iPad, iPhone and Mac.

Lyrics

Lyrics are written under the notes, one syllable per beat, and go from beat to beat as you type.

1. Put the cursor on the first sung beat and choose Attach › Lyrics 1 (Score › Lyrics › Lyrics Line 1): a field opens under the beat.
2. Type the syllable, then:
   • a space ends the word and goes to the next beat;
   • a hyphen (-) ends a syllable inside a word and goes to the next beat; Reflow draws the hyphen between the two syllables;
   • Return↩ ends.
3. To skip a beat (a held note), type a space in its empty field.

To change a syllable, or a text, choose the Select tool and double-tapdouble-click it.

Verses on their own lines

A song with verses has a line per verse: Lyrics 1 to Lyrics 5 write the first to the fifth line under the staff. To move syllables to another line, select them with the Select tool, tapclick them again for their popup, and choose L1 to L5.

The space between the lines is Lyrics Spacing, in Score Style › Engraving, and the lyricist’s name is Lyrics By, in Document Info.

Text over a beat

Attach › Text (Score › Text) writes words over the beat at the cursor: a playing direction, a word for the band (“let ring”, “fill”), a count. Type, then Return↩. With a note selected, the text is attached to the note instead, and moves with it.

Select a text and open its popup to choose the staff it is drawn on, above or below it, and its offset, or to delete it. A text you empty is deleted too.

Glyphs

Attach › Glyph (Score › Glyph Browser…) opens the Glyph Browser: every symbol of the music font, from fermatas and breath marks to ornaments and fingerings, by group down its side, or found by name in Search glyphs…. TapClick one to attach it to the selected note, or to the beat at the cursor.

Like a text, a glyph’s popup sets its staff, its side and its offset.