lwc:musescore [wiki]

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====== MuseScore 4 — Shortcuts, Tips & Merge Workflow ======

===== Note Entry & Duration =====

^ Action ^ Shortcut ^ Notes ^
| Toggle note input mode | N | |
| Set duration: 64th | 1 | |
| Set duration: 32nd | 2 | |
| Set duration: 16th | 3 | |
| Set duration: eighth | 4 | |
| Set duration: quarter | 5 | |
| Set duration: half | 6 | |
| Set duration: whole | 7 | |
| Set duration: double whole | 8 | |
| Set duration: longa | 9 | |
| Toggle dot | . | |
| Enter rest of selected duration | 0 | |
| Add tied note | T | |
| Enter pitch | A–G | Closest pitch to previous note entered |
| Toggle flat / natural / sharp | - / = / + | Applies to next note entered |
| Halve selected duration | Shift+Q | Includes dotted values |
| Double selected duration | Shift+W | Includes dotted values |
| Enter tuplet (duplet…nonuplet) | Ctrl+2 … Ctrl+9 | |

===== Changing Pitch of Existing Notes =====

^ Action ^ Shortcut ^ Notes ^
| Move pitch by semitone | Up / Down arrow | |
| Move pitch up/down an octave | Ctrl+Up / Ctrl+Down | Verified against MuseScore's own handbook — this is the one that's actually correct (not Alt+Shift, see below) |
| Move pitch diatonically (by scale step, staying in key) | Alt+Shift+Up / Alt+Shift+Down | |
| Change enharmonic spelling | J | |

===== Voices =====

^ Action ^ Shortcut ^ Notes ^
| Switch to voice 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 | Ctrl+Alt+1 / 2 / 3 / 4 | Color-coded: 1=blue, 2=green, 3=orange, 4=purple |
| Move selected note(s) to another voice | Ctrl+Alt+1–4 | Fits notes into destination voice as space allows |
| Paste without overwriting other voices | View → Selection Filter, uncheck voices to protect, then paste | MuseScore always pastes into the same voice notes were copied from — no direct "paste into voice X" command |

===== Editing =====

^ Action ^ Shortcut ^ Notes ^
| Flip direction | X | Universal flip — works on ties, slurs, stems, etc. |
| Delete note (leaves a rest) | Delete | |
| Undo | Ctrl+Z | Virtually unlimited history |
| Go to a specific measure | Ctrl+F | Opens "Go to measure" box |

===== Measures =====

^ Action ^ How ^ Notes ^
| Insert N measures at a point | Add → Measures → Insert Measures (or [ctrl][ins])| Type the count, inserts before/after selection |
| Delete selected measures | select measures then [ctrl][del] | |
| Collapse empty measures into a multimeasure rest | Ctrl+Shift+M | 4.4+; plain **M** on older 4.x |
| Multimeasure rest settings | Format → Style → Rests | Tab location has moved across 4.x versions — if not under "Rests," check what tabs are actually in your Style dialog |
| Add a title/text frame mid-score | Select first measure of the section → Add → Frames → Insert Vertical Frame, then select the frame → Add → Text → Title | A vertical frame can hold multiple text blocks (Title + Composer, etc.) — a plain text frame holds only one |

===== Instruments =====

^ Action ^ How ^ Notes ^
| Open Instruments panel | Press **I**, or the Layout tab | press F7 if not visible |
| Add instrument | Instruments panel → Add → search/select → Add | |
| Duplicate/copy an instrument within a score | No built-in feature | Workaround: add a new instrument of the same type, then Ctrl+A / Ctrl+C the source instrument's part, click first measure of new instrument, Ctrl+V. Doesn't carry custom staff text/formatting. |

===== Playback =====

^ Action ^ Shortcut ^ Notes ^
| Play / stop | Space | |
| Play only a MIDI keyboard's live sound (no note entry) | Make sure Note Input (N) is off | If notes keep entering anyway, check Edit → Preferences → Note Input for a MIDI auto-start setting |
| Export audio | File → Export → Audio | mp3/wav |
| Export MIDI | File → Export → MIDI | For bringing into a DAW |
| Isolate just the metronome click as audio | Mixer (F10) → Solo the **Metronome** channel → File → Export → Audio | export as WAV, not mp3, to avoid encoder padding/artifacts if you need to analyze click timing precisely |

===== Text, Technique & Style Markings =====

^ Action ^ How ^ Notes ^
| Pizzicato → arco change | Apply "arco" from the **Text palette** (same place "pizz." lives) | This is a "Playing Technique" annotation, not plain text — it actually changes MIDI/audio playback. Typing "arco" via Ctrl+T is just visual text and does nothing to sound. Check the status bar when a technique text is selected to confirm which kind it is. |
| Swing feel | Add "Swing" marking — filed under the **Tempo** palette in MS4, not Text (a commonly-flagged confusing placement) | Right-click the inserted Swing text → System Text Properties → Swing Settings tab → set note value + ratio. Add another marking and set it to "Off" to return to straight. Don't combine with the separate Format → Style → Score → Swing Settings global option — pick one method. |

===== Known Gotchas =====

^ Issue ^ Explanation ^
| Flatpak sandboxing hides real file paths | Writing to ''/tmp'' from the MuseScore flatpak actually lands in ''~/.var/app/org.musescore.MuseScore/tmp'', not the real ''/tmp''. Fix: ''flatpak override --user org.musescore.MuseScore --filesystem=/tmp'', or just save to ''~/Documents'' instead. |

===== Merging Multiple Scores into One (Movements/Album) =====

MuseScore 4 has no built-in Album/Join feature (it existed in MS2/3, not restored as of testing).

**Community PowerShell script** — combines full ''.mscz'' files sequentially (concatenates the raw staff XML from each score, inserting a barline + section/page break between each), rather than doing a manual copy/paste per instrument:
  * Script + thread: https://musescore.org/en/node/305513 — look for the attached **MusescoreCombine.txt** in the thread (renamed from ''.ps1'' because the forum blocks script uploads directly — rename back to ''.ps1'' after downloading)
  * Runs fine on Linux under PowerShell 7 (''pwsh'') unmodified — it's pure zip/XML text manipulation via built-in cmdlets, no Windows-only APIs and no dependency on the ''mscore'' binary itself
  * Usage: ''pwsh MusescoreCombine.ps1 file1.mscz file2.mscz file3.mscz ...'' — order = argument order, not filename or directory order. First file's header/style/instrument list becomes the whole merged score's. Output is ''MergedSore.mscz'' (script's own naming) in whatever directory you ran the command from.
  * Preserves tempo/key/time-sig changes and ties correctly (raw XML concatenation), unlike manual copy/paste in the MuseScore UI, which drops tempo and key/time-signature changes across the paste boundary.
  * Each inserted section break defaults to a **3-second pause** between movements (MuseScore's normal section-break default) — if you don't want a gap, select the break → Properties → set "Pause before new section starts" to 0.
  * Requires identical staff/instrument layout (same instruments, same order) across all input files.

**Installing PowerShell (''pwsh'') on Ubuntu 24.04** — standalone ''.deb'', no need to add the Microsoft apt repo for a one-off task:
<code bash>
POWERSHELL_VERSION=$(curl -s "https://api.github.com/repos/PowerShell/PowerShell/releases/latest" | grep -Po '"tag_name": "v\K[0-9.]+')
wget -qO powershell.deb "https://github.com/PowerShell/PowerShell/releases/latest/download/powershell_${POWERSHELL_VERSION}-1.deb_amd64.deb"
sudo apt install -y ./powershell.deb
</code>
If apt complains about ''_apt'' sandbox permission denied on the local file, move the .deb somewhere ''_apt'' can read first: ''''sudo cp powershell.deb /tmp/ && sudo apt install -y /tmp/powershell.deb''''. This usually means your home directory's permissions are blocking the ''_apt'' user from traversing into it.