Note Input and Editing

In order to complete this section of the project, you should have already made the 2 Editing and inputting notes version into the Current
version (see above). If you haven’t already done so, choose Review > Versions > Edit Versions. Select this version in the list and click
Make current.

Most of the actions you will perform in Sibelius are related to inputting notes and editing what you’ve inputted. Sibelius lets you input
music in a number of ways—scanning sheet music, playing a MIDI keyboard or guitar, placing notes with the mouse, opening files from
other programs—but the fastest way of all is by typing using your computer keyboard and editing as you go.

The Escape Key

Before you learn how to enter and edit notes in a score, you can use the Esc key as a get-out-of-jail-free card. When you’re inputting or
editing your music in any of the ways Sibelius allows, Esc is of the utmost importance. It can be used in any of the following situations:
• When adding notes with the mouse, pressing Esc stops placing any more notes
• When typing notes with your computer keyboard, pressing Esc stops adding any more notes and leave the most recently-added note
selected
• If you’re editing a piece of text, pressing Esc stops typing or deleting any text and leave the object selected
• If you have something selected, pressing Esc deselects it
• When Sibelius is playing back your score, pressing Esc stops play back.

You can also click the top left button on any Keypad layout—the one with the picture of the mouse pointer on it—to perform the same
function (see The Keypad, below).

Moving Between Notes

While Sibelius lets you click on a note to select it (that’s why it turns blue, so that you can edit or change it), the fastest way to move
between notes in Sibelius is to use your computer keyboard. You can move forwards and backwards from one note or rest to the next
one by using the Left and Right Arrow keys; to move to the first note or rest in a bar, press Control+Left Arrow key or Control+Right
Arrow key. This is another example of “do this, but bigger.”

You can also use the Tab key (above Caps Lock on your computer keyboard) to move forward through every object attached to a par-
ticular stave. Tab selects the first object on the page, so you don’t need to use your mouse at all. Try this out in the Scarborough Fair
score: make sure you have nothing selected (by pressing Esc) and then press Tab. You should see the first note on the vocal staff of the
score turn blue. Keep pressing Tab and you’ll advance through the notes, rests, dynamic markings, lyrics and so on. To go backward in
this way, simply press Shift+Tab.

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Note Input and Editing