Selecting and Editing Regions of a Score

Editing a score usually involves adding, selecting, modifying, and deleting objects, such as notes and lyrics. However, some methods of editing a score, such as Edit Copy and Paste, are based on selecting a region of the score. A region may cover a range of measures and beats, and a range of one or more adjacent tracks.

Composer displays a gray background for the currently selected region, as illustrated below:

To select a region of the score:

1.      Hold down the CTRL key.

2.      While holding down the CTRL key, point the mouse at the beginning of the region, and press down on the mouse button.

2.      While holding down both the CTRL key and the mouse button, drag the mouse to the intended end of the region.

3.      Release the mouse button and the CTRL key.

-- OR --

4.      Instead of the above three steps, choose the Select Region command in the Region menu. It will present the following dialog box, in which you can enter the range of measures and beats for the selection, and the range of tracks:

To remove the region selection:

     Hit the ESC key.

To extend the region selection:

1.      If you wish to extend the region to another page of the score, use the Page Down key to go to that page.

2.      Hold down both the CTRL and Shift keys.

3.      Click the mouse where you want the region to be extended to.

     -- OR --

While holding down the mouse button and CTRL key, drag the mouse to the intended end of the region. Then release the mouse button and CTRL key.

To select the entire range of one or more adjacent tracks:

     Click the Select Track button among the track controls to select one track. While holding down the SHIFT key, click another track to select it and all of the other tracks between it and the first selected track. For details, see Select Track.

Sometimes it is useful to change a current selection of notes to a region selection, or the other way. For example, if you want to select all of the notes in a range of measures, it is usually easier to first select the range of measures as a region, and then convert that region to a list of selected notes. Going the other way, if you have selected a list of notes and want to copy them to another part of the score, you can first convert them to a region, and then use the Edit Copy and Paste commands, which are based on selected regions rather than selected notes.

To convert a selection of notes to a region:

1.      Select the notes by dragging the mouse over them.

2.      Choose the Convert Selection of Notes to Region command in the Select Notes submenu of the Note menu.

     -- OR --

     Type "qcnr" for Quick Convert Notes to Region.

To convert a region to a selection of notes:

1.      Select the region as described earlier in this topic.

2.      Choose the Convert Region to Selection of Notes command in the Select Notes submenu of the Region menu.

     -- OR --

     Type "crn" for "convert region to notes", which is a Note Menu/Palette command, not a Quick "q" command.

To select the entire range of a track for the current region or selection of notes:

1.      Select the notes by dragging the mouse over them.

     -- OR --

     Select a region as described earlier in this topic.

2.      Choose the Convert Selection to Entire Track command in the Note or Region menu.

     -- OR --

     Type "st" for Select Track.

When you select a region,many commands in the Region and Edit menus are now available. For example, you can Remove Inaudible Notes in a Selected Region, or Remove Rests Smaller Than a rest duration that you specify. You can also use the Edit menu clipboard commands Cut, Copy, Paste, and Clear, as described next.

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