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<< Click to Display Table of Contents >> Tutorial: Playing the Song |
  
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<< Click to Display Table of Contents >> Tutorial: Playing the Song |
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If your computer has a sound card, it is likely that Composer will be able to immediately play through your computer's sound card to the speakers. Composer requires that the sound card support MIDI, which is a certain computer music standard that almost all of today's sound cards support.
To play back the currently opened song:
 | Hit the SPACE key. |
-- OR --
| Click the Play  button in the toolbar at the top of the window. |
Playback starts wherever the green 
playback marker is currently located. A vertical blue cursor moves along in the score as the song plays, to indicate the current playback position. The currently playing notes are highlighted in a bright pink color.
TIP: Do you hear the Twinkle Twinkle Little Star playing? If so, then Composer will not need any assistance from you in setting up the MIDI sound card. If you do not hear the song play, then follow the instructions in Quick MIDI Device Setup. If after using the Quick MIDI Device Setup option you still do not hear sound, then read about What To Do If You Do Not Hear Sound.
To temporarily fast forward through the song during playback:
| 1. | Click the Fast Forward  button once to increase the playback speed by a factor of five. |
| 2. | Click the button a second time to resume the original playback speed. |
To stop playback:
| Hit the SPACE key. |
-- OR --
| Click the Stop  button. |
-- OR --
| Toggle the Playback button in the toolbar at the top of the window. |
The green 
playback marker will be moved to the song location where you interrupted playback.
To jump to a different location in the song during playback.
 | Click the mouse wherever you want the playback to jump to. |
| If you want to jump ahead a few pages, use the PAGEDOWN key to preview the page. Composer will continue playing where you left it, uninterrupted, while you look ahead. If you wait for about 5 seconds, Composer will return to the page that it is currently playing. However, if you click somewhere on the look-ahead page, then playback will immediately jump to the location of your mouse click. |
To change the location of the 
playback marker before you start playback:
| While holding down the "P" key, click the mouse where you want to set the playback marker. |
To change the location of the playback marker to the beginning of the score, even during playback:
| Type CTRL+HOME. |
-- OR --
| Click the Start of Song  button. |