Function of clipboards in adding lyrics

[Ron Marceau (ron321)]

I have just purchased Composer 2.5.2 and read the User Guide (which is excellent!). I am trying to add lyrics to a internet midi which I have opened in Composer. The lyrics are from a a Notepad file in my XP/documents. I am trying to use the copy/paste procedure described in secs 5.1.6 and 6.2.7(importing the Notepad lyrics into the midi score in Composer) After many attempts I did partially succeed once, but have not been able to do it again. I think the problem is that I do not understand what the windows and Composer clipboards do, how and where they do it, or how I find them. I have copied/pasted many times in other documents, but have never been aware that clipboards have anything to do with it. I seem to have become involved in windows Word, which I never use I do not want to have any involvement with windows unless I have to. Will appreciate any help as I am dead in the water now. Thanks.

[Sherry Crann (sherry)]

Howdy Ron,

I'm glad that you're enjoying Composer, and have found the User Guide to be helpful!

Any time you use a "Edit -> Copy" (Ctrl + C, or other "copy" command) or "Edit -> Paste (Ctrl + V, or other "paste" command), you're making use of a "virtual clipboard." It's just a term that is used to say that "your computer now has the information that you copied sitting on it's 'clipboard', and it's ready for you to paste it in where ever you want to."

Does this help to understand how the copy/paste mechanism works to get lyrics from one type of file (eg. a .txt file) into another type of file (your .not song file)?

You mentioned that you're using Word. This may introduce some trickiness, because there are some items (eg. carriage returns, line breaks) that Word hides when you're viewing a file, but that get copied (and entered) as well when you copy/paste. These little "extras" can make for some interesting situations http://www.notation.com/discus/clipart/happy.gif To keep things simpler, please try using Notepad (typically found in Programs/Accessories) for copy/pasting lyrics into .not song files in Composer.

If the above suggestions don't help, please feel free to post copies of the text file and the song file, and we'll give 'em a try here to see if maybe there's some problem that needs to be addressed with the file itself.

ttfn,
Sherry

[Ron Marceau (ron321)]

Thanks for the quick reply Sherry. Sounds like the clipboard concept is not something I have to bother my head about. Here are a couple more thoughts:
-The User Guide seems to distinguish between what the windows clipboard will do and what the Composer clipboard will do (see sec 5.1.6 p249 pdf). I take it from this section that I can add all of a song's lyrics to a Composer transcription from Notepad in the usual copy/paste manner (i.e. click copy in the Notepad screen and then click paste in the Composer screen. Trouble is that it is not working for me. Possibly I do not completely understand the mechanics of using the copy/paste method.
-The only reason I used Word is because I stumbled into it while I was thrashing around, and I did manage to copy the lyrics to the transcription, but then lost them again. At least I think Word played some role. I have all my lyrics on Notepad saved to my documents folder as txt files. Is there a better way?
-I will try and post copies of the text and song files as you sugessted.

[Ron Marceau (ron321)]

<center><table border=1><tr><td>http://www.notation.com/discus/icons/mime_txt.gifNotepad lyrics
Beyond the Sea lyrics.txt (http://www.notation.com/discus/messages/30406/Beyond_the_Sea_lyrics-37154.txt) (0.6 k)</td></tr></table></center><center><table border=1><tr><td>http://www.notation.com/discus/icons/mime_midi.gifComposer transcription
beyondthesea.mid (http://www.notation.com/discus/messages/30406/beyondthesea-37155.mid) (39.6 k)</td></tr></table></center>

Hi Sherry-hope this is what you had in mind. Thanks again. Ron

[Ron Marceau (ron321)]

Hi Sherry-I think I goofed. Here is the Composer transcription-I hope:
<center><table border=1><tr><td>http://www.notation.com/discus/icons/attachment_icon.gifComposer transcription of Beyond the Sea
beyondthesea.not (http://www.notation.com/discus/messages/30406/beyondthesea-37158.not) (544.8 k)</td></tr></table></center>

[Ron Marceau (ron321)]

<center><table border=1><tr><td>http://www.notation.com/discus/icons/attachment_icon.gifbeyondthesea
beyondthesea.not (http://www.notation.com/discus/messages/30406/beyondthesea-37161.not) (544.8 k)</td></tr></table></center>

Sherry-hope this is it.

[Ron Marceau (ron321)]

Sorry Sherry I keep getting this QuickTime screen instead of the Composer transcription. I get the correct transcription on my computer by opening Notation and clicking on "c;\Program Files\Notation\Songs\beyondthesea.not" in the "Open a midi or notation file on my computer". Any thoughts?

[Sherry Crann (sherry)]

Hi Ron,

I'm poking my head in from an afternoon of spring-garden-cleaning in actual sunshine and shirt-sleeve weather here in the normally blustery Thumb of Michigan http://www.notation.com/discus/clipart/happy.gif I haven't looked at the files yet, but one thing you mentioned caught my eye:
<blockquote><hr size=0><!-quote-!><font size=1>quote:</font>

I take it from this section that I can add all of a song's lyrics to a Composer transcription from Notepad in the usual copy/paste manner (i.e. click copy in the Notepad screen and then click paste in the Composer screen.<!-/quote-!><hr size=0></blockquote>

Not quite, but you've pointed out a usability problem that we should address.

Composer files hold a lot more information than just lyrics, so if you want to paste in just lyrics, you'll need to use
Edit
Paste Special
Paste Lyrics.

Please do try it out.

Mark, I've addressed this issue in a new task 2088.

ttfn,
Sherry

[Ron Marceau (ron321)]

Hi Sherry-I have been using the edit-paste special-paste lyrics procedure. I have tried everything again without success. I keep getting a Composer warning box?? that says "to editcopy, cut, paste or clear command, first select a region using select range command, or control-drag..." and "to use paste command first use edit, copy or cut, then select the region you wish to paste clipboard contents...".

Here is what I have been doing:
-I go to notepad, select all of the lyrics text, click copy from the notepad edit dropdown. I have also tried the windows documents ccommand "copy this file" after I have selected the proper notepad lyrics file, and do not open the notepad lyrics file.
-then I open Composer get the transcribed song on the screen.
-I then either select the whole song as the region, or I try to use the control-drag method to select only that part of the song after the introduction (ie the note below the microphone?? symbol) so that the paste will begin there. The problem I have with this is that I cannot get the song to scroll down while I have the control-drag engaged so I can never select the rest of the song that is not on the screen.
-then I try to use the paste special/paste lyrics command, or the paste command in the lyrics drop down menu??. Neither works because I always get the warning boox described above and can't get any further.

I wonder if I am missing something involved in the shift from windows documents/notepad lyrics file to the Composer? I minimize the notepad screen before opening Composer. I also cannot find the "range command referrd to in the warning box.

I really appreciate your help. Any more thoughts?

[Ron Marceau (ron321)]

Hi Sherry-was I successful in posting copies of the text and song files for your tests as you suggested?

[Sherry Crann (sherry)]

Howdy Ron,

Sorry for the tardy response here. I did try out your two files (txt and .not) and was able to successfully paste the lyrics into the .not file. I suspect you'll need to split some of the words and add some melismas (dashed lines) to get it all to line up properly on the notes, but it's pretty easy to do that after getting them into the file.

I should have pointed you to the video we have for adding lyrics - you can find it in the "Tour" section of our website at http://www.notation.com/DemoFrame02AddEditLyrics.htm The first part deals with typing in lyrics, but about 1/3 of the way through, it addresses adding lyrics from a .txt file, and then shifting lyrics if needed to match them up with the proper notes.

Let me know how it goes!

ttfn,
Sherry