User manual

Table Of Contents
811
Working with symbols
About this chapter
In this chapter you will learn:
- What the different types of symbols are.
- How to insert and edit symbols.
- Details about special symbols.
Background: The different layers
A score page is always made up of three layers – the note layer, the layout layer and
the project layer. When you add symbols, these are inserted into one of these layers,
depending on the type of symbol. The symbols that have a relation to notes – accents,
dynamic markings, slurs, lyrics, etc. – are put in the note layer. Other symbols, such as
some types of text, can be inserted either on the layout layer (which is individual for
each layout) or on the project layer (common for all layouts). You can change the layer
type by right-clicking the symbol and selecting the layer type from the context menu.
Note layer symbols
Let’s look at the note layer symbols first. These come in three flavors:
- Note symbols. These are each tied to a single note. Examples of note symbols are
accents and lyrics. When you move the note, the symbol moves with it. The same
is true if you cut the note and then paste; the symbol is cut and pasted together
with the note.
- Note-dependent symbols. Only a few symbols belong to this category, for example
the arpeggio lines. In one way, these behave just like grace notes (see
“Grace
notes” on page 807). They always precede a note or chord. If there is no note
“after them” on a staff, they disappear.
- All other note layer symbols (tempo, dynamics, chords, etc.). Their position is
related to the bar. (Whichever way you edit the notes, these symbols remain
unaffected.) However, their positions are fixed within a measure. If you for example
change the spacing of the bars across the page (see
“Setting the number of bars
across the page” on page 873), this affects the symbols positions.
Layout layer
symbols
Note layer
symbols