Once you have loaded a MIDI file into MuseScore, pressing the space bar will start/stop playback. For more playback controls, turn on the Play Panel. Just press F11, or do the following:
There are three sliders in the center; move them up and down to control the
Below the Metronome slider are two buttons. The left button will add a count-in measure (very cool!), and the right button will turn on/off the metronome during playback. Additionally, you can use the Position slider at the top to quickly move through the file, and below it are the rewind, play/stop buttons. The next three buttons allow you to set start/end points for looping a section of the music.
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When I encounter a particularly challenging passage, I find I must repeat it many times, often quite slowly. Through the accumulated familiarity my fingers come to know the combinations and patterns.
MIDI files allow great flexibility in controlling the playback. In particular they allow you to loop a passage so you can practice it in a concentrated way. This capability is built right into MuseScore. Next to the play/stop button is the loop button (see the image below). All you have to do is select the passage, click the loop button and then play! The image below shows a passage in the last movement of Telemann's trio sonata TWV42:g9 which is quite exposed and technically challenging. To select the passage, simply click at the start, then Shift-click at the end of the passage. To turn on looping click the loop button. Now click play (or hit the space bar to play/stop). The tempo can be easily changed via the Play Panel: click View in the main menu, then Play Panel. Move the tempo slider up or down to whatever tempo you wish. Perhaps you have seen how enthusiastic I am about the free music notation program MuseScore. A couple of the most significant reasons are that you can easily play MIDI files and also print out the sheet music parts. Because it is such a full-featured program the number of controls, menus, etc can be daunting, but the basic features are available with just a click or two of the mouse. Face your fear and you will be handsomely rewarded! The first order of business is to download and Install MuseScore (Windows, MacOS, Linux, BSD). There are many Tours and Tutorials, in case you wish to delve deeper, but for now... To play a MIDI file do this:
To print out a part do this:
If you run into trouble or have any questions, I will be glad to help out!
I just learned of MuseScore today, but it is a quite mature product. I installed it and was immediately blown away by its rich feature set! The notation quality is second to none that I could see, not Sibelius, not Finale.
Examples of the sheet music you can make with MuseScore can be seen here: VistaMare Musica It will import MIDI files and let you extract and print professional-grade sheet music from it! Any music you find on this site can be turned into sheet music with almost no effort. It will also play any score you import into it, and the synthesized instruments are much better than I have heard with any other MIDI player. It even has a "viola da gamba" instrument! Since I am just starting to get acquainted with MuseScore I would appreciate hearing what your experience with it is. Like it, loath it, notable or lacking features, ease of use, etc. |
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Formerly a successful software engineer and then Mathematics instructor, I am now retired and keep busy as an amateur musician of early music. Archives
August 2021
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