Tips Para Sibelius 7

Selection for Copying

All Sibelius users should know that to quickly copy notes or objects like text or lines, one simply selects the desired notes or object (s) and then Alt or Opt clicks on the desired position in the destination bar (although in the many trainings that I have done around the country, I’m still surprised how many users do not know this!) The result of selecting and then Alt- or Opt-clicking objects (rather than notes) is that the selection is copied exactly to where one clicks the mouse, both vertically and horizontally.

What users may not know about quick copying is that if one is attempting to copy an object like an expression mark and adds Shift to Alt or Opt when clicking, the result is that the selection is copied to its default vertical position. This is very useful when quick copying text objects like dynamic marks around a score because one does not need to be careful about where one clicks vertically, and there will be fewer markings that will require repositioning after copying.

Now, even fewer users will know this: if one multiple selects a number of objects in a staff that have been moved to a vertical and horizontal position different from the default, and then Alt or Opt clicks into another position in the score, the result is that the objects are copied with their vertical and horizontal position in memory. Here is an example:

1. In a multiple instrument score, create a p expression mark followed by a crescendo line, f, diminuendo, and a final p.

2. Multiple select (click the first object, and then Ctrl- or Command-click the rest) all of the objects and use Ctrl+ or Command+down arrow keys to move all the objects down a bit all at once.

3. Then use the right arrow to move them to the right a bit

4. With the objects still selected, Alt- or Opt-click into the same horizontal position in another instrument staff in the score.

You will see that the copied objects in the destination staff retain the same vertical and horizontal position relative to the staff as the objects in the source staff. Turn on Selection Rulers or Object Rulers to confirm the vertical position: View > Rulers > Object Rulers. The Magnetic Layout vertical group line will confirm the horizontal position.

Selection for Editing

I always say the following in my Beginning to Intermediate Sibelius workshop:

“How one selects things in Sibelius often determines what one can do with the contents of that selection.”

A clear example of this is selecting bars by simply clicking in the bar with the mouse or Ctrl+ or Command+clicking in the bar with the mouse. The first, with the single blue marquis (Sibelius 6 or earlier) or blue highlight (Sibelius 7), is mainly for the purpose of editing; and the second, with the double purple marquis (Sibelius 6) or purple highlight (Sibelius 7) is mainly for the purpose of deleting bars.

But there are other interesting examples such as this one: if one selects a single note with an accidental by clicking on just the notehead (so it turns blue), and then uses the arrow keys to move it up or down, the accidental disappears. However, if one selects a passage of notes with accidentals so that there is a blue marquee (v6) or highlight (v7) around or on the passage, and then moves them all with the arrow keys, the accidentals remain, maintaining their intervallic relationships: two different ways of selecting, two different visual cues, two different results when editing.

So the question is: if I want to move just one note and have the accidental remain, how do I select it so that it has the blue marquee (v6) or the blue highlight (v7) on it? As we have seen, selecting just the notehead does not give us the desired result. The answer? Simply passage select the single note by clicking on it and then Shift-clicking on it, or use the following keyboard shortcut and mouse-sweep the notehead: Shift or Command mouse-sweep, starting outside the staff. Either way, the single note will now have a blue marquee around it (v6), or it will have the new v7 highlight on it! Now it can be moved with the arrow keys, maintaining the accidental.

Another type of selection having to do with editing involves editing accidentals. For example, if you have a passage of notes that are all G-flats, outside the key, and you decide they should all be G-naturals, or maybe you want to copy the passage to a place where they are all G-naturals, clicking on the first notehead and turning off the flat causes the next note to have the flat accidental. This is purposeful, as it allows one to edit just one accidental, leaving all notes after the edit unchanged. But if one wanted what we first started out to accomplish, it would be very frustrating to have to click and edit each note! Instead, make a passage selection of all the G-flats and then click the natural from the Keypad or hit 7 on the numeric keypad. You can also use this method to add flats or sharps to a selection.

Finally, one should be aware of the ability to edit over hidden staves: when creating scores with divisi staves, it is usually necessary to create additional staves for the divisi instruments so that the divisi instruments have separate parts. Once these staves are created and the music is copied and edited for the individual parts. One hides the music (Show in Parts) and then hides the individual part staves so that they do not appear in the score.

If there is additional editing needed to be done to the score after the separate part staves have been created, one does not always have to go into Panorama view to edit the hidden staves. It really depends on what the edit is. For example, if the edit is to remove all the slurs in a passage across all the instruments in the score, one can remain in page view, select all the visible instruments in the score by making a lasso passage selection across the material, filter slurs and hit delete. Because a passage selection has been made, the slurs will be deleted from the hidden staves as well.

Note Selection: non-mouse

Once one is in the score with something selected, one can easily select notes or bars without using the mouse:

1. To select to the right by note, simply use the shortcut:

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