Music Technology

Worth 22.5% of the overall LC Music grade.

Examined in the practical exam.

Aim:
• Recreate a 16-bar score in 4 parts.
• Create 3 musical and audible edits.
• Print, save, close and retrieve your score.

In the exam you can:

• Have the score you are recreating beside you.
• Have the letter names of the notes written under each note.
• List your edits on the score.

In the exam you cannot:

• Have any instructions on how to carry out inputting, editing,
printing, etc. written on your score.
 Creating the score

• Double click on the Musescore icon on the desktop.

• Click on the New Score icon.

• Enter the title name and composer and click Continue.

• Double click on Choose Instruments.

Choosing the instruments
Click on Woodwinds.

Double click on Flute

Double click on Oboe
Double click on Oboe
Double click on Bassoon
Click Continue
Choosing the key signature
Click the key signature with 1 flat.

Choosing the tempo

Tick Tempo.
Highlight the 120.0 BPM, delete and type in 100.
Click Continue.
Choosing the time signature
Arrow down on the first number of the time signature to change it
from 4 to 3.
Choosing bar numbers
Highlight 32, delete and type in 16.

Click Done.
The score must contain the same number of bars on each system as
your printed version.
Click on the bar line for bar 4 and hit Enter.
Do this for every 4 bars.

Your score is now created.

 Inputting the notes
To input notes, you must be in Note Inputting mode.
Click on the Note Inputting icon.
Click on the crotchet and using the mouse place the crotchet on D.

From here you can use shortcuts. The most efficient and accurate
way of inputting notes is using the following shortcuts on the
keyboard.

Note Value Shortcuts Pitch Shortcuts

Use the letters A B C D E F

2 3 4 5 6 7

To undo / delete a note: Ctrl+Z

EXAMPLE
Flute – Bars 1-2
5 for crotchets – F A
4 for quavers - D
3 for semiquavers - E F G F E D C

Adding sharp signs in front of notes

The last note of bar 2 is C#. To add the sharp sign:
Hit the arrow back key ← to highlight the C.
Hit the arrow up key ↑ to add the sharp sign.

Hit the arrow forward key → to unhighlight the C# and move to the
next beat.
To move a pitch up an octave
Example
Flute – Bar 3 – The first note is the A on the first ledger line above the
stave.
When you input A it will be placed in the second space. Musescore
will place a pitch closest to the previous pitch.

To change the pitch to the A on the first ledger line:

Hit the arrow back key ← to highlight the A.
Hold down Ctrl and press the arrow up key ↑.
The pitch will now move up an octave.
Press the arrow forward key → to move onto the next note.
To move a pitch down an octave
Example
Flute – Bar 3 – The second note is D on the stave.
When you input D it will be placed on third ledger space above the
stave.
c

To change the pitch to D on the stave:

Press the arrow back key ← to highlight the high D.
Hold down Ctrl and press the arrow down key ↓.
The pitch will now move down an octave.
Press the arrow forward key → to move onto the next note.
 Playback
After inputting all parts of the score, you will be asked to play back
what you have inputted.
Click on the Note Inputting icon to come out of inputting mode.
Click on the first note of the flute part.
Press the spacebar to play.

Press spacebar again to stop.

 Edits
You must perform three edits to the score.
The edits must be musical and audible.
The three edits you will perform are:
• Tempo change.
• Rhythm change.
• Transpose to a new key

Edit 1 - Tempo
To change the tempo:
Double click on the metronome marking.
Delete 100 and type in 70.
Click anywhere on the score to set the new metronome marking.
Playback to hear the change of tempo.
 Edit 2 - Rhythm
To change the rhythm:
You will change the first crotchet in each part to a dotted crotchet.
Click on the first note in the flute part.
Press and hold the shift key.
Press arrow down key ↓ 3 times to highlight the first note in the
other 3 parts.

Click on the dot in the menu to change to a dotted crotchet.

Playback to hear the change in rhythm.
 Edit 3 - Transpose
To transpose the score up a major third:
First, you need to highlight the score. To do this click on the first note
of the flute part and then press Ctrl+A.

Click on Tools in the menu bar.

Click on Transpose.

Tick the By Interval box.

Click on Perfect Unison for the dropdown menu.
Choose Major Third.
Click Ok.
 Edit 3 - Transpose

Your score will now transpose to F# minor.

Playback to hear the transposition.

 Print, Save, Close, Retrieve
The final part of the Music Technology practical is to show the
examiner that you can print, save, close and retrieve your score.

Print
Click on the Print Icon in the menu bar.
Tell the examiner that to print you would click on Print.
(You do not actually print the score in the exam, you just need to
show that you know how. Click on Cancel to come out of Print
option).

Save
To save your score click on File, click on Save As in the dropdown
menu, choose Desktop and click Save.
 Print, Save, Close, Retrieve
Close
To close Musescore, click on File to open the dropdown menu.
Click on Close.

Retrieve
Go to the Desktop and double click on your Score.
Your score will reopen.
This will end your Music Technology portion of your practical exam.