On 2 Oct 2006 at 14:37, Dennis Bathory-Kitsz wrote: > At 02:03 PM 10/2/06 -0400, David W. Fenton wrote: > >The equation may be different for different people, but I don't see > >the utility in learning the insanely arbitrary keyboard shortcuts, > >unless one has no possibility of ever using a MIDI keyboard for > >input. > > Yeah, Midi keyboards are especially good for quarter-tones. :)
Well, that's different! > Seriously, though, the computer keyboard shortcuts don't seem > arbitrary to me, though. I meant the keyboard shortcuts for notes, not for all the things you mention, which I use all the time (since there's no way to do any of those things on a MIDI keyboard). > They're all mnemonics for me, even if they > weren't intended as such. / cut (break) beam toggle, ' launch the > little voice (voice 2), P parenthesis, L lift & flip stem toggle, O do > not enter (hide note), ; demure (grace) note , + sharpen, - flatten, > BKSP back over & squash silent (turn into rest), * sticky-splat the > note toggle. I know all of these shortcuts, but mostly don't use any of the cosmetic ones until the second pass (i.e., I don't do anything about breaking beams or stem direction until the second pass). > Arrows/shift-arrows, Navigating up and down the staff with the arrow keys is so incredibly slow that I couldn't imagine that was the method anyone claiming any speed was actually using. I assumed they were using the pitch shortcuts, which in Speedy are pretty nonsensical (i.e., there is no mapping to actual note names, just an octave for each row of the keyboard). > insert, delete all do their stuff. > But as I said, it's been years of doing it, and it's mostly physical > memory. I have no physical memory on a musical keyboard, in part > because of aphasia (I was denied my college degree because there were > no disability laws in 1970 and I couldn't work the piano keyboard). I used Finale for 6 years without a MIDI keyboard, so I know all these shortcuts very, very well, and also have plenty of experience entering substantial amounts of music with these methods (Finale didn't add the pitch shortcuts until after I'd gotten a MIDI keyboard). I can put in music many times more quickly with a MIDI keyboard than I ever did without it. > Because entry and editing are basically identical in Speedy, I need to > learn only one set of actions to function quickly. If Speedy suddenly > disappeared, I'd have to learn most of what I use in Finale over. It's > the only entry/edit method I've ever used. Since my work is all putting parts into Finale that already exist in order to make scores, the MIDI keyboard is much faster. And "editing" is a second step after the entry of notes and rhythms. For my composing/arranging, I use a combination of MIDI keyboard and computer keyboard, about half and half. This may be the difference, that the people who find the MIDI keyboard faster are working from complete sources and inputting them into Finale, and those working fast with the computer keyboard are creating music on the fly, with no significant pre-existing source to copy from. -- David W. Fenton http://dfenton.com David Fenton Associates http://dfenton.com/DFA/ _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list [email protected] http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
