User Preferences
The "Preferences" options allows the user to change the display of the score via a side menu. Changes are immediate and the results of which are seen on the score without closing the menu. The changes remain in force throughout the current "session". That is to say, once the browser, or browser tab, running the app is closed, any changes to the default settings are lost. Changes may be captured, however, by invoking the "Save" option on the Preference side menu. The preferences are saved to the device's "Downloads" folder with file name/type "preferences.snapp". The user may rename the file to be more descriptive, e.g, by music genre, themes, or individual music files. The saved files may also be moved to another folder on the device.
In the next session of the app (the next time it is started), the "Open" option on the Preferences menu can be invoked to load the previously saved file and option values. The "Open" dialog allows the user to navigate to wherever the file is located.
Close the Preferences menu by selecting the "X" at the top. Descriptions of each preference option follows.
Staff appearance preferences
Number of measures per row (values 1 - 8) - This is the primary means of controlling the size of staves. Fewer measures per row increases the size of the display while more measures per row decreases the size. This is a result of the fixed scaling horizontally and vertically of a staff.
Clef symbol (values WYSIWYP, traditional) - The WYSIWYP clefs are capitals T and B, while the traditional notation clefs, are the traditional stylized G-clef and F-clef. In the latter case, the clefs are not aligned with the clef lines as they are with traditional notation. With either option, the clefs are centered vertically with respect to their associated staves.
Clef size (values small, medium, or large) - This sets the size of the chosen clef symbols .
Margins (values narrow, moderate, or wide) - This sets the side margins of the virtual sheet music page . A narrower margin provides more space horizontally for the display of the staves. Tip: if a smaller number of measures per row is selected, choosing the moderate or wide margin values keep the measure from looking too stretched out.
Staff separation (values narrow, moderate, wide) - This controls the space between the treble and bass staves.
Lyrics font size (values small, medium, or large) - When a note is short and the corresponding lyric word or syllable is long, there can be overlap with adjacent lyrics. To mitigate this, the font size may be set smaller. On the other hand to be able to read more easily the lyrics, the font size may set larger. Of course, these can be conflicting goals.
Note appearance preferences
Guidance on which notehead preferences to choose follows this bullet list.
Accidental display (values auto, sharp, flat) - Refer to this chart on WikiPedia to see what are the traditional notation default usage of sharps and flats according the key signature of the score. Note that three key signatures may be represented with either sharps or flats. Choosing the sharp option results in a score being displayed with only sharps regardless of the key signature in traditional notation. Similarly, the flat option results in the work being displayed with only flats. For both of these options, they apply to any key signature and may override the traditional default. The auto option results in sharps or flats being displayed according to the definition in the input MusicXML file. Their values are set by the creator of the file. Tip: to have a consistent approach across all scores (and perhaps simplify learning), a student may decide to always use either the sharp or the flat options for all sheet music.
Note size (values small, medium, large) - This sets the size of the noteheads and thus adjusts the vertical size of the staff independent of the horizontal size (which is controlled by the measures per row preference). Beginners, users learning a new piece of music, or those with vision difficulties may find using the large size easier to read. For others, the smaller sizes result in a more compact sheet music display and print.
Natural symbol (filled black circle, hollow black circle) - The default WYSIWYP symbol is the hollow black circle.
Sharp symbol (combo rectangle, filled black triangle pointing up, hollow black triangle pointing up, traditional sharp) - The combo notehead is in between its adjacent naturals. The other notehead choices are on the same vertical position on the staff as its companion natural notehead. The traditional sharp symbol looks like this: #
Flat symbol (combo rectangle, filled black triangle pointing down, hollow black triangle pointing down, traditional flat) - The combo notehead is in between its adjacent naturals. The other notehead choices are on the same vertical position on the staff as its companion natural notehead. The traditional flat symbol that looks similar to a lower case "b".
Fingerings (hide, above, behind, left) - This controls the display position of fingerings with respect to the notehead.
Color-coded chords (enable, disable) - When enabled, the noteheads in a chord are color-coded to indicate the interval distance between adjacent notes. The lowest note, or root, is always black. Color-coding is limited to chords on the same staff and in the same voice.
Click here for guidance on choosing notehead symbols, and
Click here for a description of color-coded chord intervals