Marks and expression

Every mark on this page follows the same two rules, so there is only one thing to learn:

• The target is the note you just entered while input mode is on, otherwise the note (or chord) under the caret — or the selection, where a selection makes sense.
• Pressing again removes it. Marks toggle, cycles step forward and eventually step off. Each press is one undo step.

Ties

Keys	Action	Applies
t	tie · tie chain (selection)	any time

With no selection, t ties the caret’s note back to its predecessor — including across the barline when the note opens a measure. The pitches have to match; battuta refuses rather than write a tie between different notes.

With a run selected, t ties every consecutive pair in it, which is how you notate a note held over several measures. The same selection unties it.

Chords tie the same way, pitch by pitch: each note of the chord is tied to the note of the same pitch in its neighbour — another chord or a single note — and the notes with no partner are left alone, so a chord moving to the next one holds only the notes the two have in common. A chord that shares no pitch with its neighbour is refused.

One pitch held over three notes and a barline.

Tie chains are handled as chains, not as isolated pairs: the shared note in the middle gets the right MEI value, and untying any link splits the chain into valid remainders instead of orphaning half a tie. Playback and rendering follow automatically — a chain sounds as one attack for its whole length.

Slurs

Keys	Action	Applies
shift + s	slur (selection) / double sharp 𝄪	any time

Select a run and press shift + s, or place the caret and press it to slur to the next event. The same endpoints again remove the slur.

A slur over a selected run; the run may cross any number of measures.

Cross-staff slurs work too: shift-click a note on one staff and a note on another — that gives an endpoint pair — then press shift + s.

With nothing selected, shift + s writes a double sharp instead. On a chord it opens the per-note picker.

Articulations

Keys	Action	Applies
,	staccato	any time
;	accent	any time
shift + :orshift + >	marcato	any time
<	staccatissimo	any time
=	tenuto	any time
h	fermata	any time

Staccato, accent, marcato, staccatissimo, tenuto.

Marcato is the accent key shifted, and staccatissimo is the staccato key shifted — so there are two keys to remember, not four. (On AZERTY the shifted characters differ but the physical keys are the same.) Tenuto has a key of its own, = — a line, and the same key on QWERTY and AZERTY. Like the others it toggles, and a note can carry several: a tenuto beside a staccato is a portato. Playback holds a tenuto note for its full value; beside a staccato the staccato wins, so a portato plays short.

h puts a fermata over the target.

A fermata on the final note.

Ornaments

w cycles through the ornaments: on a chord it starts with the arpeggio, then tremolo, trill, mordent, then off.

Arpeggiated chord, tremolo, trill, mordent.

Dynamics

p with nothing selected cycles the volume marking on the target note: p → mp → mf → f → off.

The volume cycle.

shift + i cycles attack intensity instead: sf → sfz → rinf → rfz → off. A note carries one dynamic marking at a time, so starting one cycle clears a marking from the other.

sf, sfz, rinf, rfz.

Why shift+i and not i

Plain i is note input, which you reach for far more often. Attack intensity is the shifted neighbour.

Hairpins

p with a run selected cycles a hairpin over it: none → crescendo → diminuendo → none. Runs that cross measures are fine, and so are endpoint pairs across staves.

A crescendo over four notes, then a diminuendo.

Pedal

shift + p over a selection puts the pedal down at the first note and up at the last.

Pedal down at the first note, released at the last.

Fingering

Keys	Action	Applies
⌥1–5	fingering (shift adds)	any timefixed
⌥6–0	finger change 3-1 (6–0 = new finger 1–5)	any timefixed

alt + 1…5 sets the fingering on the target note or chord. The same number again removes it, a different one replaces it. alt + shift + 1…5 stacks an extra finger, for chords and substitutions.

alt + 6…0 writes a change of finger on the existing fingering, where 6–0 stand for the new fingers 1–5: alt + 2 then alt + 6 gives 2-1. The same key removes the substitution; a different one replaces it.

Fingerings 1, 2, 3 and the substitution 3-1.

These bindings are matched by physical key, so the digit row behaves the same on every keyboard layout.

All mark bindings

Keys	Action	Applies
t	tie · tie chain (selection)	any time
,	staccato	any time
;	accent	any time
shift + :orshift + >	marcato	any time
<	staccatissimo	any time
=	tenuto	any time
h	fermata	any time
o	coda → To Coda → segno → fine → D.S. → D.C.	any time
w	ornament cycle (arpeggio/tremolo/trill/mordent)	any time
p	dynamics cycle · hairpin (selection)	any time
shift + i	attack intensity: sf → sfz → rinf → rfz	any time
shift + p	pedal (selection)	any time
⌥1–5	fingering (shift adds)	any timefixed
⌥6–0	finger change 3-1 (6–0 = new finger 1–5)	any timefixed

Next

• Repeats and form — segno, coda, voltas, and playing the form.
• Harmony lanes — chord symbols and Roman numerals.