Display Adjustments in SmartMusic

Most of the adjustments which affect the display of the music are in the View menu :

Full screen changes the entire display to full screen - use the “Zoom In” & “Zoom out” (see below) to change the size of the music;

MUSIC ON SCREEN shuts off the display of the music - very useful if you are trying to memorize a piece;

CURSOR
turns “on” or “off” the display of the cursor. I often hear the complaint that the cursor is late. If you stop and watch, the cursor is 100% right on each note (or beat) as it begins. As our reading of music improves, we begin to read slightly ahead of where we are playing - so the cursor seems to be late.

Unfortunately, you can not adjust the cursor to read slightly ahead but you can adjust what it follows with the next two choices:
CURSOR follows the beat or CURSOR follows the note

(the second used to be the only choice). Because it depends on your level of playing and experience, you will have to experiment to see which Cursor choice is best for you. I suggest “Cursor follows the beat” but only looking at the cursor in very tricky spots - experiment.

the last four choices:
First page
Previous page
Next page
Last page
are useful for quickly navigating the music display - useful, for example, for changing where to begin play (by clicking the bar & beat).

One other option for the display is located in the Controls menu:
Check Pin control strip (bottom Controls menu - this can also be done while a file is playing by checking the “pin” in the top left of the play screen).
The Pin control strip displays Tempo (once you have clicked the number, you can easily change the tempo while playing, by using the up or down arrows on your keyboard), Location (bar and beat) and My part & Accompaniment (both of which can be turned on or off while playing).

TIP: Most of the “Short cuts” listed in the Controls and View menus work while a file is playing.

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