Learning Step-Time and Alphabetic Entry

The video 2.4 Learning Step-Time and Alphabetic Entry will demonstrate all the most important aspects of this section. Watch it before you begin this section.

Flexi-time recording represented your first move away from inputting notes with the mouse. You’ve also developed some essential skills for editing without the mouse. Step-time and alphabetic entry round off this skill set. By the time you have completed this section, there won’t be many aspects of note entry and editing that you can’t do with keyboard strokes alone or a combination of keyboard strokes and a MIDI keyboard.

Step-time entry requires the use of a MIDI keyboard. If you don’t have one, you can simply practice alphabetic entry twice as much; the two are quite similar, with the use of the keyboard for step-time entry being the only real difference. In fact, there are plenty of occasions when you’ll choose one over the other, as the mood strikes you. For those copying music that is already written down (as opposed to arranging or composing on the fly in Sibelius), these are definitely the quickest ways to work.