Articulations, fermatas, and breath marks

The Articulations tab (F3) is mostly a direct-toggle cluster: press a key, done — no end point to pick, unlike a spanner (see Creating spanners for the contrast).

Direct toggles

Keys 1–5 apply staccato, accent, tenuto, marcato, and staccatissimo to the selected note or notes. Each is an independent toggle — applying one doesn’t clear another already on the same note.

Fermata, breath mark, and caesura

Three submenus hold marks that apply to a moment rather than one note specifically:

• Fermata (6) — 5 variants (Normal, Short, Long, Very long, Square); valid on a rest as well as a note, since a fermata holds a moment, not a pitch. Hold Shift for the inverted (below-staff) form.
• Breath mark (7) — Comma, Tick, or Salzedo, placed after the selected note.
• Caesura (8) — Normal, Thick, Short, or Curved, marking a brief silence between notes.

Arpeggio

A opens Standard, Up, Down, or Non-arpeggiate — rolls a selected chord rather than a single note.

Flipping above or below the staff

X moves every articulation on the selected note to the other side of the staff — they’re stacked as one group, so there’s no picking one to flip and leaving the rest. Press X again to hand the group back to whichever side the engine would have chosen (usually the side opposite the stem), rather than pinning the opposite one: a group only carries your override while you actually disagree with that choice. Select a range first and X flips every note’s group the range covers, each from its own side.

Clearing

Reapplying an articulation that’s already there removes it — press its key a second time. To remove every mark on a note in one step, search “Clear articulations” in the command palette (^K) — it no longer has its own keyboard shortcut, since X now flips.

Tips

• These marks stack independently — applying one doesn’t clear another already on the same note.