Adding lyrics

A lyric syllable attaches to a specific note — not to a free-floating text box — so it moves and reflows with the note it belongs to.

Entering lyrics mode

F7 L starts verse 1 below the staff; F7 U starts verse 1 above it (for split-part choral writing); 2/3/4 start verses 2 through 4 as additional stacked lines below the staff. A note can hold one syllable per verse at the same time.

Typing

Once in lyrics mode:

• Space commits what you’ve typed and moves to the next lyric-eligible note (skipping rests, crossing barlines as needed).
• Hyphen (-) commits the same way but marks the word as continuing, producing correct mid-word hyphenation automatically.
• Space with nothing typed doesn’t add a blank syllable — it extends the previous note’s syllable over the current note with a melisma line, then moves on, so holding one syllable across several notes is just repeated empty Space presses.
• Backspace deletes a character; deleting the last one clears the syllable and steps back a note.
• Arrow keys move between lyric-eligible notes without committing anything; Tab/Shift+Tab jump to the first/last note of the next or previous bar.
• Enter commits the current syllable and exits lyrics mode entirely — it doesn’t switch verses. To add a different verse, exit and start it with its own shortcut (F7 U/2/3/4).

Tips

• Hyphenation and melisma extenders are both handled for you as you type — there’s no separate “mark this as a melisma” step beyond the empty-Space presses described above.