Help Page

Introductory Video

Note: The video is slightly out of date, as PipeScore is still changing based on user feedback. However, it is definitely still helpful to watch it - just be aware that a couple of things look slightly different. The mechanics are all the same.

Welcome! This page contains information about how to use PipeScore. You can search through this page using the Ctrl-F keyboard shortcut in your browser.

If you can't find what you're looking for, or come across any bugs, don't hesitate to contact me!

You can also hover over many elements in the main PipeScore interface. A relevant help message will be displayed in the bottom right hand corner of the screen.

Before you begin

You can use PipeScore on any operating system

PipeScore will not work on mobile, and it may look a bit squashed in small screens. If the interface is very cramped you could try zooming out in your browser, and then refreshing.

You must use a modern browser to use PipeScore. PipeScore should work on an up-to-date version of:

• Brave
• Chrome
• New Microsoft Edge
• Firefox

PipeScore will definitely not work on:

• Internet Explorer
• Old Microsoft Edge

Accounts

You can use PipeScore without an account if you wish, to try it out. Your scores will not be saved if you do, since there isn't an account to save them to.

Accounts are completely free. Create an account here.

Creating Scores

Once you have created your account, you will be redirected to the scores page. Here, you can create new scores, and modify the ones you already have. Press the New Score button to create a new score.

This will give you a quick-start menu, where you can specify a few things about your score. You can change these later.

You will then enter the full interface. You can return to the scores page by pressing the Home button in the top left.

To re-open a score in the interface, press the Edit button.

Saving

PipeScore stores all your scores on the cloud. To save your score as you are working on it, press the Save button in the top right of the top panel. PipeScore also automatically saves every minute.

Printing

You can print your score using the Print button under the Document tab.

You must set Margin to None on the print preview page to print it properly. Unfortunately this cannot be automatic, due to a security feature in browsers that prevents the browser meddling with printer settings - so you will have to meddle with them instead!

Interface

The interface in PipeScore consists of three parts:

• Top panel - the top panel contains sub-menus for different aspects of the score.
• Help pane - in the bottom left there is a help pane. Hover over anything in the top panel to see the documentation for it in this panel. You can disable it by ticking Disable Help under the Settings tab.
• Score - the rest of the interface is the score. This can be zoomed in or out using the slider at the bottom of the General Commands.

Selection

You can select many items on the score by clicking them. This highlights them orange. You can select notes, text and bars this way (for bars, make sure you click a blank part of the bar that doesn't have any notes in it).

For gracenotes, you can select single notes within the gracenotes by clicking on the note head. To select the whole gracenote, click the beam at the top of the gracenote that connects the notes.

If you want to select more than one item, click on the first item and then press shift and click the last item. This is useful for selecting multiple notes and/or bars.

Alternatively, you can click on the first item and then press Shift Right to expand the selection one item to the right, or Shift Left to detract the selection to the left by one.

Notes

You can add any note by clicking on the note length you want under the Note tab, then clicking on the score where you want to place the note. PipeScore automatically places notes the correct space apart.

You can use the keyboard shortcuts 1,2,3...7 to select different note lengths.

To stop inputting notes, press a blank area of the page, or press the Escape (esc) key.

To change a note's length, select it then click the note length you want under the Note tab. To change a note's pitch, select the note, then drag the note up or down.

You can delete a note by selecting it, then pressing the bin icon in the top panel.

You can create a triplet by adding three notes, selecting all three, then pressing the triplet icon under the Note tab. You can make a triplet turn back into normal notes by selecting any note in the triplet, then clicking the triplet icon.

You can tie a note to the note before it by selecting the note, then pressing the tie icon in the top panel.

You can add a dot to any note by selecting the note then pressing the . button in the top panel.

F and C notes can have naturals. Click the natural marking in the Note tab. This will only apply to notes that are either F or C.

Copying/Pasting

You can copy notes by selecting all the notes (or bars) you want to copy (see Selection above), then pressing the copy button in the top panel (the icon looks like two pages next to each other). You can also use the Ctrl-C shortcut if you want.

Then, select either the bar you want to paste them to, or a note that you want to paste them after, and press the paste button in the top panel (the icon looks like a clipboard). You can use the Ctrl-V shortcut if you prefer.

PipeScore will automatically keep the same bar breaks in the notes that you paste.

You can copy and paste between different scores (in different tabs), if your browser supports it. Chrome, Edge and Safari all support this, but Firefox does not, as a security measure. This page contains information about browser support for copying/pasting between tabs for different browsers and versions - versions marked with block green should work. Or you can just try it!

Gracenotes

Single Gracenotes

You can add a single gracenote by clicking the single gracenote under the Gracenote tab, then clicking on where you want to place it.

Embellishments

Embellishments in PipeScore are added in 'sets'. An example of a set is 'doubling', or 'taorluath'. PipeScore will then make sure that the embellishment placed on the score is the correct type based on the note that it's on. If you drag the note that the embellishment is on, it will update automatically.

To add an embellishment:

• Select the gracenote you want under the Gracenote tab. Remember that PipeScore will choose the correct embellishment based on the note that you place it on, so for example, the C doubling button will place a B doubling if you add it to a B.
• Click either on the note you want to place it on, or just before the note you want to place it on. That will place the embellishment
• Press Escape (esc) or click the background of the score to stop inputting gracenotes.

You can change which gracenote is on a note by selecting the note, and then clicking the gracenote type you want under the Gracenote tab.

You can select individual notes in gracenotes by clicking on the gracenote head. You can then delete the individual note or drag it up or down. If you do this on a reactive gracenote, it will cease to be reactive, so it won't react to changes on the parent note.

You can select an entire gracenote by clicking on the beams that connect the gracenote together.

Bars

You can place a bar by selecting the bar before where you want to place it, then pressing Add bar before under the Bar tab. Alternatively, you can select the bar after where you want to place it and click Add bar after under the Bar tab.

You can delete a bar by selecting the bar, then pressing the bin icon in the top panel.

You can change the repeats on a bar using the controls under the Bar tab - you can change the start and end of the bar to either have a normal barline, a repeating start/end of part, or a non-repeating start/end of part.

You can change the size of a bar by clicking on the barlines and dragging left or right.

If you want to move a bar to the previous stave (line), then you can use the Move to previous line button. You can only do this for the first bar(s) in a stave.

If you want to move a bar to the next stave (line), then you can use the Move to next line button. You can only do this for the last bar(s) in a stave.

Lead ins

You can add lead-ins similar to adding bars, using the Add lead in before and Add lead in after buttons under the Lead In tab. This will add a lead-in bar, which you can add notes to.

All bar options work on lead-ins as well: you can select and delete lead-ins, change their time signatures, and everything else, using the options from the bar menu.

Time Signatures

You can edit the time signature of a bar by selecting the bar and then pressing Edit Time Signature under the Bar tab. This will bring up a edit menu that allows you to change what the time signature will be.

You can bring up this edit menu of any time signature on the score by clicking the time signature.

On the edit menu, choosing the Cut time or Common time option will set the time signature to use these timings (which are used in reels, for example).

On the edit menu, under Advanced, you can change the note grouping. By default PipeScore will group notes based on the bottom number of the time signature (for example, 8 always uses 3-quaver length groups). However, in certain cases, such as irregular time signatures, this needs to be changed. In the Custom Grouping box, you can enter the number of quavers that should be in each group. For example, if you want to have a group of 4 quavers then a group of 3, type 4,3 in to the box. PipeScore will then group the notes in that bar (and any bars immediately afterwards that have the same time signature) with that grouping. PipeScore will also handle other note lengths (e.g. semiquavers) correctly based on the group lengths you gave.

Staves

You can add a stave by selecting a bar on the stave above where you want to place it and clicking the + After button under the Stave tab. Alternatively, you can select a bar on the stave below where you want to place it and click + Before.

You can delete a stave by selecting and deleting all the bars on the stave.

You can select a stave by selecting any item in that stave.

Stave Gaps

You can modify the gap between all the staves by changing the Stave gap option under the Stave menu.

Text boxes

You can add a new text box by pressing the + button under the Text tab.

You can edit any text box by double clicking it.

You can delete a text box by selecting it and pressing the bin icon in the top panel.

You can move a text box by clicking and dragging it. You can tell PipeScore to centre it by pressing the Centre text button. You can also control the precise coordinates of a textbox by selecting it, then editing the values under the Set Text Box Position heading.

Second Timings

You can place new second timings under the Bar menu:

• The 1st/2nd button adds a second timing that includes both a first and second timing
• The 2nd button adds a second timing that includes only one timing

You can then drag the individual parts of the second timing around by clicking and dragging on the vertical lines of the second timing. PipeScore automatically snaps the lines to the closest note or bar on the score.

To change the text in the second timing, double click the text, and a dialogue should pop up.

Tunes

You can have multiple tunes in the same score.

To add a tune before/after the currently selected tune, use the options in the Tune menu.

You can also delete tunes under this menu. Furthermore, the gap between this tune and the previous tune may be adjusted here.

To select a tune, select any note or bar in the tune.

To edit the tune name/composer/tune type, double click them.

Pages

Pages are added and removed automatically, depending on how many staves there are.

If you want to reduce the number of pages, you'll have to reduce the default gap between the staves (or the gap between tunes).

Orientation

You can switch a score between portrait and landscape by pressing the Portrait and Landscape buttons under the Document tab.

Harmonies

PipeScore supports writing harmonies. To add a harmony part, select something on the stave you want to add a harmony to, and then use the Add harmony to selected staves button under the Stave menu. Alternatively, press the Add harmony to all staves button to add harmonies to the entire score. You can add as many harmony parts as you want.

To delete a harmony part, select anything on that stave (in either the harmony part, or the normal tune part), and press the Delete Harmony button under the Stave menu. This removes the harmony. If there are multiple harmonies, it removes the last one.

Playback

The playback controls are available under the Playback menu. The first time you play a score, be aware that it may take slightly longer than normal to download the samples.

The playback speed may be controlled using the slider under the Playback menu.

Keyboard Input

These shortcuts are handy for inputting notes using only the keyboard:

• Note length selection - use 1 for semibreve, 2 for minim, 3 for crotchet, e.t.c. Use the . (fullstop) key to dot the note length. Press Esc to stop inputting notes.
• Note input - use a to add an A to the current selected bar (or after the current selected note), b for B, e.t.c. For High G and High A use Shift G and Shift A
• Navigation - use the arrow keys (left/right) to move notewise. Hold down shift while doing this to expand the selection. Use Tab and Shift Tab to move barwise.
• Editing - use the . (fullstop) to dot the current note, t to tie it to the previous note, and the up and down arrow keys to move the note up or down a semitone. Use the Delete or Backspace keys to delete the current selected note.

Since changing the note length changes the length of the current selected note, the recommended way to input notes with the keyboard is to first add the note with the right pitch (e.g. by typing d) then by correcting the note length (e.g. by typing 4).

Sharing your scores

To share your score with someone else, copy the url and send it to them. They can then open the score to view it (they will not be able to edit it).

Alternatively, you can download the score using the Download PipeScore file button on the Document tab. Other users may then import and edit the score by clicking Import PipeScore File on the scores page, and choosing the file.

If you want to save your score in a format that can be viewed by someone without a PipeScore account, print the score, selecting PDF as the printer device in the print options menu.

Importing from other Applications

You can import bagpipe scores from other applications. These must be in the Bagpipe Music Writer format (files ending in .bww or .bmw). To do this click Import BWW File on the scores page.

Not all BWW files can be imported - if you are having problems, send me the file, and I'll see if I can sort it out for you.

Exporting to other Applications

You can also export scores to BWW format, which can be imported into many applications. Use the Export to BWW button under the Document menu for this.

This is quite new functionality, so it may be your score is not yet supported, or exports incorrectly. In this case, contact me with the problem, and I'll see if I can sort it out for you.

Keyboard Shortcuts

General

Movement

Note input

Getting Help

Please contact me - see the contact page.