Welcome to the Overture Demo. This tutorial provides you with a brief overview of the capabilities of Overture. It is designed to give you a good feel of the program; however, it does not cover everything. Feel free to poke around in the program to explore the many other features availiable in Overture.
Overture Terms
Overture uses terms common to both standard musical notation and MIDI sequencing. Overture requires this mix of terminology because of its immense power to both notate and play a musical score. You must know these terms before you begin to learn Overture.
Symbol
This term is applied loosely to any note, rest, beam, tie, ornament, etc. that comprises a musical score.
Staff
A staff is a set of horizontal lines on which symbols are placed to represent music.
Most musical instruments require only a single staff to notate their lines, such as the violin solo shown in Figure 1.2.
 
Figure 1.2: Single Staff Notating a Violin Performance
Harps and most keyboard instruments (such as piano or harpsichord) use two staves, as shown in Figure 1.3.
 
Figure 1.3: Piano Notation Example
Organs often use three staves (adding the third for the bass pedals).
Track
A track is very closely related to a staff; staves notate the MIDI data contained in tracks. Overture notates each track on a single staff, so any instruments that require multiple staves also require multiple tracks.
Voice
A voice is a single rhythmic line within a track. Some tracks require more than one voice to notate and playback correctly. Specifically:
ΓÇóIf you notate more than one instrument per staff, youΓÇÖll need to use multiple voices to distinguish between the multiple instruments.
ΓÇóIf you notate a polyphonic instrument (such as a piano) that plays different rhythmic lines simultaneously, youΓÇÖll need to use multiple voices to distinguish between the multiple rhythmic lines.
If you score an instrument such that it plays only a single melodic line, youΓÇÖll need to assign only one voice to the staff (as shown in Figure 1.4).
 
Figure 1.4 Single Voice Example
If you assign two or more instruments to a single staff (or notate a polyphonic instrument playing different rhythmic lines), youΓÇÖll need to assign different voices to each instrument or rhythmic line (as shown in Figure 1.5).
 
Figure 1.5: Multiple Voice Example
Overture allows you to assign up to eight voices to a single trackΓÇöthis supports even the most complicated rhythmic intricacies.
System
A system is a group of staves, each of which is played at the same time as all the other staves in the system. All staves in a system are joined by a single vertical line connecting their left sides.
 
Figure 1.6: System Example (this one for a woodwind quintet)
Tool
Tools allow you to perform very specific Overture functions. Different tools allow you to insert notes and other symbols, to group various notes, to add staves, alter noteheads, create lyrics, and to perform many other useful tasks. You use OvertureΓÇÖs tool bar to access individual tools.
Palette
Palettes contain groups of related tools. For instance, the Dynamics palette contains all the individual dynamics tools (such as the ΓÇ£Pianissimo ToolΓÇ¥, ΓÇ£Mezzo-Forte ToolΓÇ¥, ΓÇ£Forte ToolsΓÇ¥, etc.).
Numerical
Numericals are variables that you can edit on the Macintosh screen. Numericals usually contain numeric data.
 
Figure 1.7: Some Typical Numericals
There are a couple ways to edit the value of a numerical:
ΓÇóUse the mouse as a slider
To change a numerical in this way, press and hold the mouse button over the numerical, then drag the mouse in a vertical direction. Pushing the mouse away from you increases values; pulling it toward you decreases values
ΓÇóType to set values
Click the numerical, then type the desired value. The numerical changes to reflect the new value. You will not be allowed to enter invalid values.
Overture Windows
Overture has so many features that it groups related functions together and places them in separate windows. The following sections present a brief overview of each Overture window.
Score Window
The Score window displays a traditional music score complete with notes, symbols, lyrics, staves, systems, and anything else you want in your printed musical score. Use the Score window to enter, view and modify your musical score.
Tool Bar
The Tool Bar contains buttons that open all of OvertureΓÇÖs Tool palettes. Use the Tool Bar to select tools for entering and modifying music in the Score window.
Transport Window
The Transport window contains buttons to control MIDI recording and playback, and a pop-up menu to select the MIDI Thru Instrument.
Tracks Window
The Tracks window defines the characteristics of all the tracks in your Overture score. Use the tracks window to:
ΓÇóname tracks
ΓÇóenable tracks
ΓÇóassign MIDI playback devices, programs, channels and transpositions
ΓÇóspecify the number of voices in a track
ΓÇódetermine default voice stem directions in a track
Graphic Window
The Graphic window graphically displays the MIDI data in a selected track using a piano roll and strip chart display. Use the Graphic window to edit any MIDI data in any track. Overture applies any changes you make in the Graphic window to the Score window and vice versa.
Chords Window
The Chords window contains up to 256 user-specified chord suffixes as well as root and bass names. Use the Chords window to insert chord names into your score.
Lyrics Window
The Lyrics window is like a miniature word processor that you use to enter and edit lyrics. Use the Lyrics window to type or modify lyrics and assign them to specific notes in the score.
Step Input Window
Use the Step Input window to enter a score by recording MIDI data one step at a time. You can enter notes, chords, or rhythmic slashes in the Step Input window.
The Step Input window is particularly convenient if your playing technique is rather poor, or if you want to quickly enter lead sheet chords and guitar rhythms.
Overture Menus
Overture has numerous menus under which it groups related commands and options. The following sections present a brief overview of OvertureΓÇÖs different menus.
File
Use the File menu commands to save, create, open, export, and print the various scores created by Overture.
Edit
Use the Edit menu commands to cut/copy/paste symbols, lyrics, MIDI data, or other elements of an Overture score. Edit commands use a Clipboard concept common to most Macintosh programs. Overture uses both an internal Clipboard and the Macintosh Clipboard depending on the type of data.
Score
Use the Score menu commands to perform score-related tasks such as: staff location and appearance; system groupings; and page setup.
Measures
Use the Measures menu commands to perform measure-related tasks such as: inserting and deleting measures; wrapping measures; setting key, meter and tempo; justifying symbols in a measure, and more.
Notes
Use the Notes menu commands to perform many common Overture tasks such as: modifying notes; transposing; beaming; grouping; converting between traditional notation and raw MIDI data, and more.
Options
Use the Options menu to set numerous Overture operating, editing, and display options such as: auto beaming and positioning; metronome values; recording choices; mode selection, and more.
Windows
Use the Windows menu commands to open (or make active) any Overture window.
Font/Size/Style
The Font, Size and Style menus become available either when the Lyrics window is active, or when youΓÇÖre using any of the text tools. Use these menus to assign a font to the selected text, and to define its size and style.
