For vocal songs, lyrics matter as much as the notes. Lyrics mode is a dedicated input mode that lets you walk through your melody beat by beat and type a syllable under each note — without ever touching the mouse.
Entering lyrics mode
Press L or click the Lyrics button on the toolbar. The lyrics panel opens in the bottom-right corner (temporarily replacing the effects panel), focused and ready to type. The score stays fully visible the whole time.
The typing flow
- Type a syllable, then press Enter or Space — the syllable is attached to the current beat and the cursor jumps to the next note, skipping rests automatically.
- The panel shows the previous and next syllables for context, so you always know where you are in the line.
- Use ← and → to move freely between beats — at the edge of the text field the arrows leave the field and move through the score (rests included), so fixing an earlier syllable is just a few keystrokes away.
- The Remove button clears the syllable on the current beat.
- Press Esc or L to leave lyrics mode; the effects panel comes back.
Korean, Japanese and other IME input
Lyrics mode is composition-aware: while your input method is still composing a character (for example assembling Hangul syllables), Enter and Space finish the composition instead of jumping to the next note. Type naturally — the mode only advances when a syllable is actually committed.
How lyrics appear
Each syllable is stored on its beat and rendered under the staff, aligned with its note — the standard convention in published vocal scores. Because lyrics live on beats, they stay attached correctly when you copy, paste or repeat passages.
Tip: one syllable per note is the norm. For a melisma (one syllable sung across several notes), put the syllable on the first note and leave the following beats empty.
See also: all keyboard shortcuts.