---

Rhapsody

APDL/ProAction

Loading, Playing and Saving

To get started, double click on the ! Rhapsody icon in the directory window. Rhapsody will load and display its icon on the icon bar. Click on this icon with the Menu button. This opens the first Rhapsody menu:

The first two items have arrows next to them. If you move the mouse pointer over the arrow, another menu or window opens up.

The arrow to the right of the 'Info' option leads to a window which gives some useful information including information about the number of bytes available for storage of music data and the number of bytes you have used. (You do not have to worry about these figures very much because Rhapsody asks the WIMP system for more memory when it needs it and gives it back again afterwards. Open the Task Display window and load some long scores if you want to watch it happening.)

The 'Open Score' option leads to the Open score menu:

At any time, there are five scores available. Initially, these scores are all blank but when scores are loaded or saved, the entries in this menu show the appropriate names.

All the items in this menu are writable items. When you position the pointer over any of them a vertical red line, called the caret, appears. If you wish to give the new score a name, delete the word '<blank>' using the <Delete> or <Copy> keys and enter a new name (up to 11 characters long); then click on the name using the Select button (or press the <Return> key).

If you are not bothered about a name, just click on the item anyway. In fact, if you are not bothered about a name, you can by-pass the whole menu by clicking on the Rhapsody icon on the icon bar using the Select button.

'Quit' leads to an exit dialogue box which allows you to leave the program. If you have any unsaved edited scores. Rhapsody asks you to confirm your intentions.

Loading a score

There are three ways of loading a score into Rhapsody. In each case you must start by opening the appropriate directory viewer so that the desired file icon is visible.

1.  Drag the file icon onto the Rhapsody icon on the icon bar. This opens the new score in the next available blank score (if there is one).
2.  Double click on the file icon. This does exactly the same and is simpler.
3.  Drag the file icon into a score window. If the window already contains a score. Rhapsody issues a warning that you are about to over-write it.

In addition, you can load !Rhapsody and a score in one go by double clicking on any Rhapsody file icon at any time.

Try loading up one or two of the example files using each of the above methods. Some of the example files make use of additional voices supplied on the Rhapsody disc, to load the voices double click on the file 'Voicesi'.

Playing a score

First load a score as described previously or open the score window by clicking on the appropriate item in the Open Score menu. Now click with the Menu button on the score you wish to play. This opens the main Rhapsody menu

(If you used the Select or Adjust button by mistake, you will have seen a yellow box appear. This is called the Cursor and is dealt with in Chapter 3. Don't worry, just press the middle Menu button.)

Before you try playing a score for the first time, you must make sure that the play options are set correctly by following the arrow to the right of the 'Options' item on the Rhapsody menu. This leads to...

The Options menu

One or more of these options may already be ticked. If you wish to play your score on a MIDI instrument connected to a MIDI interface in your computer, choose the 'MIDI' option by clicking on it with either the Select or Adjust buttons. A tick will then appear beside the option showing that it has been activated. (If you have not got a MIDI interface, or if the MIDI module has been '*UNPLUGged, then this option will be greyed out and you will not be able to change it.)

If you wish to play the score through the internal speaker (or an external one connected to the socket at the back of the computer), choose the 'Speaker' option.

With the 'Scroll' option selected, the music scrolls while it is being played.

With the 'Beat' option selected, the computer sounds a click on each beat of the bar. This is very useful when transcribing music from a keyboard.

With the 'Repeats' option selected, repeats are played where appropriate. When editing a score, it is often better to turn this option off.

The five options below the dotted line allow you to select the speed at which the music is played and are mutually exclusive - ie you can obviously only select one at any one time. The five speeds available are;

• Very slow  50%
  
• Slow  75%
  
• Normal  100%
  
• Fast  125%
  
• Very fast  150%
  

I said earlier that you can make your choices by using either the Select or Adjust buttons. In line with standard RISC OS practice, if you use the Select button, the menu closes automatically, but if you use the Adjust button, the menu stays open allowing you to make a second choice immediately, or to go back to the Rhapsody menu direct.

It is worth mentioning here that each open score has a unique set of options and that these options are saved along with the score. Don't be surprised, therefore, if you have more than one score open, to see a different set of ticks to the ones you may have expected. Having made sure that the correct options are selected and that any external equipment is suitably connected, bring up (or go back to) the Rhapsody menu and follow the arrow to the right of the 'Play from' option which leads to...

The Play from menu

If you choose one of the first three options, the music plays from the start of the music, from the cursor (if it exists somewhere in this score) or from the first bar which is currently displayed in the score window.

The fourth option is writable. When you position the mouse arrow over this item, a small red 'caret' appears. You may now delete the figure 1 (using the <Delete> key and enter another number from the keyboard. When you press <Return>, or choose this option with the mouse, the music will play from the bar you have specified.

Note that unlike Maestro, Rhapsody tunes are played almost immediately that you click on the play option. The music does not (usually) get interrupted while the computer is busy doing something else but this may happen if you have some processor intensive task being performed.

The 'Go to:' option on the Rhapsody menu is very similar and leads to...

The Go to: menu

Choosing one of these options simply moves the window to the specified position in the score. Note that it does not move the cursor (which may therefore be hidden off the screen). If you wish to move the cursor as well, simply click on the appropriate place on the score as well.

The fourth item is writable as before.

Saving a score

In order to save your masterpieces on disc, bring up the Rhapsody menu from the score you wish to save and follow the arrow to the right of the 'Score' option. This leads to...

The Score menu

Move over the 'Save' item to bring up...

The Save window

This window has a Rhapsody file icon, a writable field containing the score name (in so far as it is known to the program) and an OK box.

There are two ways of using this window, but in both cases you must first ensure that the writable field contains the filename you want to use. If you are saving the music for the first time. then this field will contain the default name 'Score'. Simply move the mouse arrow over the field to gain the caret and write in the new name. If the score was previously loaded from disc, then the field will contain a complete filename including all the directories etc., this is known as a pathname. It is not necessary to edit all of this; simply change the last word in the field.

If the field contains a full pathname, then you can save the score by clicking on the OK box.

Regardless of whether a full pathname is present or not, you can also save the score in any directory you like. First open the appropriate directory window. Then 'drag' the Rhapsody file icon into the directory in the usual RISC OS way. (Press Select on the icon and, holding the button down all the time, drag the box into the directory window and release the button.)

To save your score in MIDI file format, see Chapter 11.

Most of the other items in this menu will be dealt with in the following chapters as many of them are also found in the 'Stave' and 'Block' menus, but if you follow the 'Headings' arrow you will come to...

The Headings window

This contains three writable fields into which you may type a) a title b) a tempo marking or other instruction such as 'Allegro Vivace' or 'With feeling', and c) the name of a composer. Each of these fields can be up to 40 characters long.

Please note that these headings are only used when the score is printed on a printer. Although you may wish to write the title of the piece in the first field, it has nothing to do with the title of the score which appears at the head of the score window and in the 'Open Score' menu. This latter title is taken from the filename under which the score was last saved or which you typed in when the score was opened using the 'Open score' menu.

APDL/ProAction