moving notes up and down the staff

[pinerider]

This sounds like a pretty basic question but I've been using Sibelius and now only have Finale on my work computer. I want to cut and paste a measure of melody to a different voice part. Then I want to select each individual note and move it up and down the staff. This way I avoid re-creating the rhythms and it saves lots of time in SATB voice part arranging. Sibelius makes this very easy but in Finale once I cut and paste the measure and click on the individual note it highlights but won't move using the arrow keys. User manual isn't helping because of course I'm not using the correct terminology. Help appreciated.

[David Ward]

One possibility, although it may not be the best, might be while in the Speedy Frame to click and hold on each note in turn whose pitch you wish to move up or down and while holding the cursor on the note to drag it up or down as appropriate. I suspect this would rapidly become tedious if you're doing a lot of it, but it has worked easily enough on the few occasions when I've wanted to move a note in this way (eg when creating a double notehead unison).

[zuill]

In Simple Entry, this is easy to do. The note that is highlighted can be moved up or down with the arrow keys. To get to another note in a chord, use ctrl-arrow key.

Zuill

[Peter Thomsen]

Also, you can move a contiguous region up/down from the Selection Tool.
Drag-select the region (begin the dragging outside the staff).
Hit the number 6 key to move the selected one step down.
Hit the number 7 key to move the selected one step up.
Hit the number 8 key to move the selected one octave down.
Hit the number 9 key to move the selected one octave up.

[Vaughan]

You can also use Simple Entry's Repitch function. Just set the cursor on the first note you want to change and play the notes you want.

[miker]

Vaughan nailed it. The repitch tool is one of (IMNSHO) one of the most powerful, and most overlooked, tools in the toolbox. Just be aware that it will go to the closest note, so you might find that it goes up, instead of down, like you wanted. The arrow keys are your friend there. Tap the up or down arrows to move to within a fourth interval, and the note goes where you want it!

[motet]

Repitch mode or not, the arrow keys in Simple entry are not bound by a fourth. But if repitching with A-G results in the wrong octave, shift-up- or shift-down-arrow will correct that.

[miker]

Either way works. I’ve remapped my “octave up” and “octave down” keys to the Q and Z. Only one key, not two.

[motet]

Is there some way to move the note an octave and reset the cursor at the same time? I find this frustrating in QWERTY entry. Unless I'm mistaken, you must move the note and then the cursor to continue in the new realm.

[Vaughan]

As a keyboard player, I'm a MIDI keyboard inputter, and if the OP can enter notes this way, the repitch function + a keyboard will always be the fastest way to do what he wants.