Writing — Exercise Nº 1

Writing

Exercise nº 1 · part 2

Exercise Nº1 Cmaj — original composition by Mario Maurano.
© 2026 Mario Maurano. All rights reserved.

Before you start: do part 1 — Playing. Here you write that same piece, and it helps to have it in your fingers.

What you are going to do: leave the exercise written out on the staff — both hands, with its repeat and its dynamic mark — so you can hear it, print it and keep it.

How long it takes: about thirty minutes the first time. There are many steps, but each one is a single click: go slowly and do not skip any.

If something goes wrong: the UNDO button on the upper tool bar undoes the last step, and you can press it several times in a row. There is no way to break anything, so try things without worrying.

Four words that are about to come up

Bar
the group of four beats — also called a measure. In the Score it is shortened to M (M1 = bar 1). The beat inside the bar is shortened to B (B1 = first beat).
Quarter note
a note that lasts one beat. It is what almost all of this exercise uses. (In British usage, a crotchet.)
Whole note
a note that lasts four beats: a whole bar. It is the one at the end. (In British usage, a semibreve.)
Staff
the five lines music is written on.

HOW TO WRITE IT

Open SCORE  (from the COSMIC KEYBOARD)

  1. CHANNELS
    1. Instruments : choose Piano (Grand tonal) for channels 1 & 2
  2. Group options (3 horizontal lines right)
    1. BRACE CH 1 & CH 2
    2. APPLY
    3. Close
  3. Close
Score Channels

Open Score “mini” keyboard  (button KEYBOARD)

  1. Click on CH2-M 1 (measure) – B1 (beat 1 on the left side of the measure) the yellow cursor will move there.
    1. NUM PAD = 5 sets the quarter note value (one beat). Every note you write from now on will last one beat.
    2. Click Z 36 times, to the end of bar 9 (M9). That is 9 bars × 4 beats = 36 notes; the cursor moves on by itself.
      • TIP: you can always UNDO  with the button on the upper tool bar
      • Check every four clicks: you should see the bar filled and the cursor jumping to the next one. If you have notes too many or too few when you reach the end, you lost count: undo the extra ones.
    3. NUM PAD 7 sets the whole note (four beats): the long note of bar 10.
  2. Zoom to 60%
  3. Set the yellow cursor on Measure 10
  4. Click on the tool bar button BARS to open the BAR STRUCTURE popup. Settings:
    • After M 10  -  6 Bars  -  DELETE
    • APPLY
    • Close
    Check: the score has to end at bar 10. If you still see empty bars after 10, open BARS again and repeat the step.
  5. Click on the tool bar button  REP to open the REPEATS popup.
    • Repeat from bar
    • To bar 10
    • Times = 3
    • CREATE
    • Close
    Check: the two repeat signs — the two dots next to the barline — must appear at the beginning and at the end of the piece. If they are not there, the REPEATS popup did not create them.
Bars and Repeats

Scroll to start and click Stop button from navigation bar.

Follow the same structure from TABLE EXERCISE Nº1 playing from your computer keyboard to insert the notes on the staff. Now the blue line of each cell does matter: it is the note value to set with the NUM PAD before writing it.

  1. Click DYN button on tool bar
    1. Set the yellow cursor on CH 2 - M1 – B1 –
    2. Click on the piano mark (p): the dynamic that means play softly.
    3. Right-click on p mark to open DYNAMIC popup.
      • Click CH1
      • Click Join on
      • Close

Play.

Check: you should hear the whole exercise, both hands together, and it should repeat. If only one hand sounds, check that both channels (CH1 and CH2) have their instrument assigned.
Dynamics

Click Page button on tool bar to open the written view . If you want to print click on MENU FILES to open the FILE MENU popup, Print and enjoy.

Print view

Congratulations: your first written score

Keep it: it is yours. FILE → EXPORT MMF saves it to your computer and it can be opened again whenever you like.