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Concepts
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The concepts of ambitus and pitch range are
closely related, but the terms are not equivalent:
The ambitus is, on a given staff, the
interval between the lowest and highest notes
written on that staff. It therefore depends on the
actual content of the staff.
The pitch range is the interval between
the lowest and highest notes that a given
instrument is capable of playing. It depends on
the instrument selected to play the staff.
The concepts of ambitus and pitch range are
close, but the terms are not equivalent:
Ambitus
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The ambitus is displayed in the margin of the
staff before the first measure, using two note
heads positioned vertically and connected by a
line.
These two note heads represent the lowest and
highest written notes on the staff.
Modifying the notes on the staff will automatically
update the ambitus.
The ambitus display can be enabled or disabled from
the Score > Options > Ambitus menu.
Its graphical appearance can be customized in Score
> Display Setup > Ambitus.
Pitch range
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The pitch range represents the span of notes that a
given instrument can play.
There can be two distinct pitch ranges:
The practical range, which sounds good on the
instrument and/or can be played by a
non-professional.
The full range, which includes all notes technically
playable on the instrument. Notes outside of this
range cannot be played.
Out of
Range
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Extreme
notes
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Practical
range
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Extreme
notes |
Out of
range
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Unmodified
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It is possible to color the notes on the
score according to these ranges.
In Melody Assistant :
Select a part of the score, then go to
Edit > Search > Notes out of range.
Non-playable notes will appear in red,
extreme-range notes in orange (these colors can be
changed in the dialog box), and notes within the
practical range will retain their default color.
The coloring is not updated in real time — moving
a note in or out of a range won’t update its color
until you reapply the option.
The pitch ranges are automatically selected based
on the instrument and transposition defined for
that staff.
In Harmony Assistant :
Pitch range visualization is done in
real time. You can enable it from the Options
menu.
When pitch range display is active, across all
staves:
Red notes are outside the playable
range.
Orange notes fall within the extreme range.
These colors can be customized in Configuration
> Global Setup > Appearance.
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Note : The
ambitus indicators are also color-coded when
pitch range display mode is active. |
For each staff, you can fine-tune the
pitch range settings.
By default, the ranges correspond to the
instrument assigned to that staff, but you can
customize them.
From the staff’s contextual menu (black triangle
in the margin), choose Edit Pitch Range, or in the
staff display settings (via the Staves menu),
click the appropriate button.
There, you can select a predefined pitch range
from a thematic list of instruments.
The first two entries are special:
"Staff Instrument" refers to the sound
currently selected for the staff.
"Full Range" means all notes are considered
playable — no coloring will be applied.
In the right-hand panel, you can also manually
enter the desired pitch range values.
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