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At first glance, the Notation View mode of GarageBand’s MIDI Track Editor might seem to be merely an alternative to the piano-roll editor for musically minded types who know their quavers from their semibreves. Yet while this is undoubtedly its primary function, it has a little-known trick up its sleeve. In addition to editing existing parts, if you have a little musical theory under your belt, it’s possible to create parts from scratch using only Notation View. Not only is this useful if you don’t have a MIDI keyboard and want to sketch out a few quick parts in musical longhand, it’s also a handy technique if you want to enter a tune directly from a piece of sheet music. So if using Notation View usually makes you a little crotchety, you can ‘breve’ a sigh of relief as we demonstrate how to do it with minimum effort.
1: Create new track
From GarageBand’s Track menu, select New Track, then click the green Software Instrument option on the left. Click the Create button to make a new track.
2: Select instrument
From the instrument list in the Track Info pane, select the right sound for your part. You can choose a drum kit, or any pitched instrument such as a piano.
3: Create blank region
You need to start with a blank MIDI region. Create by holding down Cmd and clicking the Arrange window at the point where you want the region to go.
4: Drag it out
The new region will default to a length of just one bar. If you need it to be longer, position the cursor over the right-hand edge and drag it out to the correct length.
5: Open Track Editor
Double-click your new region or click the scissors button in the lower left corner to open the Track Edit window, then hit the Score tab to enter Notation View.
6: Snap to Grid
From the Control menu, select the Snap to Grid option to make sure that any new notes are placed in line with the quantise grid.
7: Choose clef
There are three clef display options. These are selected by holding down the mouse over the current symbol and choosing either treble, bass or piano-style display.
8: Choose note length
Hold the mouse button over the Insert menu and a grid of different note length symbols will appear. Select the correct one to choose the length of your first note.
9: Insert first note
Hold down the Cmd key and click on the staff at the position you want the first note to appear. A grey ghost note illustrates where the note will be placed.
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