Playing Tunes

When you open a song with an associated tune, the gray bar that separates the score from the text contains controls for playing the tune you see. Clicking on the disclosure arrow at the far left expands the bar to display additional controls for modifying how the tune is played.

The Play Button. Use this button to start tune playing. You can also press the space bar to start a tune.
The Stop Button. Use this button to interrupt a tune before it finishes. Tunes stop playing automatically when they reach the end, so you don't need to click the Stop Button unless you need to stop a tune before it finishes. You can also press the space bar to stop a tune.
The Instrument Menu. Use this menu to select a different instrument for tune playback.
The Tempo Control. This button displays the current tempo for the tune. The scroller for setting a different tempo is in the lower part of the gray bar, and will appear if you click the Tempo Control.
The Transpose Control. This menu allows you to choose a different key for the tune to be played in. It doesn't affect the printed score, but the tune will be transposed to the key you choose when you play it.

In order to play the tunes, you will need to have Quicktime(TM) 2.0 or higher installed. Under Windows, you can also use other multimedia sound tools. If you do not have the required music software, you won't hear anything when you press the play button. Quicktime(TM) is available free for Macintosh and Windows at http://quicktime.apple.com

While a tune is playing, the notes and words in the score change color to indicate your position. You can use this cueing to help you learn a song.

Doing anything else on your computer while a tune is playing can mess up the timing. If you need to scroll a score to keep the notes in view while playing, I suggest clicking in the grey area of the scroll bar to scroll a staff at a time, rather than using the arrows on the scroll bar.