Note names and display options

The five naming systems, the accidental styles, colour coding, and which notes get labelled.

Annotune writes note names into the score as lyrics, so they sit under the notehead they belong to and move with it when the layout changes. Everything on this page is set per score and saved when you press Apply changes.

Naming systems

System	Middle C	Where it is used
Scientific	C4	English-speaking countries, and most software
Helmholtz	c′	German-language theory and organ literature
Solfège	Do	Movable-do teaching; the seventh degree is Ti
Latin	Do	Fixed-do countries: Italy, France, Spain; the seventh is Si
German	C	German-speaking countries; B natural is H and B flat is B

The German system is not simply English with H substituted for B. H is B natural and B is B flat, so a B flat in your score is labelled B, not H flat.

Octave numbers

Include octave number adds the octave to the name: C4 rather than C. Helmholtz ignores this setting, because the octave is already carried by the case of the letter and the primes or commas after it: C, c, c′, c″.

Accidentals

Symbols writes ♯ and ♭: closest to printed notation.
Letters writes s and f: easier to type and to read aloud.
Both writes ♯s and ♭f, which is useful while a student is learning the symbols.

Solfège and Latin always use symbols: Dos and Dof are not spellings anybody uses.

Choosing which notes are labelled

All notes: every pitched note in the score.
Melody: the upper staff only, which for piano music is the right hand.
Bass: the lower staff only.
Custom: the pitch classes you pick, either the only ones shown or the only ones hidden.

Rests, grace notes and cue notes are never labelled. In a chord, every note is labelled: the names stack in lines under the staff, highest pitch closest to it.

Colour coding

Colour coding gives each pitch class its own colour. Enable colour coding colours the noteheads; Colour note names applies the same colours to the text as well. Both use the palette below them, which you can change one colour at a time.

In dark mode a colour that is too dark to read on a dark page is lightened automatically. Your saved colour is not changed: it is used as you chose it in light mode and in every export.

Score elements

Time signatures, measure numbers, metronome marks and fingerings can each be hidden. Hiding them removes clutter from a practice copy; it does not remove anything from the underlying document, and a MusicXML export still contains all of it.

Applying and resetting

Changes are previewed in the panel but not drawn until you press Apply changes, which also saves them. Reset returns the panel to the last applied settings. If you leave the page with unapplied changes, your browser asks whether you are sure.