Re: [Denemo-devel] manual for simple end users?

[Richard Shann]

You need to download and install the recent Denemo release - the program
has improved so much. All suggestions below are for the latest version
0.7.9.

On Fri, 2008-08-22 at 18:34 -0700, Christian Einfeldt wrote:
> hi,
> 
> I am a volunteer supporting a public middle school in San Francisco,
> California.  We have a music teacher who will be using GNU Denemo over
> an LDAP'd network of machines that are all basically 512 MB of RAM and
> running Hardy Xubuntu on P4s ranging from 1.2 ghz chips up to 3 ghz
> chips.  So first let me start by thanking you for GNU Denemo!  It is a
> remarkable program that allows kids to compose their own music, and
> 85% of the kids who attend school here are so poor that they qualify
> for free lunches, which in the United States is really saying
> something.  You really have to be poor to qualify for free lunches in
> the US! 
> 
> Now to my question: I am wondering if there is a manual other than
> this manual:
> 
> http://www.denemo.org/doc/denemo-manual.html
> 
> and the manual that comes with Denemo:
> 
> file:///usr/share/denemo//manual/denemo-manual.html#id2450442
No, it needs re-writing, I have just quickly hacked it to be not
completely wrong.
> 
> Specifically, I am having trouble using the a through g keys plus the
> y u i o p keys to make whole, half [etc] notes.  
You don't say what trouble you are having!
> Pressing a space bar does produce a quarter note, and typing a through
> g does take the cursor to the nearest appropriate place on the scale.
Right - 
that is the old Classic Mode, and that would happen in Edit mode in the
current version, unless your cursor was on a note, in which case it
would edit the note to the new value.

For learning music you would want to set view->"Note and Rest entry".
This opens a toolbar with the notes and rests as buttons.
This lets people plonk quarter-notes etc down using the mouse - the
keyboard shortcuts are for speed of entry.
I have just added scripting in Scheme, so that it will be possible to
write whole educational programs to add to the program. You could write
a script to test musical knowledge, e.g. the script presents notes at
random and you have to type the note name - it deletes it and presents
another. The script could test your speed  of response and issue you
with a score - even play you a victory song at the end. It will be
trivial to write.

Richard