You can use the lyric object to quickly add lyrics to a song. The cursor position is automatically moved from note to note.
The text group in the Part box contains an object named LYRIC, which allows you to create lyrics aligned to note events. When you use the LYRIC object to input text, pressing Tab moves the text cursor to the beginning of the next MIDI note.
Do one of the following:
Drag the lyric object below the first note of the melody.
Select the lyric object in the Part box, then click the position of the first note with the Text tool.
Note: Watch the help tag: each lyric object must be at the same bar position as the note it belongs to (taking display quantization into account).
Enter the text for the first note—and press Tab, not Return—to automatically move the text cursor to the beginning of the next MIDI note.
If a MIDI note is displayed as several tied (graphic) notes, press Shift-Tab to move the cursor to the next graphic note. This method allows you to write several syllables below one longer note, and lets you enter all lyrics in one process, although each syllable is saved as an independent lyric object.
Editing lyrics is just like editing regular text. The Event Parameter box displays the same parameters (the Lyric checkbox is selected).
Apart from the fact that cursor movement is bound to notes in lyric input mode, the only difference between regular text objects and lyric objects is that the latter affects the distance between the notes they are assigned to. This provides enough space for the text to be displayed properly, without overlapping. If the text (or text style) is changed later, the note distance is recalculated accordingly.
Select the text, then select the Lyric checkbox in the Text Event Parameter box.
If you don’t enter the lyrics in one continuous process, it is unlikely that the lyric objects will be set to the same vertical position. (They won’t be aligned.)
Select at least one lyric object.
Choose Edit > Select Similar Objects, to select all lyric objects.
Use the Align Object Positions Vertically key command.
Note: You don’t want to use this method if there are multiple lines of lyrics for different verses. Doing so would set them all to the same height.
You can assign multiple lyric objects to the same note, allowing you to insert several verses for a song, one below the other.
Drag the first lyric object to the position of the note, then input the first verse.
Drag the second lyric object to the same note position below the first verse, and type the second verse.
As long as you remain in fast lyric input mode, all lyric objects for the second verse stay at the same height as the initial object—in this case, the first word of the second verse.
It’s important that lyric objects are assigned to the right MIDI region, if you’re working in a full score display. (Remember: selected staffs are displayed with blue staff lines.) It’s generally recommended that you insert lyrics in Linear Score view and single MIDI region display mode—especially if inserting more than one verse. Linear Score view also makes it easier to select several lyric objects by dragging, to change their positions, for example.