Chapter 2
Entering notes
Maestro has two ways of entering notes, the same as Finale: Simple Entry, with the mouse, and Speedy Entry, with the computer keyboard. You can switch between them at any time, and both work with a MIDI keyboard too (see MIDI keyboard). Everything you enter can be undone with ⌘Z.
Durations
As in Finale, you pick durations with the number keys, in both Simple Entry and Speedy Entry:
| Key | Duration |
|---|---|
| 1 | 64th note |
| 2 | 32nd note |
| 3 | 16th note |
| 4 | eighth note |
| 5 | quarter note |
| 6 | half note |
| 7 | whole note |
| 8 | breve |
All the durations, from the breve to the 64th note, are also in the palette above the score; each button’s tooltip reminds you of its key. Add an augmentation dot with . or the dot button in the palette; press it again for a double dot, and a third time to remove it.
Simple Entry
Simple Entry (⌘2) is the easiest way to start.
- Choose a duration in the palette (or with keys 1–8).
- Click on the staff at the pitch you want: the note is added after the last one in the measure. If you click between two notes (or before the first), the new note is inserted there if the measure has room: the following notes move along but stay in the measure. In a full measure Maestro tells you and changes nothing.
- Keep clicking: when the last measure is full, a new one appears.
A note that doesn’t fit in the space left carries over into the next measure, tied, as in Finale: a half note entered on the last beat of a 4/4 measure becomes two tied quarter notes. In the next measure it takes the place of the empty space or of the rests; if there are notes there already, Maestro tells you with a warning.
Carrying on with the keyboard
After the first click you can carry on without the mouse, as with Finale’s Simple Entry caret: with a note selected, press the letter of the next note, A to G. The note is entered right after the selected one, at the octave closest to the faded note, with the chosen duration, and becomes the selected note: just keep pressing letters (and numbers, to change the duration). ⏎ enters the faded note: if you haven’t moved it, it repeats the selected note (a chord too) with the chosen duration. With rests on (0), letters and ⏎ enter rests. If there is already music after the selected note, the new note is inserted only if the measure has room (in a full measure Maestro tells you). After the last note, a note that doesn’t fit carries over, tied, into the next measure, in place of empty space or rests: written music never moves past the barline. To push music forward, use Speedy Entry’s Insert mode.
The caret
As in Finale, a vertical line and a faded note appear after the selected note: this is the caret, and it shows where the next note will go, with the chosen duration. The caret has two positions:
- after the note, with the line: letters and ⏎ enter a new note there. ↑ and ↓ move the faded note by a step (with ⇧, by an octave) without touching the selected note, as with Finale’s caret: ⏎ enters it, and letters enter at the octave closest to it. After each note you enter, the faded note starts again from its pitch;
- on the note, without the line, with the note just highlighted: you get there with ←. A letter changes the note’s pitch, a number its duration, and R turns it into a rest.
← and → move from one note to another; from the last note of the measure → goes back to after it, but if the measure is full it goes straight onto the first note of the measure on the right (after the last note the caret would already be there). With the caret after the last note, → moves onto the first note of the measure on the right: if the measure was incomplete, it first fills it with rests, as in Speedy Entry (you can turn this off in Settings → Appearance, Entry section). If the measure on the right is empty it stays highlighted, and a letter enters the first note there; at the end of the score a new one is added.
The note you just entered stays selected, so you can fix it right away:
| Key | Effect on the selected note |
|---|---|
| A–G | Enter the note with that name after it (with the caret on the note, change its pitch) |
| ⏎ | Enter the faded note after it (if you haven’t moved it, the same note), with the chosen duration |
| ← → | Move the caret onto the note, to the previous or next note; after the last one, to the measure on the right |
| ↑ ↓ | Move the faded note by a step (with ⇧, an octave); with the caret on the note, move the note |
| ⌥↑ ⌥↓ | Move the note by a step (with ⇧, an octave); on Windows Alt+↑ Alt+↓ |
| + - | Raise or lower by a semitone |
| N | Natural |
| 9 | Enharmonic spelling: the other name of the same sound (C♯ ↔ D♭) |
| T or = | Tie to the next note |
| P | Courtesy accidental: in parentheses, without parentheses, removed |
| / | Breaks the beam before the note, or joins it to the previous one |
| L | Flip the stem |
| H | Hide the note or rest (again, show it) |
| . | Dot, then double dot, then none |
| ⌫ | Delete the note and select the one before it |
| 0 | Turn rest entry on or off |
| R | Turn the selected note into a rest, or the rest into a note |
| ⇥ / ⇧⇥ | Next or previous staff |
Accidentals: the flat, natural and sharp buttons in the palette apply to the next note you enter. Notes always follow the key signature: in D major, a click on the F line writes F♯.
Chords: click on an existing note at a different pitch, and the new pitch is added to the chord. This works with the same duration: if you chose a different duration in the palette, clicking a note (or a rest) gives it the chosen duration, like the number keys; if it doesn’t fit in the measure it continues tied into the next. Clicking a notehead that is already there selects just that note of the chord, to change with the arrows and + - or remove with ⌫ (see A single note of a chord).
Rests: in the palette, next to the note durations, there is the Rests group, like Finale’s Rests palette: one rest for each duration, from the breve to the 64th note (the whole and half rests on a ledger line, to tell them apart). Choose the rest you want (or press 0) and click in the measure; to go back to notes, choose one of the note durations. With rest entry on, clicking an existing note turns it into a rest; with rest entry off, clicking a rest turns it into a note.
Speedy Entry
Speedy Entry (⌘3) is the fastest way, and it is Finale’s. Click a measure (or double-click a measure with the Selection tool): the Speedy Entry cursor appears, showing where and at what pitch you will enter. The cursor sits either on an existing note or at the end of the measure, where the next note will go.
Entering
There are two ways, and you can mix them:
- with numbers: move the cursor’s pitch with ↑ and ↓, then press the duration number. The note is entered at the cursor’s pitch.
- with letters: press the note name, A to G. Maestro picks the octave closest to the cursor and uses the last duration you chose.
After each note the cursor moves on; when the measure is full it goes to the next one, and at the end of the score it adds a new measure. Notes follow the key signature.
As in Finale, if you leave a measure started but not finished (with the arrow keys, by clicking another measure or by moving to another staff), the rest of it is filled with rests, split according to the beats: in 4/4, after a quarter note, you get a quarter rest and a half rest. Empty measures stay empty. If you’d rather leave measures half-finished, turn off Speedy Entry: fill unfinished measures with rests in Settings → Appearance, Entry section (on Windows in the Settings panel).
If the cursor is on an existing note, a number changes its duration and a letter changes its pitch; then the cursor moves to the next note. This lets you correct a passage by stepping through it.
As in Simple Entry, a note that doesn’t fit in the measure carries over, tied, into the next one, in place of the empty space or the rests. The same happens if you lengthen the last note of the measure (with a number or the dot).
Inserting in the middle of the music
To add a note you forgot, press I, as in Finale, or choose Tools → Insert in Speedy Entry: Insert mode turns on. A line appears in front of the note under the cursor, and the status bar starts with “Insert”. Now numbers and letters enter a new note before the one under the cursor, instead of changing it; the cursor stays on the same note, so you can insert more in a row.
The music that follows, in that layer and on that staff, moves forward: notes that end up across a barline are split and tied, and the shift carries on from measure to measure until it finds free space (an incomplete or empty measure). At the end of the score measures are added if needed, while leftover rests are dropped. The other staves don’t change. A tuplet can’t be pushed across a barline: in that case Maestro tells you with a warning. Press I again to go back to changing the notes under the cursor.
Speedy Entry keys
| Key | Effect |
|---|---|
| 1–8 | Enter a note with that duration (or change the duration of the note under the cursor; with Insert, enter before it) |
| A–G | Enter that note (or change the pitch of the note under the cursor) |
| ↑ ↓ | Move the cursor up or down a step (with ⇧, an octave) |
| ⌥↑ ⌥↓ | Move the note under the cursor by a step (with ⇧, an octave); on Windows Alt+↑ Alt+↓ |
| ← → | Previous or next note, across measures |
| ⇥ / ⇧⇥ | Next or previous staff |
| ⏎ | Add the cursor’s pitch to the chord (or remove it if it’s already there) |
| . | Augmentation dot; again, double dot; a third time removes it |
| + - | Raise or lower by a semitone |
| N | Natural |
| 9 | Enharmonic spelling (C♯ ↔ D♭) |
| P | Courtesy accidental: in parentheses, without parentheses, removed |
| / | Breaks the beam before the note, or joins it to the previous one |
| L | Flip the stem |
| H | Hide the note or rest (again, show it) |
| I | Turn Insert mode on or off |
| ’ | Voice 2 under the cursor note; again, back to voice 1 |
| =, T or * (on the numeric keypad) | Tie to the next note |
| 0 | Enter a rest of the chosen duration (on a note, turns it into a rest) |
| ⌫ or R | Turn the note into a rest, or the rest into a note |
| ⌦ | Delete the note under the cursor (or the one just before it) |
| ; | Normal note → acciaccatura → appoggiatura → normal again |
| ⌃⌘↑ ⌃⌘↓ | Write the note on the staff above or below, as on the piano (see Cross-staff notes); on Windows Ctrl+Shift+↑ Ctrl+Shift+↓ |
| Esc | Back to the Selection tool |
On Windows ⏎ is Enter, ⌫ is Backspace and ⌦ is Delete. On a Mac keyboard without a ⌦ key, use fn⌫.
Dot, accidentals, tie and grace note act on the note under the cursor or, when the cursor is at the end of the measure, on the note you just entered. As you type, the status bar warns you if a note is outside the instrument’s range.
Screen readers (NVDA and VoiceOver)
Maestro works with a screen reader: NVDA (as well as Narrator or JAWS) on Windows, VoiceOver on the Mac. In Speedy Entry, after each key, Maestro says what happened:
- when you enter music, the note or rest you just entered: “D 4 dotted quarter note”, “Chord C 4, E 4, G 4, half note”, “Rest: eighth note”, with “tied”, the triplet or the grace note when there is one;
- when you move the cursor with the arrow keys, the note it lands on and its beat (“F sharp 5 eighth note, beat 3”), or “End of measure”; when you move to another measure or staff, also the measure number and the staff name;
- with ↑ and ↓, the cursor pitch, that is the note you would enter;
- the messages shown over the score, for example when a duration doesn’t fit in the measure;
- together with the note, what’s on it: the dynamic (“mezzo forte”), the chord symbol, text markings, articulations, the start and end of slurs, hairpins and the lyrics, verse by verse;
- when you enter a measure, what changes there: clef, key signature, time signature, repeats, endings, Segno and Coda;
- when you add a marking from the keyboard or a menu (a dynamic, an accent) or undo, the note as it is now.
Playback speaks too: Maestro says which measure it starts from, where it pauses or stops (“Stopped at measure 12, beat 3”) or that the piece has ended, and while it plays Read Position tells you the point being played.
In Simple Entry it says the note the cursor lands on and where it is; with the cursor after a note “After: D 5 quarter note”, after the last note of a full measure “Start of measure 5” (where the next note will go) and, on an empty measure, “Measure 6, Empty measure”.
With the Selection tool it says the selected note and where it is, also after transposing it with the arrow keys. The commands in the View menu read out where you are and take you where you want:
| Command | Mac | Windows |
|---|---|---|
| Read Position: staff, measure, beat, clef, key signature, time signature and tempo | ⌃P | Ctrl+Shift+P |
| Read Measure: all the notes and rests in the measure | ⌃U | Ctrl+Shift+U |
| Read All Staves: what sounds on each staff where you are (a note that started earlier “continues”) | ⌃H | Ctrl+Shift+H |
| Read Score Information: title, authors, measures, instruments, key signature, time signature and tempo | ⌃Q | Ctrl+Shift+Q |
| Go to Measure…: type the number; the cursor (or the selection) and the playback start move there, and the measure is read | ⌃J | Ctrl+Shift+J |
Accidentals are read as words (“sharp”, “flat”).
The inspector and Settings work from the keyboard too, and each control is read with the name of its label (“Note value, combo box, Quarter note”). On Windows F6 moves from the score to the inspector (opening it if it’s closed), Tab and Shift+Tab move between controls, the arrow keys change the item in a list, Enter or Space expand and collapse a section (“Measure 1, collapsed”), and F6 or Esc go back to the score. In Settings Tab goes to the first field and Ctrl+Tab moves to the next category (General, New Scores, MIDI…). On the Mac use VoiceOver’s commands as in any other app.
The dialogs opened from the menus (key signature, time signature, measures…) are read too, and you move through them with Tab; so is the Document → Staves and Instruments → Score Instruments window, where Add Instrument… opens the list with the search: type to filter and choose with the arrow keys, hearing the instrument’s name.
On Windows the start screen and the New Score procedure (Ctrl+N) work from the keyboard too. Tab moves from one area to the next, the arrow keys choose within the area, Enter or Space activate, and Maestro tells you each time where you are. On the start screen the areas are the actions (New Score, Open…), the search, the recent files and the templates. In New Score they are the starting templates, the instrument search (type the name and Enter adds the instrument found; down arrow moves to the catalog), the catalog (Enter adds the instrument), the ensemble, the fields on the right and the Cancel and Create score buttons. In the ensemble Delete removes the instrument, + and − on the main keyboard change how many, Ctrl+↑ and Ctrl+↓ move it and Enter renames it. With a screen reader running, the Getting Started Tour doesn’t start by itself: you’ll find it in Help → Getting Started Tour, where each step is read in full; Tab moves between Skip the Tour, Back and Next, Enter goes on and Esc goes back to the score to try the step (once you’ve done it, you hear the next step). Still to be made readable: the duration palette, whose commands are all in the menus and Speedy Entry keys anyway, and the mixer.
For an overview of everything Maestro does for screen reader and keyboard users, see the Accessibility page.
Accidentals
Notes are always entered according to the key signature. To change them, use + and -: each press raises or lowers by a semitone, up to a double sharp or double flat; N makes it natural (removing sharps and flats, including those from the key signature). In Simple Entry you can also choose the accidental in the palette before clicking. For a courtesy accidental (a natural on an F after an F♯ in the previous measure, for example) press P: the first time it appears in parentheses even when it isn’t needed, the second time without parentheses, the third time it is removed. Where the accidental is written anyway (an F♯ in C major) “without parentheses” would change nothing and is skipped; with several notes in different states the first P puts them all in parentheses. The same from Notation → Notes → Courtesy Accidental, or from the Courtesy row in the Inspector (none, in parentheses, without parentheses). Courtesy accidentals also go through MusicXML, both when exporting and when importing. On a percussion staff, + and - instead switch to the other sound in the same position (an open hi-hat, for example).
To write the same sound with its other name, like the 9 key in Finale, press 9 (or choose Notation → Notes → Enharmonic Spelling): C♯ becomes D♭ and D♭ goes back to C♯; natural notes and notes with two accidentals cycle through every spelling (E → F♭ → D𝄪 → E). In Speedy Entry it applies to the note under the cursor, with the Selection tool and in Simple Entry to the selected notes. The sound doesn’t change, and tied notes follow. On transposing instruments the written note counts: on a B♭ trumpet a written D♯ becomes E♭.
Notehead shape and beaming
Noteheads can take other shapes: x (spoken or stopped notes), circled x, diamond (harmonics), triangle, inverted triangle, square or slash. Choose the shape from Notation → Notehead or from the Notehead row in the Inspector. It applies to the note under the cursor in Speedy Entry, or to the selected notes and measures; Normal brings back the usual notehead.
Eighth notes and shorter values are beamed automatically following the time signature: by beat (in threes in 6/8), but eighth notes on their own go in fours by half measure in 4/4 and all together in 2/4 and 3/4; in 3/8 the measure is one group, 5/8 is split 3+2 and 7/8 2+2+3. A different grouping (3+2+2 in 7/8, 3+3+2 in 8/8) is chosen for the whole passage in the time signature dialog. To change the beaming press /, as in Finale: the note is detached from the previous note’s beam or, if it was detached, joined to it, even when it falls on the next beat (so eight eighth notes in 4/4 go under a single beam). The other choices are in Notation → Beaming and in the Beaming row of the Inspector:
- Start a beam: the beam breaks before the note;
- Join to previous: the note continues the previous note’s beam;
- No beam: the note has its own flag, as in vocal music with one syllable per note;
- Break secondary beams: the main beam continues, the sixteenth beams break before the note;
- Automatic removes the choice.
Noteheads and beaming go through MusicXML, both when exporting and when importing; Finale (.musx and .mus) and MuseScore files bring the original beaming with them.
Chords
- In Speedy Entry, enter the first note, go back to it with ←, move the cursor to the pitch you want to add and press ⏎. If that pitch is already there, ⏎ removes it. With the cursor at the end of the measure, ⏎ enters a new note with the current duration.
- In Simple Entry, click on an existing note at a different pitch.
- By interval, like Finale’s metatools: Notation → Add Interval adds to the selected notes (or to the note under the Speedy Entry cursor) a second, a third… up to an octave above the highest note of the chord, with F2…F8, or below the lowest one, with ⇧F2…⇧F8 (Shift+F2…Shift+F8 on Windows). The interval follows the key signature: in G major the seventh above a G is an F♯. It works on all the selected notes and measures at once, with a single Undo. On the Mac, if the F keys control brightness and volume, hold down fn.
Within a chord, +, - and ⌥↑ ⌥↓ act on the note at the cursor’s pitch (otherwise on the highest one).
Rests
In Speedy Entry press 0 (or choose Notation → Notes → Enter Rest): a rest of the chosen duration is entered at the end of the measure, and the cursor moves on. On a note already entered, 0 turns it into a rest of the same duration.
To enter many rests in a row, choose a rest in the Rests group of the palette (or press 0): while it’s on, the letters and the duration numbers enter rests instead of notes, and the status bar shows “rest”. To go back to notes, choose one of the note durations (or press 0 again).
⌫ (or R) turns the note under the cursor into a rest, and the rest back into a note at the cursor’s pitch. In Simple Entry R does the same with the selected note, usually the last one entered; to enter rests, use the Rests group of the palette (or 0) as described above.
Incomplete measures
Document → Measures → Check Incomplete Measures… looks for measures that last less, or more, than the time signature says, and tells you for each staff which measures they are; the first one is selected. If there are incomplete measures, the Fill with Rests button fills them all at once (a single Undo); overfull measures have to be fixed by hand.
Empty measures (they read as a whole rest), the pickup measure and the last measure that completes it, and a layer 2, 3 or 4 that stops before the end of the measure don’t count.
Hidden notes and rests
A note or rest can be hidden, as in Finale: it still counts in the rhythm, but it isn’t printed, doesn’t appear in the PDF or in exported images, and doesn’t play. On screen it stays gray, so you can still select it and show it again. It’s mostly useful for the rests of a second voice that comes in mid-measure.
Press H on the note under the Speedy Entry cursor, or on the selected notes and measures; H again shows it. The same command is in Notation → Notes → Hide Note or Rest, in the right-click menu and in the Hidden checkbox of the Inspector. Hidden notes go through MusicXML (export and import) and come in from Finale (.musx and .mus) and MuseScore files.
Dots and ties
. adds an augmentation dot, a second press makes it a double dot and a third removes it (if the double dot doesn’t fit in the measure, the dot is removed right away); the Inspector also offers no dot, dot and double dot. On the last note of the measure a dot that doesn’t fit makes the note carry over, tied, into the next one; elsewhere Maestro tells you with a warning. A tie is made with = (as in Finale’s Speedy Entry) or T (as in Finale’s Simple Entry), or with Notation → Notes → Tie: it ties the note to the next one, across the barline too; press it again to remove the tie. In Speedy Entry it applies to the note under the cursor (or the one you just entered), with the Selection tool and in Simple Entry to the selected notes. The tie shows when the next note has the same pitch: if you add it before entering that note, it appears as soon as you enter it. You can also add or remove a tie from the Note section of the Inspector.
Tuplets
In Speedy Entry, as in Finale, press ⌥3 before entering the first note of a triplet: the first note sets the note value (⌥3 then 4 gives an eighth-note triplet), and the following notes complete the group by themselves, even with mixed values (an eighth and a quarter).
| Mac | Windows | Tuplet |
|---|---|---|
| ⌥3 | Alt+3 | triplet |
| ⌥5 | Alt+5 | quintuplet |
| ⌥6 | Alt+6 | sextuplet |
| ⌥7 | Alt+7 | septuplet |
| ⌥2 | Alt+2 | duplet |
| ⌥4 | Alt+4 | quadruplet |
| ⌥1 | Alt+1 | any ratio, for example 7:6 |
With the cursor on notes already entered, or with notes selected, the same key turns them into a tuplet starting from the first one; if they are already in a tuplet of the same kind, it removes it. Inside an open tuplet you can nest another one (a triplet inside a quintuplet), one level deep.
The same commands are in Notation → Tuplet, with Other Tuplet… and Remove Tuplet, and in the palette of the Tuplets tool. On Windows use Alt instead of ⌥.
Grace notes
In Speedy Entry, or with a note selected, the ; key turns the note into an acciaccatura (with the slash), then an appoggiatura, then back into a normal note. A quarter note or longer goes straight to appoggiatura. Grace notes take no time in the measure, are drawn small before the main note, and in playback delay the main note only slightly.
Layers
Layers work like Finale’s: four independent voices on the same staff, each with its own rhythm. Choose the active layer before entering:
- on the Mac with ⌥⌘1–⌥⌘4, the Layer control in the status bar, or the Tools menu;
- on Windows with Ctrl+Alt+1–Ctrl+Alt+4, the Layer control in the status bar, or the Tools menu.
When several layers contain notes, stems in layers 1 and 3 go up and stems in layers 2 and 4 go down, rests move out of the way and colliding noteheads are placed side by side. On screen layers 2, 3 and 4 are red, green and blue (you can change the colors in Settings → Appearance); in print and PDF everything is black.
Moving notes from one layer to another
Select the notes and choose Edit → Move to Layer → Layer 1–4 (on the Mac ⌃⌥1–⌃⌥4; on Windows Ctrl+Alt+Shift+1–Ctrl+Alt+Shift+4). In Speedy Entry it applies to the note under the cursor.
- The notes stay at the same point in the measure; rests are left where they were (a layer 2–4 left with only rests is emptied).
- In the destination layer they replace the rests and notes in that stretch. A single note over a note of the same length becomes a chord with it. If the destination layer ends earlier, it is filled up to there with hidden rests, as with voice 2.
- A tuplet moves as a whole and grace notes follow their note; slurs, articulations and lyrics stay attached.
- If a note in the destination layer straddles the start or end of the stretch, that stretch stays where it was and Maestro tells you.
With measures selected (and no notes), the same command moves the whole active layer into the chosen layer. For bigger jobs there is Edit → Move/Copy Layers…, as in Finale: in the selected measures (or those of the selected notes; with nothing selected, in the whole document) it takes one layer into another by moving it, copying it or swapping the two layers. When moving or copying, the music already in the destination layer makes way. Everything undoes in one step.
Voice 2
In Finale a second voice for a few notes was written with “voice 2” inside the layer. Maestro has the same shortcut: in Speedy Entry, put the cursor on the note under (or over) which the second voice should play and press the apostrophe ’ (or Tools → Voice 2 in Speedy Entry). The cursor moves to the companion layer (from 1 to 2, from 3 to 4) at the same beat, and the status bar starts with “Voice 2”: the notes you enter play together with voice 1, with stems down. Before them the layer is filled with hidden rests, which are not printed. Press the apostrophe again to go back to voice 1, on the note that starts where voice 2 ended.
In Finale files (.musx and .mus) voice-2 notes come in the same way, in a layer that is free in that measure; only if all four layers are in use does the warning after opening say how many found no room.
Cross-staff notes
In piano music one hand often writes for a moment on the other hand’s staff: an arpeggio climbing from the bass clef into the treble clef, or crossing hands. In Maestro the note is written on the other staff but stays in its own voice: rhythm, sound, ties and layer belong to the staff it comes from.
- Select the notes (or whole measures), or put the Speedy Entry cursor on the note.
- Choose Notation → Notes → Note on Staff Above (⌃⌘↑) or Notation → Notes → Note on Staff Below (⌃⌘↓). On Windows, Ctrl+Shift+↑ and Ctrl+Shift+↓.
To bring the note back to its own staff, use the command in the opposite direction. Rests and grace notes stay where they are.
It works between two neighboring staves of the same instrument joined by a brace: piano, harp, organ, or two staves you have braced yourself. It doesn’t work with tablature or percussion; if there is no suitable staff, Maestro tells you.
On the other staff the note gets its noteheads, ledger lines, stem and articulations in the right place, and accidentals count on that staff. A beam joining notes on both staves runs in the space between them, with stems down above and up below. If the receiving staff already has notes of its own, the ones coming from the other staff act as a second voice: stems up for notes coming down from above, down for notes coming up from below.
Chords split across the two staves
A chord can also be split between the two staves, joined by a single stem. In Speedy Entry, put the cursor on a note of the chord and use the same command: with ⌃⌘↓ that note and the ones below it move to the staff below, with ⌃⌘↑ that note and the ones above it move to the staff above (on Windows Ctrl+Shift+↓ and Ctrl+Shift+↑). With notes selected, the whole chord moves instead.
Cross-staff notes and split chords are saved in the score, exported to MusicXML and read from MusicXML and Finale files.
To select, copy and fix music you have already written, see Editing; for articulations, dynamics and slurs, see Markings and text.