Drums - Drum Kits & Other Non-pitched Percussion Instruments

Percussion notation is musical notation indicating notes to be played by percussion instruments. Generally, there are two categories for percussion instruments: pitched and non-pitched. For pitched percussion instruments, you can use the standard score stave. For non-pitched percussion instruments like drum kits, you can create a score with percussion staves.

Note that non-pitched percussion notation varies.

To open a blank Percussion score:

On the Score toolbar, click “New Blank” and select “New Blank Drum Kit Score”,
Select Menu > File > New Blank Drum Kit Score, or
Use shortcut Ctrl+D

You can also use the New Score Wizard to open a Percussion score:

On the Score toolbar, click “New”, select “Blank” templates, select “Blank Drum Kit”, then click “Next” and follow the wizard as usual,
On the Score toolbar, click “New”, select “Solo” templates, select “Drum Kits”, then click “Next” and follow the wizard as usual,
Select Menu > File > New… to open the New Score Wizard and then proceed as above, or
Use shortcut Ctrl+N to open the New Score Wizard and then proceed as previously

To add Percussion to an existing score, open the Parts and Staves dialog by:

On the Score toolbar, click the “Parts Setup” or “Parts & Staves” button (can be either name),
Select “Menu” > “Score” > “Parts and Staves…”, or
Use the shortcut Alt+P

In the Parts and Staves dialog you can add a Percussion stave:

To a part by selecting the part, click the “New Staff” button dropdown under the parts and staves list and select “Drumset Stave”, or
As a new part by clicking the “New Part” button dropdown under the parts and staves list and select “New Part with Drumset Stave”

The Percussion stave uses a percussion instrument map to indicate the instrument in the score and for playback. The instrument to be played is indicated by its vertical position on the stave and the note head shape. The note head shape can be normal (looks like the usual note), a cross, a diamond, a triangle up, or a triangle down shape so up to five instruments can be mapped to one vertical position on the stave. If there is no instrument mapped to a vertical stave position, then a note cannot be placed in that position. Crescendo has a default instrument mapping. Should you wish to change the default mapping see Drum Kit Map Dialog for more information about mapping percussion instruments to the Percussion stave.

To add percussion instruments to the Percussion stave:

Select a note tool in the same way you would select the tool for placing notes on other staves.
Click a vertical position on the Percussion stave to indicate which of up to three possible instrument is to be played.
To change to another instrument if the note position has more than one instrument mapped to it, select the note and use the radial menu or, select the note, hold down Shift and then scroll the mouse wheel to roll through the other note head shapes.

To change the instrument to be played, apart from point 3 above, delete the note and place a new note in a different vertical position on the Percussion stave.