Today I want to share a feature, new in SmartMusic 2011, that I feel is quite elegant.

Open any piece of music in SmartMusic 2011 and you’ll see the full controls at the top of the screen:

If the piece you’ve opened has on-screen notation, and the music  takes up more than one screen, once you press “Start take,” the controls now look like this:

Then, once the music begins, these “mini-controls” disappear entirely. Why?

SmartMusic is making the very best use of the available “real estate” when putting music on the screen. As a result, the notation looks as much like a piece of sheet music as possible; perfect if you’re using the screen for performance purposes. 

If you need the controls back, simply touch your mouse and the mini controls reappear.   

If for any reason you’d prefer to see the controls all the time, click on the blue “push pin” icon on the left of the mini controls. When the push pin turns green, it is “pinned” in place:

Blue=unpinned                                                            Green=pinned

You can also accomplish this from the Control menu by selecting (or unselecting) the “Pin control strip.”

I consider this an elegant solution because it is so simple. Without any interaction from me, SmartMusic automatically makes the best use of available space. If only SmartMusic could do the same for my desk!

Please let us know how these controls, or anything else in SmartMusic 2011, is working for you by clicking on “Comments” below.