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R
RChalmers2
Participant
April 18, 2021
Question

Typing in musical sharps, flats, etc.

  • April 18, 2021
  • 1 reply
  • 16515 views

Newbie question:  How can I type in musical symbols for sharps, flats, etc.?  I do notice that some fonts have some musical symbols. Aerial, for example, has quarter notes, eigth notes and a sharp sign. It does not (or I can't find) a symbol for a flat.  I can't seem to use unicode because it doesn't work, or maybe I don't know how to insert unicode fonts correctly in InDesign.  Is there a font that would have sharps, flats, major and minor symbols, etc.?  

 

I'd like to be able to use my choice of font if that is possible.

 

thanks!

1 reply

Jumpenjax
Community Expert
JumpenjaxCommunity Expert
Community Expert
April 18, 2021

I would reccommend you download a music font if you use them often. There are tons out on the web for free. Here is one link:

 

https://www.fontspace.com/category/music,notes

 

 

 

Lee- Graphic Designer, Print Specialist, Photographer
R
RChalmers2Author
Participant
April 18, 2021

Here's what I don't understand:  Say I put a musical symbol in the body of some text, say F flat ( where I use the musical flat symbal which is kind of like the lower case b).  I have to size it to go with the font in the copy and then if I need to change the size of the font in the copy, then the size of the flat gets changed also and then I have to go back and readjust all the flat symbols.  It would be ideal to have musical symbols as part of the font.

T
Test Screen Name
Legend
April 18, 2021

This is why music typesetting apps are popular. It needs special handling that isn't part of standard DTP. There may be music typesetting apps that can export graphics for use in InDesign; there might even be InDesign plug-ins. Otherwise, this is going to be slow tedious work.

 

HOWEVER, your comment " then I have to go back and readjust all the flat symbols." suggests you are missing one of the most important features of InDesign: styles. If you use consistent styles for all your musical characters, you only have to change it once. I have a simple rule: if you are DIRECTLY changing anything about the font for some text in InDesign, you're doing it wrong! Imagine those options don't exist, and use styles, every time, for every document, every character.

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