Managing Your Library

What You See in the Library

Each piece in your library is displayed as a card with the following information:

Element	Description
Title	The piece name (from file metadata or filename)
Composer	The composer name (or "Unknown" if not specified)
Date	Relative date ("today", "2 days ago", "1 month ago")
File type icon	Shows whether it's a MusicXML, MIDI, or PDF file
Coverage bar	Visual indicator of your practice progress (colored segments)

Coverage bar colors

Mastered (deep green) — 91%+ accuracy, practiced 7+ days, both hands
Solid (green) — 86%+ accuracy, practiced 3+ days, both hands
Developing (teal) — 70%+ accuracy, practiced 2+ days
Learning (blue) — Any practice started
Review (orange) — Was solid, needs a refresh
Not yet (gray) — Not practiced

Sorting Your Library

Tap the sort button in the header to change how pieces are ordered. There are five options:

Last Practiced (default) — Most recently opened pieces first. Pieces you've never opened appear at the end.
Recently Added — Most recently imported pieces first.
Title A–Z — Alphabetical by title.
Title Z–A — Reverse alphabetical by title.
Composer A–Z — Alphabetical by composer, then by title within each composer.

Your sort preference is remembered between sessions.

Searching for Pieces

Tap the search icon in the header to open the search bar. Search works on two fields:

Title — The piece name
Composer — The composer name

Search is case-insensitive and matches partial text. For example, searching "moon" will find "Moonlight Sonata".

Search examples

chopin — Finds all pieces by Chopin
nocturne — Finds "Nocturne Op. 9 No. 2" and others
no. 2 — Finds any piece with "No. 2" in the title

Tap the X button or collapse the search bar to clear your search and show all pieces again.

Organizing with Folders

Folders help you group related pieces together. There are two types:

System folders

Built-in folders like Favorites. You can add and remove pieces, but you can't rename or delete these folders.

Custom folders

Folders you create yourself. You can name them anything, add/remove pieces, rename them, or delete them.

Adding a piece to a folder

Long-press on any piece in your library
Select Add to Folder from the menu
Choose an existing folder or create a new one

Note: A piece can be in multiple folders. Think of folders like playlists—adding a piece to one folder doesn't remove it from another.

Creating a new folder

When adding a piece to a folder, tap Create New Folder at the bottom of the folder list. Enter a name and the folder will be created with the piece already inside.

The "Just Imported" Section

When you import new pieces, they appear at the top of your library in a "Just Imported" section. This makes it easy to find pieces you just added.

This section is temporary—it clears when you:

Close and reopen the app
Change the sort order
Tap the dismiss button on the section

Editing Piece Details

Tap the edit icon (pencil) on any piece card to modify its information.

What you can edit

Field	Description
Title	The piece name (required)
Composer	The composer name (required)
Difficulty	Your assessment: Beginner, Elementary, Intermediate, Advanced, or Professional
Notes	Practice reminders, teacher instructions, or any personal notes

Changes are saved immediately when you tap Save.

What you can't edit

Some information is set automatically during import and cannot be changed:

File type (MusicXML, MIDI, PDF)
Import date
Key signature (extracted from the file)
The actual music content

Viewing Practice Stats

Tap the stats icon (bar chart) on any piece card to see detailed practice statistics for that piece, including:

Total practice sessions
Total practice time
Average accuracy
Practice history chart
Section-by-section coverage

Deleting Pieces

Warning: Deletion is permanent

When you delete a piece, everything associated with it is permanently removed. There is no undo, no trash, and no way to recover deleted data.

How to delete

Swipe left on the piece card
Tap the red Delete button that appears
Review what will be deleted in the confirmation dialog
Tap Delete to confirm

What gets deleted

The music file — The imported MusicXML, MIDI, or PDF
Practice history — All sessions, times, and accuracy records
Practice stats — Aggregated statistics
Fingering annotations — Any fingerings you've added
Loop points — Saved A-B loop ranges
Tempo settings — Custom tempo adjustments
Folder assignments — Removed from all folders

The confirmation dialog

Before deletion, Crescendo shows how many practice sessions and total practice time you have for this piece. This helps you understand what you're about to lose.

Re-importing Pieces

Crescendo uses a content-based system to identify pieces. Each file's content is hashed (SHA-256) to create a unique fingerprint.

If you import the same file again

You'll see the message: "Already in library" along with the title of the existing piece. The import is blocked to prevent duplicates.

If you delete and re-import the same file

The file will import successfully, but all your previous data is lost:

Practice history — gone
Fingering annotations — gone
Loop points — gone
Tempo settings — gone

Why no "update" or "replace" option? All your practice data (fingerings, loops, stats) is tied to the piece's content fingerprint. If the content changes, it's effectively a different piece. Keeping the data linked to the old content would be misleading.

Exception: Discover downloads

If you downloaded a piece from Discover, deleted it, and try to download it again, Crescendo will recognize it's the same piece and re-link it without losing your local data. This only works for pieces from the Discover catalog.

Tips for Library Management

Use descriptive titles — If the imported title is generic (like "Score" or "Untitled"), edit it to something you'll recognize.
Add difficulty ratings — Helps you quickly find pieces at your current level.
Use the Notes field — Record teacher feedback, tricky passages, or your practice goals.
Create folders by purpose — Examples: "Current Repertoire", "Recital Pieces", "Warm-ups", "Completed".
Don't delete pieces lightly — Your practice history is valuable. Consider moving pieces to an "Archive" folder instead.

Troubleshooting

I can't find a piece I imported

Try these steps:

Clear any active search by tapping the X in the search bar
Change the sort order to "Recently Added"
Check your folders—the piece may be inside one
Search by part of the filename or composer name

The title or composer is wrong

Metadata is extracted from the file during import. If it's incorrect, you can fix it:

Tap the edit icon (pencil) on the piece card
Update the title and composer
Tap Save

I accidentally deleted a piece

Unfortunately, deletion is permanent. There's no way to recover deleted pieces or their practice data.

To start fresh, you'll need to import the file again. Your fingerings, loop points, and practice history cannot be recovered.

Search isn't finding my piece

Search only looks at the title and composer fields. It doesn't search:

Original filename
Notes you've added
Difficulty level
Key signature

Try searching for part of the title or composer name instead.

I want to re-import a file with corrections

If you've made corrections to a MusicXML file and want to import the updated version:

Note any fingerings or settings you want to remember
Delete the existing piece
Import the corrected file
Re-add your fingerings manually

The corrected file has different content, so it's treated as a new piece.

The Short Version