An exemplary embodiment of a method of selecting a portion of an input of a musical instrument within a display window in a graphical user interface for staff-based musical notation and a computer readable medium containing a program code for selecting the portion are summarized here. An octave picker on the input of the musical instrument is displayed within the display window. The octave picker is moved to a desired portion on the input of the musical instrument. An enlarged view of at least the desired portion of the input is displayed. For one embodiment, the octave picker is moved after receiving selection of the desired portion on the input of the musical instrument. For another embodiment, the octave picker is moved to the desired portion after receiving selection and a user manipulation of the octave picker. The octave picker is displayed over the desired portion on the input.