![]() ![]() ![]() Sibelius is used by many of today's most influential composers and secondary and tertiary music departments in the world, by novices and award-winning film composers alike.įor (string) educators, it is very easy to write and arrange or transpose material, email or print to PDF or as a web page. Sibelius updates their programs every two years or so with pioneering features rather that the yearly superficial and costly tweaks that seem to be the habit at Finale, as they're trying to catch up with Sibeius' innovation. I cannot rave enough about Sibelius - it's intuitive, elegant in concept and realization, incredibly powerful, flexible to customize and personalize if desired with minimum tech ability, and the output to print, PDF, web, and CD is most professional looking/sounding. MuseScore - This free soft keeps getting better and better! It's far superior to most of the "cut-down" versions put out by companies marketing their flagship product. I've found it excellent in creating musical examples for articles, putting it in-line with text. Lilypond - More of an engraving tool than a notation software, lilypond has superb looking output, but requires you to enter your music using a specific scripting format. I do however, recommend checking out two free software options (do a Google search for their names): I use software notation in orchestrating and arranging for string quartet, string orchestra, full orchestra, and occasionally wind ensemble and marching band.Įven in their most recent versions, the learning curve for Sibelius is much more attractive.I the classroom I spend more time teaching about orchestration concepts rather than "how to use the program." Sibelius installs and runs easily on both platforms.I have it running on my PC desktop as well as my Mac laptop, and have no issues whatsoever moving files back and forth. I was a longtime Finale user, but switched to Sibelius after seeing the improvements they made in terms of a musician-friendly user interface. So which is better? Or which do you use? Why is it better, what can it do? And are there other music notation programs to consider? The two major ones are Sibelius and Finale (poor Jean Sibelius only Googles third for his own name!) It seems that these two programs are fairly neck-in-neck, but having worked very little with either (just a tiny bit with Sibelius), I am not ready to choose one over the other with confidence. So I'm wondering about the state of music notation software, and your experience, preferences, etc. I also suspect that by having the software, as with having a better computer or a better violin, I'll discover conveniences that I haven't yet realized. No, I'm not a composer, but a teacher certainly finds many occasions to write down little pieces and exercises and arrange this and that. ![]() In thinking about getting a computer (most certainly an Apple), I realized that it's way past time for me to also procure some music notation software. The violin found its perfect form some 400 years ago and has changed relatively little since, but computer software is an entirely different matter - it changes with the wind! Printer-friendly version Weekend vote: Sibelius or Finale? ![]()
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