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There was an interview released today with a guy named Mark Graham who supervises the preparation of all the sheet music for John Williams, and he said they're "just finishing up Episode VIII now."
The whole interview is actually pretty awesome! Lots of info and anecdotes about how Williams runs the recording sessions on SW.
FYI: Most DAW's will let you export a piano roll to a midi file and then you can use Finale Notepad (http://www.finalemusic.com/products/finale-notepad/) to open those midi files and it will be put into music notation. Hopefully this helps!
Immediately come to mind 2 options from the 2 major music notation companies, Finale and Sibelius.
Sibelius First is the stripped down version of Sibelius. Running between $80-100US, it's a pretty powerful tool. I use it every day and I couldn't be happier with it.
Finale PrintMusic is the stripped down version of Finale. I don't know much about it, since I haven't used it, but I've heard nothing but good things. PrintMusic 2014 seems to be priced everywhere right around $100US.
Both programs will help your son explore music and eventually create professional-looking scores if he so desires. Plus, they will both run on laptops. Unless the computer is an absolute dinosaur, he shouldn't have a problem.
I'm assuming you're talking about OSX 10.10 Yosemite (the latest version), not Mavericks, which is the previous version.
MakeMusic posted this regarding compatibility issues with Yosemite. According to this post, Finale 2011 crashes upon creation of a new score.
Here is another post about the issue, which says:
> To be clear, Finale 2012 and earlier are not supported in Yosemite. While results vary, there are known problems. If you’re using Finale 2012 or earlier, I don’t recommend updating to Yosemite at this time. We’ll provide more information on this blog as it becomes available.
As far as I can tell, no further information has been posted on the blog, and this would seem to imply that MakeMusic has no intentions of fixing any issues with old versions of Finale.
The two most popular ones are Finale and Sibelius. A common opinion is that Sibelius is easier to learn, but Finale is ultimately more powerful. They're really pretty similar though. The full versions are about $600, but they also sell to students, teachers, and churches for half price, and you can buy a copy at this price on Amazon without needing to provide proof that you are in one of these groups. There are also "lite" versions of each for far cheaper--try Finale Notepad.
You don't strictly need a MIDI keyboard, but it's definitely helpful. You can just enter the notes in manually, and it's not much slower once you get the shortcuts down. There are two types of MIDI connections:
- USB, which allows you to simply connect to the computer with a USB A/B cable
- DIN-5 (standard MIDI connector), and you'll need a USB-to-MIDI cable (actually a cheap MIDI interface).
You don't need to buy notation software. All .mus files will open perfectly fine in the free version of Finale called Finale Notepad, and it has built in MIDI export.
Out of interest, what's you're source on this? I knew they were relocating, and I knew that some of the team weren't relocating, but I didn't hear about the firings. I've seen this update from the new CEO. What happens to Finale bothers me way more than what happens to Sibelius.
(I've just realised I'm having a discussion about music notation software on /r/funny. Not what I expected to do today.)
Check the manual for "Cross staff". There's a plug-in that will help you.
Also, this: http://www.finalemusic.com/blog/finale-blog-cross-staff-shortcut/
Finale isn't always about being the fastest at things, but about being able to do anything.
first of all, im pissed you didnt type in caps.
next, you can use almost any music noation software to emulate the sound for you. if you want to play it with chords and then change the key, i recommend Finale Notepad. it wont be perfect, but it will have to do unless someone records them or you find a recording on the site. i think finale lets you choose the quantization, so you need to set it to swing 8ths to sound how bebop should sound. and although, there are alot of buttons and whatnot, if you need help shoot me a PM or something.
Most professional musicians I know use a software developed by Seventhstring called "Transcribe." I have had a great experience with it and once you buy it updates are always free.
If you don't want to write out everything by hand, both Sibelius and Finale offer free (highly simplified) software on their site for download.
If you want to make orchestral music, you need good sample libraries. VST plugins (synth based) are not going to do what you need. The sequencer you use is less important. However, if you come from a more traditional musical background, you may find scoring software such as Finale easier to compose with. If you were to go that direction though, make sure whichever sample library you go with supports it.
Most good orchestral libraries are going to cost several thousand dollars. Garritan's Personal Orchestra is one of the cheaper alternatives for orchestral sample libraries at $149. The library is available as a VST and Finale uses the Garritan sample engine, so you'd be able to use there as well.
Staffpad is outside your price range, but would likely be better for your use case.
Midi input is plugging something, like a music keyboard, in and having it talk to the software so it records what you play as notation (the notes on staff paper).
Finale Notepad is free, but has something of a learning curve and isn't really touch optimised.
Finale Songwriter has the same learning curve, costs at the top end of your budget but gives you some more options and control on how it all looks.
There is also Sibelius software, but my forte (get it!?) is more towards the Finale products. It really is more of a taste thing there though.
Band Director here, IMO Finale is the best. I dabbled with Sibelius a little bit but never really got the hang of it.
I mostly use Finale for rewriting individual parts. The scan tool is really great for that, scan one part, then just transpose it for the correct key.
Finale Notepad is the free version which got me through college. It is severely limited in what it can do because they want you to buy the full version, obviously. When you're a student the full Finale version is $350 compared to $600 retail. It's a ton of money but well worth it if you use it a lot like I do.
Finale is the traditional competition of Sibelius. If you have a Mac, check out Logic Pro X. The notation capabilities are not well advertised, but it's very capable and you're learning a full-fledged DAW.
If you want to play around in a more serious way, and you know how to read music, you might want to download the (free) Finale Notepad, or possibly their trial version of songmaker. My nephew was composing on Fruity Loops for awhile. There's a lot of stuff out there.
My wife said I should download your little song and send it back to you with a French horn counterpoint, but I haven't played in quite awhile and it's a work-related writing weekend. Stuff like that is easy to do though.
This one's a lot easier
Am (X02210) D/F# (2X0232) F (133211) C (X32010) D (XX0232) F
Chorus C Em Am F C/G (332010) Em Am F Fm
The program I use is Sibelius, it's a pro scoring app. but there are a few cheap or free ones around like the free Finale Notepad.
I tried finding a better example, but it's actually pretty difficult to find one.
http://www.finalemusic.com/UserManuals/Finale2012Win/Content/Finale/Brackets_Notes.htm
It saves a mental step, especially when reading a piece for the first time. Instead of having to actually realize that the interval is too large, you can just automatically plan to play them all with the right hand. The same can be used for two notes to be played with a single finger (usually thumb) though the bracket is obviously smaller because it's only used for 2nds.
I wouldn't necessarily do this for 10ths because some people have a 10th (unless you have another musical reason that it should be grouped to the right hand), but certainly for anything bigger.
Noteflight is pretty awesome, and partially free. If you're willing to drop some serious cash though, you'd probably want to go either with Finale or Sibelius. I'm a pen and paper user myself, but both are good and will give you nice clean scores.
Well, 95% of the tabs on the internet are made with notepad...or any regular text editor.
If you're talking about neat tabs like you find in books, most of it is probably made in Finale, and some in Sibelius. Lilypond is just free software, kind of outdated with not very many features, but it gets the job done sometimes.
Well I get most of my sheet music from NinSheetMusic. They most certainly have a Nintendo majority, but you can definitely find some other console tunes there. They have literally thousands of sheets, but they are all for solo piano. Convenient for me since my instrument is in C (marimba), but you'll have to transpose. I really can't think of anywhere else on the internet that has a better selection, unless there is an equivalent site for guitar tabs that I don't know about.
Also, if you get Finale Notepad you can open .midi files with it and the program will automatically write the music out for you. Shouldn't be too hard to transpose to Bb after that. If you want game music .midi files there is nowhere better to look than VGMusic. Literally thousands upon thousands of tracks from just about every game you could possible imagine.
(Yeah, so I haven't checked Finale in a while and it seems as though its not free anymore. Its still pretty cheap, but I'm most certain that you can find it elsewhere for... cheaper.)
I think of Finale as music CAD (playback via MIDI), but I don't know if Sibelius thinks of it in that way.
I found there is a competing product, also called "Finale".
http://www.finalemusic.com/products/finale/finale-vs-sibelius/
First of all, thank you for being a band director. You are the kind of person that helped me find my strengths--something I could stick with from Middle School and on.
> How to properly teach students who potentially have no prior musical knowledge (I assume an intro to music theory would have to take place)
Ehhhhhh this is going to be the trick. I don't believe it's best to jump right into theory. What you're looking for is more of a Music Appreciation course.
>Acquiring the programs that could be used by up to 10 or so students -
Many companies will grant multi-use licenses/batches for reduced fees if it's education-related. Always contact them directly and ask about their educator discounts! Alternatively, free stuff is out there.
>Creating assignments that can be assessed periodically (I assume it would be checkpoints of an overall larger project)
It could be checkpoints, but doesn't have to be. If every other session has a specific teaching point ("Today I'm going to teach you how to pan instruments"), it becomes much easier to assess.
Now I have a question for you: what sort of music do you want your students to produce?
Finale gets all the press, but MakeMusic has a range of products with different feature sets (including Notepad, which is free). SongWriter includes MIDI entry, and is $50.
Glad you liked it! I wrote it especially for the upcoming 20th Pokémon anniversary, which I hope I complete and submit around then.
As for the software, I use Finale 2012 (http://www.finalemusic.com).
I haven't used Songwriter, so I'm not sure... I looked at this page and they don't seem super different, but maybe look to see if there's anything not included that you would want
Definitely a variation of the original theme. You can always download Finale Notepad. It's free and not too difficult to figure out if you want to hear what this may sound like.
I guess I don't have much help to offer. I've never had any good experiences with the logic score editor.
I think you may have better luck getting everything perfectly quantized, exporting the midi file, and importing that into a better notation program.
I'm a huge finale advocate. Free version here: http://www.finalemusic.com/products/finale-notepad/
Listen, kid. Finale Songwriter is just $49.95. This is your girl we are talking about. You can go detail your uncle's car and, if you do a good enough job, he might give you $25. Clean out your neighbor's garage and get the rest. She's worth it, right? If you don't spring for it, you're not just a poor actor, you're a poor boyfriend. Sorry to be harsh, but 'tis the season to spend actual cash on your girlfriend.
That should be the very first thing your band director teaches you, if you're in any sort of jazz band. The notes are written as straight 8ths, but not played that way. See here, but get your band director to explain it better.
Finale: http://www.finalemusic.com/usermanuals/finale2012win/Content/Finale/SwingPlayback.htm
or
https://www.finalemusic.com/UserManuals/Finale2014Win/Content/Finale/Swing.htm
You could download the free version of Finale Notepad and type it up yourself. I have no idea how long the piece is, though. Notepad isn't enough to compose full band/orchestra pieces, but for a single piano I think you should be fine.
Note: This program takes a lot of patience and nothing will be done quickly.
I also took a shot on creating a midi file for you. I don't really read music very well and planned on banging it out via midi, but instead found some free software that works on both mac and pc called Finale Notepad. It's actually pretty amazing.
I transcribed the notes from your grandmother's sheet music as accurately as I could (I'm sure there's some errors in there) and since I'd never worked with the software before, I wasn't really able to create a performance with any kind of nuance, but it ultimately let me spit out a midi file.
So I've uploaded a .mid file. a .pdf of the resulting sheet music with lyrics, and an .mp3 of the song. You can dowload them here.
I've also included the .mus file that Finale Notepad generates, should you decide to download the software. It's free and I can see where this would be extremely useful for you. You can download Finale Notepad HERE. All you need to do is set up an account. I didn't register it, but I couldn't see any limitations.
Enjoy!
It's hard to judge; you can check out Finale 2014's demo here.
I don't know the difference between 2003, 2012 and 2014 so it's hard to judge. I can try to answer any questions you have any using finale; I'd say look at the demo and judge for yourself if it's worth it.
Finale Notepad or MuseScore work pretty well. Tell you what, I'll give it a shot, no promises though since there are many reasons an arrangement can come out less than ideal.
Sibelius 7 or Finale are great for this purpose. They're quite expensive however (finale has a few dumbed down versions that are cheaper).
Sibelius - http://www.sibelius.com/home/index_flash.html Finale - http://www.finalemusic.com
EDIT: Finale can do that. If you get frustrated with that string quartet, I can whip one up for you.
I don't think the newer versions of Finale can... but why don't use just use the score manager (that's what it's called in Logic) for your midi tracks? Since you might not be a heavy notation software user, it could save you several hundred bucks.
i think possibly http://www.finalemusic.com/default.aspx could help you but I haven't used it so I'm not positive. I would like to know if it does end up working though cause it would be a really neat tool to have. I might try out the free trial later and report back Good luck on your search!
Does Sibelius come with an instrument bank like Finale? Or is there a brass quintet @ your school or in your community that might give it a read? Also, it's a huge help to post the score, too. Especially when we can't hear a recording or a non-midi rendering.
There are several options, the most cost effective of which is to put an ad in at the music program at your local university/college. At minimum this should get you started in the right direction.
And while I'm by no means a guru of all things feminine, wouldn't your girlfriend appreciate a poorly written, poorly performed, piece that you wrote and played yourself? I use this program to write music, there's a free trial available and lots of tutorials not only on using the program, but on musical theory in general.
There's a free Finale file reader on their site, and TuxGuitar will open your gp4 files. Both free. Google's your friend.