There is an option to export as a pdf file, with choices for just the score, just the parts, all in one file, etc. This speeds up my work a great deal. Back in older versions you had to print each part as a pdf separately, then combine them into one file to email by hand.

Except…there is one problem. Some kind of imaging bug makes it hard to read lines and notes unless you zoom much farther in than you would to read it:

Example of poor rendering of the pdf. This is shown in Mac Preview, but Adobe Acrobat looks identical.

After hunting around in the support forums at Sibelius.com, I found a workaround. I had to export each page as a separate EPS file, then open them in Preview and convert them to pdfs.

Default view of the EPS version.

It looks better…but…

Look at the title. Sibelius generates the subtitle for pages after page 1 by putting the subtitle text on page one, then it automatically “hides” that text on page one. Except…it doesn’t.

Sigh. More work.

I must say that the printouts are perfectly fine from the pdf conversion, so it’s just a problem with the display, especially with larger files like band scores. I’ll continue to report when I figure something out.

Boulder Bach Festival concertmaster Zachary Carrettin will perform the entire Suite in G Major on viola at a Benefit Concert at 6:30pm on 24 May 2012 at First Congregational Church in Boulder.

Here’s my second stab at drafting music using nothing but MS Word and the Musiqwik font.  No too bad really.

This is great for students who need to read notes in the higher register and who haven’t learned complicated rhythms yet.  However, it also uses tied notes, so you’ll have to introduce that concept to use it.

With the movie in theaters again these days, I figure this song will be great for those who’d like to remember the 90s and for those who are just discovering them.  I enjoyed writing it – I barely had to google any of the lyrics it is so engrained in my memories.  Enjoy!

The way to avoid all the mousiness is to use the Control key (on Mac) or Alt (on Windows) to bring up “key tips” – single or two-letter commands that help you move quickly through the tabs on the ribbon and select buttons on them. Unlike most applications, you hit the control key and release it, then strike the letter keys in sequence. For example, to switch to the Layout tab, hit control, then L. If you want to switch to Layout, then invoke the Margins drop-down, use this sequence: Control – L – M – A. (You can also navigate around the ribbon using Tab, Shift-Tab, or the arrow keys; Space, Return or Enter activates the button. (See page 15 in the Sibelius manual for more information.) I was going to include a screen shot, but my screen-grab software can’t seem to get it without the key tip disappearing. So here’s a tiny shot:

I found this on the RPMSeattle.com site. Robert Puff does some great tips and tutorials – I highly recommend his work.

It’s well worth the time spent studying the alternate ways there are to do things in Sibelius. You don’t have to learn them all, of course. I find I only use a few of the control key tips, usually when formatting individual instrument parts. One of the things Sibelius doesn’t seem to do well yet is really produce parts that don’t need any additional formatting work. You can set up one part the way you want it, then use the Copy Part Layout function to copy most of those settings to the others. Still, I find I usually use this sequence on each part:

First, I envoke Command – A to select all bars, then select Unlock Format from the Layout tab. This usually makes the part look really ugly, but it takes out any extraneous system or page breaks that don’t fit that part (but might have fit the one used for the master part).

Second, I usually invoke Auto Breaks. This involves elementary math. Say you have a composition that is 70 bars long. You are using landscape mode like I am (I’m formatting marching band parts) so you know you can usually get anywhere from 6 to 10 bars per system. If you want ten systems, five on each of two pages (which looks pretty good with a staff size around 7 mm), set Auto Breaks to 7 bars. You will have to adjust things later a bit, but I’ll go into that later.

Next, I invoke Reset Space Above and Reset Space Below. These seem to both be needed to clean out any variations in the distance between systems. I’ve not really got the knack of these yet; there seems to be a bit of Sibelius voodoo still there!

I then invoke Optimize. Sometimes I also invoke Appearance > Reset Note Spacing, but that isn’t required on every page. You can usually eyeball it and see if the spacing is odd for some reason.

Finally, I look at the locations of things like metronome markings. Sometimes I adjust the number of bars to keep the layout clearer, using Make Into System and, more rarely, Make Into Page. Often all that is needed is to create a hard system break by selecting the barline and hitting Return.

I also often have to change where the bar numbers are. I tend to use bar numbers for every bar – it’s just faster in rehearsal, and costs nothing. I make them pretty  small.

Very small, but readable, bar numbers

I’ll talk about other time savers another time. So far, I just saved enough time today to write this blog entry!

I like to use Twinkle Twinkle to get students accustomed to reading middle C through G, i.e.:

Anyway, here is a free printable of my first foray into music notation.  Pretty straight forward, but I’m proud of it.

You should be able to open this as a JPEG in Word or the like.  Feel free to let me know if you have any questions or have trouble downloading it.

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

People Too are an amazing Russian artist duo best known for their incredible paper craft. Hailing from Novosibirsk, they chronicle their wonderful projects on Live Journal (http://peopletoo.livejournal.com/), where you can really get a sense of their artistry and skill with paper.

However in the series below, People Too bring sheet music to life with delightful illustrations of various everyday activities. From dinner and dancing, to work and play, the sheet music is bursting with life.

To order prints of this wonderful sheet music art, please visit: http://peopletoo.printdirect.ru/ or http://www.artflakes.com/en/products/etude-81

If anyone is looking for a gift for their favorite piano teacher . . . (hint, hint, hint).

Sometimes, I just want to be able to insert an example of a quarter note (etc) in a handout, and for that, I really don’t need all Sibelius.  There has to be an easier answer right?  Well, if you are like me, your copy of Word doesn’t include free music notation fonts, but fear not, there are solutions available.

This website, for one, provides several free music fonts.  The best of the bunch, in my opinion, is the MusiQwik font, which is available for personal and commercial use.  I also tested out the dvmarticulations font and musicsync, but the DVM one didn’t work on my Mac (running OSX 10.6.8) and my copy of Word didn’t like MusicSync, although it works with some finagling.

Harvard band forming music notes on field, Harvard vs. Brown (Photo credit: Boston Public Library)

In case you don’t know how to install fonts on your computer (I didn’t), here are some instructions from about.com

How to install

For Mac users, it is exceptionally easy.  Just open the file (its a .zip file), go to the particular file that is a .ttf and open it.  A window will appear that asks you if you’d like to install it – click on Install.  Restart computer and voila, the font will be available in Word.  For you Windows users, I’m sorry, the process is more complicated and that’s about all I know about it.  Good luck!

This informative session will be repeated on April 19th, May 3rd, and May 17th.

Lucas has 17 years of musical experience in teaching, performance and composition. He studied at University of Oregon and graduated with a degree in Music Technology. His experience and unique style is an asset to the Central Coast region and The Piano Outlet of Nipomo, CA, welcomes his talents.

To plan appropriately, RSVP’s are requested; call the store at (805) 929-8901.

Thank you for visiting us at http://www.thePianoOutletCo.com, your source for learning piano with good new and used acoustic pianos and new digital keyboards for sale in Oxnard, Ventura, Santa Barbara, Nipomo, Santa Maria, San Luis Obispo, Southern California and the Central Coast, and throughout San Luis Obispo County, Santa Barbara County, Ventura County, Los Angeles County, and beyond!

The local and ever fabulous Irish/Celtic group, Beltaine, has graciously invited me to join them for a couple of songs tomorrow night without EVER having heard me play my flute. Is that awesomeness, or what? I want to do a really good job. But mostly, I just want to wallow in the good energy and FUN they bring to their music.

So, I shouldn’t confess this until the show is over but I’ve never gone through this kind of process. In response to the hedgehog’s question in Toy Story 3 to “Were you classically trained?”, the answer would be a resounding yes. Sheet music. Endless scales. Concert black. None of this *smiling* on stage with a beer in hand. WWMD – What Would Mozart Do?

I’ve listened to Beltaine’s CDs repeatedly, tried to figure out the key, and have written down every note on the back of an envelope. I came up w/a pretty cool harmony to one of the songs. I’m sure the really savvy musicians in this world pull keys and harmonies out of thin air. Mine are on an envelope because of a hundredgazillionmillion run-throughs of the same song. Here is a purposely blurred picture of my “music notation”.

Whee whee WHEEEE

Do Ra Me Fa wtf So La here we go again

A clef ( a french word meaning key) is a musical symbol used to indicate the pitch of written notes. Placed on one of the lines at the beginning of the staff (five lines stacked upon each other), indicates the name and pitch of the notes on that line. This line serves as a reference point by which the names of the notes on any other line or space of the staff may be determined.

The Treble Clef’s curl wraps around the second line up on the staff indicating G above middle C, most commonly used in the staff for piano. It is one of three kinds of clef used in modern music notation: F, C, and G.

One inch tall, these three dimensional Treble Clef Earrings have a bail behind the top loop. These small pieces are a great way to celebrate your love for music! Whether you play an instrument, sing or simply love music, the Treble Clef Earrings are perfect for the music lover in your life.

The music of two English composers, Brian Ferneyhough and Michael Finnissy, represents this final and—in Taruskin’s estimation—ultimately futile maneuver. Their music is typically incredibly dense on the page, and in some respects impossible to perform. Ferneyhough uses “nested rhythms” (-tuplets within -tuplets within -tuplets), and obsessively profuse articulations, giving off the general feeling of impenetrable intellectual prowess (or at the very least, committed laboring). Taruskin gives us a page of Ferneyhough’s string quartet to make his point, with the ominous assurance that this is “not an unusually complex page” for him (see the image below, which is similar to the one Taruskin uses on V, 477).

Ferneyhough and Finnissy form the core of the so-called “New Complexity” group of composers, which Taruskin baldly paints as a dead-end extension of modernism. When it comes to the notational complexity of Ferneyhough’s music, Taruskin confidently pronounces that “its intricacy set a benchmark that is never likely to be equaled, let alone surpassed.” (V, 476) That’s because this type of music is doomed. In a world “after everything,” the argument goes, literate music has been finally dethroned, with postliterate musical media taking its place.

The Ferneyhough example immediately made me think of another piece of music, which made the rounds among my musical friends several years ago. It’s a page of “notationally complex” music that, once a closer look is taken, turns out to be a gag (see image below; click for larger version).

The music pokes fun at far more than just “New Complexity” types. It’s an indictment of the whole lot of modernist (see the stacked articulations at the end of the third system) and post-modernist (“Gradually slide from 12-bar Blues to a more Vivaldi-like cadenza”) styles.

But above all it lampoons the idea that notational technology—and by extension literate music as a whole—holds the ultimate key to musical meaning. Notation has been so overburdened with meaning that it can become, well, just silly. Taruskin will press this point, and the postliterate alternatives that were developed in response to it, throughout the final chapter of his history.

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This demonstrates my competency of H1 and H4 because I’m teaching an age-appropriate lesson to 2nd graders in my community.  I’m also working with their current teacher to create lessons that fit their needs.

The range of notational practices employed to present my work as a composer includes conventional staff notation, graphic notation, metaphors, prose, oral instruction and recorded media.

–Pauline Oliveros, The Roots of the Moment

Leipzig, 26 January 1729

Dear Prospective Scholar,

Thank you for your interest in spring admission to the Choral Scholars Program. We hope that these materials will inform you of the advantages of studying at St. Thomas School and encourage you to carefully prepare for your entrance examinations.

Johann Sebastian Bach, Cantor et Director Chori Musici

Educational Goals

Since our founding in 1212, the educational goals of St. Thomas School have been:

• The knowledge and fear of God
• The vivid knowledge of His Divine Essence and Will

Because our ancestors determined that music should also be practiced at St. Thomas School, a special Choral Scholars Program is available to those who qualify and are selected.

Advantages

Originally established as a school for the poor, St. Thomas School selects the most gifted among needy students, primarily from the vicinity of Leipzig. Since 1543, when the School became a civic institution, wealthy citizens have made charitable gifts and bequests on behalf of needy and gifted students who reside at the School and pursue both academic and musical instruction as alumni in the Choral Scholars Program. In fairness to all, instruction is also available to qualified local students as nonresident externi, without regard to need, but subject to the payment of tuition.

As the area’s most selective Latin school, with a senior faculty that often overlaps with that of Leipzig University, the level of instruction and the atmosphere of learning leads a significant number of St. Thomas School graduates to continue their education in theology, law, medicine and philosophy at the University.

The Choral Scholars Program

This spring, nine spaces are available for resident student alumni in the Choral Scholars Program.

As recipients of a free education, room and board and a small stipend, members of the Choral Scholars Program provide music for all of Leipzig’s churches.

Please note that a musical audition is required before admission to the Choral Scholars Program can be considered.

Admissions Process

A rigorous admissions process will be conducted in order to identify candidates qualified for the limited number of alumni positions in the Choral Scholars Program.

Magister Johann Heinrich Ernesti, Rector, and Johann Christian Hebenstreit, Conrector, will test the applicants’ academic qualifications. Johann Sebastian Bach, Cantor, will examine each candidate’s musical background and potential, taking care to evaluate candidates for matters of intonation and sight-reading, experience in performance practices, and adeptness in proper music expression.

This committee of three will propose its rank list to the Chairman of the Board of the St. Thomas School for immediate admission to the Choral Scholars Program, possible admission to the Choral Scholars Program after reexamination, or admission as externi, outside of the Choral Scholars Program, when space permits.

Typical Profile of a Successful Candidate

Most candidates currently attend a Latin school and enter the Choral Scholars Program when they are thirteen or fourteen years old. Scholars can remain at St. Thomas School for a maximum of eight years, usually two years per class.

Recognizing the broadened educational advantage offered at St. Thomas School, candidates typically possess a good voice, fine proficiency in reading music notation, and talent in playing one or more musical instruments.

Course of Study

Altogether, fifty-five resident alumni and approximately a hundred nonresident externi pursue a rigorous course of study at St. Thomas School in the trivium of grammar, logic and rhetoric and the quadrivium of arithmetic, geometry, astronomy and music. As a result, great attention is placed on the mastery of Latin etymology and syntax, with lesser emphasis on Greek and Hebrew, leading to mastery of the Catechism. With respect to the acquisition of scientific knowledge, musical tuning systems, proportions of intervals, and the geometry of organ pipes are studied simultaneously with choir practice, singing lessons and musical performance. The prosody of recitatives and the meter and rhyme of arias are similarly investigated in an effort to glorify God through music.

Classes are held weekdays from 7 to 10 in the morning and from 12 to 3 in the afternoon. Unscheduled time is reserved for individual study, with alumni in their cubicles and externi at home.

With the exception of religious holidays and the three annual trade fairs, musical exercises with all classes are conducted on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday at 9 and 12 and on Friday at 12 in the school auditorium, which is suitably equipped with a small organ and a harpsichord. Practical examples for the vocal and instrumental repertoire help to amplify the daily lives and duties of the Choral Scholars as they pursue a theological education. Our Cantor also provides instrumental lessons in private or small groups, as appropriate.

The Choirs

Choral Scholars from the upper four classes are divided into four choirs and earn stipends by singing at church services, weddings and funerals.

Choir I, consisting of the twelve to sixteen most select singers from the upper classes, are under the direction of our Cantor and provide cantatas and other concerted music at the two main churches of St. Thomas and St. Nicholas in an alternating schedule. Four times a year they also provide the Old Service at the University Church of St. Paul’s.

The Choir I vocalists are divided into two sorts, namely concertists and ripienists. The concertists are ordinarily four in number, but sometimes also five, six, seven and even eight when music for two choirs is to be performed. The ripienists, too, must be a least eight, namely two for each soprano, alto, tenore and basso part. Such concerted pieces, which are mostly of Cantor Bach’s composition, are incomparably harder and more intricate than the repertoire sung by the other choirs.

Choir II also serves the two main churches in alternation with Choir I under the direction of the second prefect, singing mostly motets without instrumental accompaniment.

Choir III serves the New Church by singing motets and chorales under the direction of the third prefect.

Choir IV sings only hymns at St. Peter’s.

Penalties

A stiff schedule of fines is subtracted from the stipend of all Choral Scholars who fail to exercise their art to the greatest degree possible. For example, every noticeable musical mistake is fined 1 groschen, and intentional and mischievous mistakes are fined 3 groschen.

These fines are used to defray the cost of repairing musical instruments and, for the use of the members of the congregations, the printing  of booklets containing the texts of the weekly cantatas.

Many musicians are fabulously skilled at playing the black dots on the printed page, but mystified by how the dots got there in the first place and apprehensive of playing without dots. Music theory does not help here; it teaches rules of the grammar, but not what to say. When people ask me how to improvise, only a little of what I can say is about music. The real story is about spontaneous expression, and it is therefore a spiritual and a psychological story rather than a story about the technique of one art form or another.

–Stephen Nachmanovitch

– Bruce Siegel, “Learning to Play is Learning to Speak”