Making The Most of Notation Software

If you have taken the plunge and updated to Sibelius 7, the first thing that you will notice is a completely new visual interface.

If you are  familiar with the previous look of Sibelius up to version 6, here are some tips for you to get quickly up and running.

Use the Shortcuts

T for time signature, K for key signature, Q for clef, L for the lines menu and most other shortcuts are the same in Sibelius 7. There are a few minor adjustments to the shortcuts which you can view by going to Help > What’s New in Sibelius 7. The Shortcuts are listed at the bottom of the PDF file.

Contextual Menus

Like older versions of Sibelius, the contextual menus are the same.  If something is selected and you right-click the mouse (Mac laptops with a 1-button mouse: hold down Control and click the mouse button) you will get the same editing contextual menu.

The Inspector

The one new item in the Edit Contextual menu is the Inspector. The Inspector has most of the functions from the Properties Window, which has been removed from Sib 7. The Inspector is smart in that it will change according to what is highlighted in the score. If you highlight text and then choose the Inspector, it includes text editing information.

Inspector with text selected prior to opening it:

If you select notation or a blank bar, and choose the Inspector, it will display only the items particular to notation.

Inspector with notation or a bar selected prior to opening it:

The things that were in the Properties Window that have been removed from the Inspector window are now included in the various tabs listed in the new toolbar. For example, to change noteheads to X noteheads or slash notation, go to the Notation tab and select Noteheads > Type. And, the shortcuts are still the same. For example, Shift+Alt+1 = X notehead (Shift+option+1 on Mac).

Create Menu via the Contextual Menu

If you have used Sibelius 5 or 6, you are most likely quite familiar with the Create menu. Since the menus have been totally redesigned, the Create menu items are spread throughout the new task bar.

1. Press Esc and nothing is selected, and you right-click the mouse, the Create menu appears as it looked in Sib. 6 and earlier versions.
2. Choose the desired item from the contextual menu.
3. Double-click the mouse in the location where you want to add the entry and then enter it as you would normally do.

The “Find in Ribbon”  box

The Find in Ribbon search box has been a life-saver to me in my transition to Sibelius 7. Just type in what you are looking for such as Make Layout Uniform, Make into a System or other Sibelius terms. Sibelius 7 will give you the various options where to find what you entered in the search box.

Do check out the what’s new in Sibelius 7 videos on the Sibelius website. Watching these helped me to get familiar with the new interface.

http://www.sibelius.com/videos/guided_tour.html

http://www.sibelius.com/videos/whats_new.html

http://www.sibelius.com/videos/sibelius_for_switchers.html

I pleased to announce that the Second Edition of my book, Sibelius: A Comprehensive Guide to Sibelius Music Notation Software, is now shipping. See below for how to order a desk/reference copy from the publisher, Hal Leonard.

New Features
The new edition includes dozens of new graphics, text and examples of how to use features introduced in Sibelius 5 and 6 including:

• Using the Ideas Window for composing and arranging
• Entering and editing chords and notation with the onscreen keyboard and fretboard.
• Using Magnetic Layout to save time formatting parts and scores
• Inputting a Live Tempo, so the score tempo follows the one you play in real time
• Working with Sibelius Sounds for enhanced playback of your scores
• Syncing Sibelius with Pro Tools and other DAW software to work with notation and audio simultaneously.

The book, co-authored with Vince Leonard, is designed for beginning and experienced Sibelius users. The book is the result of teaching Sibelius in workshops over the past six summers. The unique aspect of the book is that each chapter features a complete musical example that the user enters.

Each chapter gets more and more complicated covering virtually all of the basic and not- so-basic Sibelius features. There is a complete index and the book covers a wide range of examples from single staves to a full score with video. Several users of the first edition tell us that they use the book as their general index to Sibelius because the index is complete and comprehensive.

Companion Website
There is a companion website designed to be used with the book at www.sibeliusbook.com which is being updated with the new files for the chapters. From the site home page, you can download the complete table of contents and a sample chapter (Chapter 2). The website includes many files that can be useful when teaching courses on Sibelius, such as partially completed files for most chapters.

Request Desk Copy
If you are teaching a course that involves Sibelius and considering using the book as a text, you can request a review/desk copy from the publisher, Hal Leonard by going to their website:

http://halleonardbooks.com/deskCopies.jsp

Information you will need to supply includes:

Title: Sibelius a Comprehensive Guide
Publisher: Hal Leonard (March 2011)
Paperback, 460 pages
Language: English
ISBN 978-1-4234-8847-7
Retail Price: $29.95

The book is also available from music companies and resellers and on www.amazon.com. They also offer a Kindle version of the book and you can download the first chapter for free on the Kindle. Note that currently the “Look Inside” Amazon feature has not been updated from the first edition, but if you order it from Amazon, you will receive the Second Edition.

I welcome your feedback on the new edition.

Notation software is most often used to create printed scores and parts and to assist with the creative process of composing and arranging. It is also used for other applications such as education worksheets and practice materials.

In my Berklee online course Music Notation Using Sibelius, one of the students in the class in the Spring, 2010 semester, Nicholas Alexander Krishnan, used Sibelius to assess his performance of his MIDI keyboard playing. Nicholas is a talented musician who lives in Bloomfield Hill, MI, and has taken several Berklee online courses.

The assignment was to use real-time input in Sibelius, called Flexi-time. Here is how Nicholas used Sibelius. His post to me in the lesson read (posted with his permission):

Hi Tom!

Nicholas

Not many of us think of Notation software as a performance feedback tool for practice. It could be used for many, many applications, preparing for performances, practice motor skills and playing rhythms with a metronome. I have had students play in rhythms to get feedback from Sibelius, Finale and other notation software that has real-time MIDI input. There are some other tools that are designed for practice and feedback such as SmartMusic. However, Sibelius can be a handy tool for performance feedback.

In my last two posts, I shared ideas for adding Drum Grooves in Finale and Sibelius.

There are another ways to import Drum Grooves into your Finale or Sibelius notation scores.

1. If you own a Digital Audio Workstation program such as Pro Tools, Logic, Digital Performer, Sonar, Reason or others, you can save drum grooves in MIDI format and import the file into your notation software.

2. You can also download a plethora of MIDI drum grooves from websites for free as well as purchasing libraries of MIDI drum grooves.

There are many websites that offer a wide variety of MIDI drum grooves. Since you are going to notate the grooves, MIDI is the way to go. Audio files cannot be easily converted to notation. However, MIDI files can be opened directly into notation software.

If you do a Google search for “MIDI Drum Beats,” the hits will be in the thousands. Some of these sites are selling their beats, but there are lots of free options. One such site is: http://mididrumfiles.com

Click on the Free Downloads option.
http://mididrumfiles.com/0504/download_free_midi_drum_files/

Click on the groove name to audition it. To download it, go back to the page with the original link and right-click on it and save it to your desktop. Check out the video that demonstrates these steps: MIDI drum files download how to

The next step it to import it into your notation program.

1. Import the MIDI file into your Notation Software. It will open in a new file.
2. Open the score you wish to use the drum pattern.
3. From the Window Menu choose the MIDI drum loop you opened in step 1.
4. Copy the pattern to the clipboard.
5. Choose the destination score from the Window menu.
6. Select the bar and paste in the pattern.

It is a good idea to save the MIDI drum grooves you import in the software for later use. You can save the individual notation files or copy and paste them into one score and label the grooves. Then, you can copy and paste them in later scores as needed.

What are your favorite locations for MIDI drum grooves?

There are two options for adding ready-to-use drum grooves in Sibelius. Of course you can write the parts by hand. However, if you are in a hurry you can get a usable drum part using one of the two following options.

Drum Groove Plug-in

The fastest way to add a drum groove is to use the Plug-in. Here is how it works:

1. Select the bars or the entire piece where you want the drum groove added.
2. Select Plug-ins > Composing Tools > Add Drum Pattern.
3. Make the selections in the Plug-in Window:
– Select the Style. There is a wide range of options. However, the Jazz Swing option is really more of a disco beat. If you want a traditional swing pattern, go with the second option below.

– Make the appropriate settings in the window. I usually turn off the intro bars, but it can be a useful option. I also typically turn off the outro option.

The plug-in does a pretty good job of notating a typical drum part with stems up and stems down. Here is the notation created by the Soft Rock Ballad style.

Sibelius Ideas: Drum Grooves

The second and more flexible way to add a drum groove in Sibelius 5 or later is to use the Ideas function. Sibelius includes many Ideas for a variety of instruments. For an overview of the feature check out the Sibelius tutorial video on the topic:
http://www.sibelius.com/products/sibelius/movies/ideas.html

To add a drum groove using Ideas:

1. Add a drum set staff to your score if there is not one already.
2. Open the Ideas window by clicking the Ideas icon (looks like a light bulb) or choosing Ideas from the Window menu.
3. In the Search box, enter the style you want followed by the Drum Kit. For example: Jazz Drum Kit. The styles will then be displayed in the Window.

4. Roll the mouse (don’t click) over the pattern to get some information on the pattern.
5. Click and hold the mouse button to audition the pattern.
6. When you found a pattern you like, click on it to select it (a black line will outline it), then click the Copy button at the bottom of the Ideas window.

7. Click in the bar in the drum were you want the pattern to appear and click the Paste button on the bottom of the Ideas window (you can also use the traditional copy and paste keystrokes)
8. Press the letter R (by itself) to repeat the pattern as many times as needed.
9. Continue adding patterns as needed.

Saving Drum Patterns to Ideas

Another feature that I use is to save drum patterns to the Ideas window for future use. Perhaps you can’t find the exact drum groove so you create it yourself. You can save it to the Ideas window for future use.

1. Enter the pattern in the score.
2. Select the bar or bars and click the Capture Idea icon on the Ideas window. This adds the Idea to the Score list.
3. To add it to the Library, select the Idea in the score view and click the Add to Library Button.
4. Select the pattern in the Library view and click the Edit Idea Info button. Here you can add specific tags such as Jazz Swing, change the color of the idea and add other information as needed.

Now the Idea will be in the Library and you can access for future score. For more information on Ideas, read section 5.11 Ideas of the Sibelius Reference manual.

Writing drum set parts can be time consuming and getting the correct playback is another possible road block. However, if you are in a hurry or you just want to add a quick drum groove to your Finale file, you can access two Finale plugins: Drum Groove and Latin Percussion.

To add a Drum Groove, follow these steps:

1. In Finale, highlight the bars of any staff where you want to add a drum groove. This can be a specific section of the piece or the entire arrangement.

2. Choose Plugins > Scoring and Arranging > Drum Groove.

3. In the plugin window make the following selections:

- Select the drum groove from the Style list. Be sure to select an appropriate style that will fit the time signature.
- Choose where to place the drum part – add a new staff to the bottom of the score or to an existing staff. If you choose to put it in an existing staff, be sure it is a percussion or drum set staff.

- Select the type of notation – “Notation with Percussion Map” will give you a pretty close representation of the typical drum part. The other option is to choose Slash Notation. The drum groove will be hidden behind the slash notation.

Here is an example of the “Notation with Percussion Map” using the Rock Ballad style. It is not in the correct format for drum set (snare and cymbals stems up and bass drum stems down), but it is usable.

The Slash notation will look as follows. The drum part will playback and is hidden by the slash notation.

Intros Endings and Fills

The list of drum grooves does not include any fills, intros or endings. You can record them your self or create them in step-time.

Latin Percussion

Another plugin that Finale offers is Latin Percussion. This is a similar plugin that can add multiple percussion parts to your score. You can select some or all of the possible staves and place them in new or existing staves.

1. Select some or all of the bars of the file.

2. Choose Plugins > Scoring and Arranging > Latin Percussion

3. Choose an appropriate Style.

4. Select some or all of the parts to be added to the score.

5. Choose the destination – new staves at the bottom of the score or into existing staves.

Here is a screen shot of the parts created from the Cha-Cha style:

Adding additional Drum Grooves

You can add your own drum grooves that will appear in the plugin list. You must save a MIDI file with a percussion part assigned to Channel 10. Then, add the MIDI files to the Drum Groove folder in the Finale > Components > Drum Groove folder. The Drum Groove plug-in does not read MIDI data on any channel other than channel 10. If a MIDI file contains percussion notation in a channel other than 10, open the file in Finale (or another program that supports MIDI editing) and change the staff (or track) containing the percussion notation to channel 10.

Finale offers a helpful option to renotate (retranscribe) notation that has been entered. When playing in parts in real-time using Hyperscribe or when entering notation one note/rest at a time, often there are rests that can be removed which will make the rhythm more readable and simplify the rhythm.

For example, check out the funk bass part, notated in Finale:

Removing the rests will greatly improve the readability of this rhythm.

Here are the steps:

Quantization settings

1. In Finale 2010/2011, choose MIDI/Audio > Quantization Settings
2. In the Quantization settings window, choose the smallest note value in the passage. In this case, a sixteenth note.
3. Check one of the options for tuplets. If there are triplets in the notation, select “Mix Rhythms.”. If not, choose “No Tuplets.”
4. Click the More Settings button

5. Check the “Minimize Number of Rests” option.

From http://www.midi.org/aboutmidi/glossary.php#q: ….the automatic adjustment of timing values to some formula or pattern other than the one originally recorded. At its most basic level, to quantize a passage to sixteenth notes will drag all notes to their nearest sixteenth note, so making the passage sound both very in-time, but also very stiff and mechanical. There are many more subtle settings and styles that can both ‘correct’ timings, in a more natural manner, and even create human feel ‘groove quantizing’ where none originally existed.

Once you make these choices, they will be retained in the Finale preferences. So, there is not need to go back to these settings unless there are changes in the notation of the example.

Retranscribing the Passage
1. Choose the Selection Tool
2. Select (highlight) the beats or measures you want to retranscribe.
3. Choose MIDI/Audio > Retranscribe.

If you don’t like the results of the change, undo it via Edit > Undo and make changes to the Quantization settings.

TIP: When you import MIDI files into Finale, these settings are also used. By default, the minimize rests option is checked. You can make adjustments to these settings when a file is imported.

There is an amazing feature that may help you enter lyrics in leadsheets and choral music using Sibelius 6.

Granted, I usually type lyrics directly into the score: select a note, choose Create > Text > Lyrics and type each lyric and syllable one at a time. It does not take long if you are a decent typist. However, if you are a fairly good typist or you are looking for lyrics to a known tune, you can use the import text file option.

If the tune is an original composition or one you know by memory, just type the lyrics into your favorite word processor. Or, you can search for the lyrics on the Internet. With Sibelius 6, you don’t have to worry about entering the syllable breaks. Create the notation and include slurs where there are melismas (two more notes assigned to one syllable) and import the saved text file.

Create the Score with Slurs
I created the melody for Aura Lee and included slurs where needed. In this piece there is only one melisma, in bar 4.

Create or Copy the Lyrics
Then, I went and searched for the lyrics online. I went to Google and seared for: “Aura lee” lyrics
Always put the entire song title in quotes. The number of hits was significant. I then selected and copied the lyrics for the first verse and pasted them into MS Word.

As the blackbird in the spring
‘neath the willow tree

Sunshine came along with thee and swall-ows in the air.

With Sibelius 6, there is no need to worry about syllable breaks. The program analyzes the text and does an amazing job of automatically applying the syllable breaks. Of course, I could have just typed these lyrics into the word processor if I didn’t want to take the time to search for them online.

Save as Text
Next, after pasting the lyrics into my word processor, I choose
File > Save As and saved it as a text (.txt) file to a folder on my hard drive.

Import the Text into Sibelius
The next step is to select the notation in the Sibelius file. In this case I selected the entire document.

Import the Text File
Choose Create > Text > Lyrics > From Text File… I usually don’t change the default settings. You can research more on these options in the Sibelius reference manual.

And that’s it! In this example, Sibelius perfectly interpreted the syllable breaks and properly entered a melissma (because I had pre-entered the slur).

Of course, this won’t work perfectly in every instance. But even if there are some minor edits, this is a time saver for songwriters and composers/arrangers who deal with choral and vocal music.

Sibelius has a very handy plug-in when you are dealing with real-time input and/or importing MIDI files.

Renotate Performance Plug-in
There is a plug-in called Renotate Performance. It does an amazing job of renotating and simplifying notation.

I also use it when step entering notation. It will often correct mistakes that I make such as placing quarter notes over beats 2 and 3 in 4/4 time. It is an amazing tool. It is a snap to use and if the change is not what you want just undo it and return to the original.

Applying the Renotate Performance Plug-in

I entered the following notation in real-time using Flexi-time.

Here’s what the Renotate Performance plug-in produced:

To run the Renotate Performance plug-in:

1. Select the source notation. You can select one or more bars and up to two staves at a time.
2. Choose Plug-ins > Simplify Notation > Renotate Performance
3. When the dialog box came up, I checked the Overwrite option. If you don’t check this box, the renotated version will be placed in a new staff.

I find that this plug-in is tremendous especially if you are playing in real-time and want to quickly clean up the notation.

Limitations
You can’t apply the plug-in to multiple staves. You are limited to 2 staves at a time. And, sometimes it will make adjustments to the notation and change the actual rhythms. When this happens, I undo the plug-in and make the edits manually.

Check out this handy plug-in.

One of the most fascinating and time-saving orchestrating tools in Sibelius is the Arrange feature. I have been using it since Sibelius 3 and it is a wonderful time saver. I think of the Arrange option as actually an orchestration feature since it orchestrates the music you provide for the instrumentation that you select. It does not harmonize your music, realize chord symbols, add counter-lines, substitute chords, or remove the need to study these and other topics further if you need to use them. (Sibelius does have plug-ins that can be used to harmonize, realize chord symbols and more. These will be covered in a future post).

The Sibelius Arrange feature has many built-in orchestration styles that can be applied to any style of music and can save time. Even if it does not give you the complete final result, it can be a helpful guide to finding the idea orchestration.

I use a sketch staff when writing an arrangement. Then I can copy and paste from these staves and use them to score other parts. Here is how you can use the Arrange feature in Sibelius:

1. Select the source region containing the music you wish to orchestrate.
2. Copy it.
3. Select the destination staves.
4. Choose the Arrange Style and choose paste.

The key is to use the arrange feature for parts of a score, not an entire score. And, if you are working with a full band, jazz or orchestra score, you can use different arrange styles for the various sections.

Here is an example. I entered some 5-note chords in the sketch staff and then use the Arrange feature to put them into the sax section staves.

The steps include:

1. Select the staff with chords: double-click to select a system, click and shift-click to select a region.
2. Use the shortcut: Command+C (Mac); CTRL+C (Win) to copy the selected bars.
3. Click on the Alto 1 staff in bar 1, then shift-click on the Baritone part.
4. Select Notes > Arrange or use the shortcut: Shift+Command+V (Mac); Shift+CTRL+V (Win) to access the Arrange Styles list.
5. At the top of the Arrange window, choose Explode.

Explore Other Arrange options

1. Press the Undo arrow at the top of the screen several times to remove the notes just entered.
2. Select the top part.
3. Use the shortcut: Command+C (Mac); CTRL+C (Win) to copy the selected bars.
4. Click on the Alto 1 staff in bar 1, then shift-click on the Baritone part.
5. Select Notes > Arrange or use the shortcut: Shift+Command+V (Mac); Shift+CTRL+V (Win) to access the Arrange Styles list.
6. Choose: Jazz: Saxes Tenor Lead 1.
7. Undo this and experiment with other Arrange options.

There are many jazz styles such as Sammy Nestico and the Count Basie Orchestra and others.

And, the Arrange feature is not limited to jazz. Check out the incredible list of options for other ensembles.

There are times when you will get the dialog box that Sibelius can’t arrange the source material into the selected staves. So, experiment with different options.

For more information on the Arrange feature:

Check out Jazz arranger David O’Rourke’s document, which describes how to create great jazz voicings using the Arrange feature and the Jazz Arrange styles in Sibelius.
https://secure.sibelius.com/download/plugins/index.html?plugin=5

Check out the book, Sibelius a Comprehensive Guide, that I co-authored with Vince Leonard. It has a section of Chapter 11 dedicated to the arrange feature: Chapter 11, pages 302-311 written by Vince.