… music notation tips & tutorials by experts in this field.
I recently heard from my old friend and colleague Sean McMahon. He and I go way back; we worked together on more than a few hectic feature film score schedules back in the day. Sean is currently on the faculty at Berkelee College of Music in Boston, and wanted to get my perspective on music preparation at the college level. I thought I would share our correspondence here.
more >> “Is Music Preparation Part of Your Required Curriculum for College?”
Q: I am working on a piece with a lot of meter changes. I don’t know how I can repeat or make copies of those changes. There is a 4 bar pattern with meter changes as 4/4, 3/4, 4/4, (4/4). e.g. the 2nd bar of the pattern is always 3/4. However, when I copy and paste the 4 bars, the meter change isn’t copied. And, when I insert 3/4 and 4/4, the rebarring creates unwanted rests and destroys the pattern! How can I solve this problem?
A: On Mac, if you hold down the Command key when you make a selection, (use the Command key to select one bar, then hold down the Shift key to extend your selection) the selection area will be Purple, not Blue:
more >> “Sibelius : Copy Music with Alternating Meters into a New Location of your Score”
Q: In Sibelius, is it possible to have boxed Rehearsal marks which are automatically vertically aligned with coincident changes of tempo? For example, I have entered the boxed rehearsal letter “A” followed by a tempo marking; “a tempo”. By default, Sibelius aligns the tempo text with the bottom of the enclosure, but I want the tempo text to be centered with the whole height of the boxed rehearsal mark.
A: You’ve touched on two interesting topics related to vertical text alignment here. The first relates to general settings and positioning, and the second, as it concerns Sibelius, relates to collision avoidance. Let’s take a look…
more >> “Sibelius : Vertical Alignment of Tempo Indications With Rehearsal Marks”
There is a quick way to change the page size of all of your parts in one edit operation within Sibelius. Here’s how:
more >> “Sibelius : Change the page size of all of your parts in one edit”
This post explores a couple of ways to redistribute your music notation on the page for better balance and readability. Regardless of the notation program use, hopefully these tips will help you improve the presentation of your music, and help your musicians in the process.
Q: I’m doing a piano score on Sibelius and I accidentally hit some button that turned the score page “paper” into that ivory yellowish color. I just want it white again. I assume that I’m still on the orig. score page and this isn’t some alternate, “for printing only” version?
A: You can choose from a wide variety of graphics or colors for both your music and for your workspace background in Sibelius.
more >> “Sibelius Textures : Scores, Parts, Versions & Ideas”