Choice of music writing software [for 7-shape system]?
Steven Sabol
group. Although I describe on my resource guide music-writing software
programs which do shape-noteheads, I have not had the time or talent to
work with any of them in depth. Probably the composers on this list have
worked with some of the less expensive programs and can reply as to which
ones meet the needs of Keith Boler. I recommend to send your reply to him
directly and also to the list for our edification. Thank you.
Steven Sabol
Bethesda, MD
>From: "Keith Boler" <kbol...@comcast.net>
>To: <sa...@his.com>
>Subject: Choice of music writing software
>Date: Mon, 11 Aug 2008 10:44:10 -0500
>I am writing this to you after finding your name and email address at this
>site and reading the information at this site which is informative:
><http://www.mcsr.olemiss.edu/~mudws/resource/chap12.html>http://www.mcsr.olemiss.edu/~mudws/resource/chap12.html.
>
>So far I have been unable to consult with users of various music writing
>software which would enable me to choose one appropriate for my needs and
>keeping the investment down as well.
>
>I am sure that the high-end programs (Finale, Sibelius) would do the
>things I need but what about the lower cost or shareware programs?
>
>If you would be so kind as to advise me on my choice(s) to accomplish the
>following:
>
> 1. Support the seven shapes shape-note system
>
> 2. Ability to import (by scanning) round-note score and convert it
> automatically into shape notes and print the result.
>
> 3. Ability to import (by scanning) and change the key and print out
> the result.
>
> 4. Do a combination of #2 and #3.
>
> 5. Compose original score in shape notes along with lyrics or
> compose in round notes and convert to shapes.
>
> 6. Enter the score via MIDI from digital keyboard and print the result.
>
>
>Please accept my apologies if my questions are rudimentary and naive.
>
>Your response will be very helpful and greatly appreciated.
>
>
>Every step in His presence.
>
>Keith (Ph.D. Univ. of Miss Med Ctr. 1967)
><mailto:kbol...@comcast.net>kbol...@comcast.net
Karen
I'm a user of Finale, and I've dabbled with Melody Assistant. You asked about specific things:
1. Support the 7-shapes shapenote system
Melody Assistant does, and whenever Finale gets their font act together they will be able to as well, though by adding my shapenote font to Finale I do 7-shape music all the time. (Sibelius users will have to talk about it; all I know is it can't use my font).
2. Import by scanning round-note scores.
Finale can do this. It's a bit of a high-end task to expect a $25 program like Melody Assistant to do, and I don't think it does (though you M.A. gurus out there will correct me if I'm wrong.
3. Once music is imported into the program, can it convert automatically into shapenotes and/or transpose into different keys easily and then print the result.
Yes for all the programs. And with all of them you will have to do some hand-tweaking if you have picky standards about how the music looks on the page and how the text lines up with the notes and where the staff system breaks come and so on and so on...
5. With all the programs you can compose in round and convert into shapenotes. With all the programs you can enter the texts as well.
6. Get the music into the program via MIDI keyboards.
Yes with Finale; I don't think so with Melody Assistant, though if you have music already in MIDI format, Melody Assistant can import it. But again, you M.A. folks will know better about this than I.
The initial task with all the programs is to get the music into the software. Once that is done, all of them let you fiddle with whether you display in round notes or shapenotes (and with my font + Finale, you even get your choice of 5 different shapenote systems). You can fiddle with the key signature without disturbing the movable-Do shape assignments. And you can print directly from all of the programs.
The more control you want over things, (such as height of staves, distance between staves, variable measure widths, your own choice of clefs from a variety of music fonts, for example) the more you will be unhappy with the cheap programs and will want to consider Finale or Sibelius.
I always recommend to those who are just starting to dabble with music typesetting software for shapenote songs, that it's hard to go wrong by beginning with Melody Assistant. You will learn a lot of things about typesetting music that will carry over with you if/when you graduate up to the big girls' software like Finale and Sibelius. Plus having Melody Assistant lets you take advantage of the Sacred Harp songs that are on-line in Melody Assistant format.
hope this helps,
Karen Willard
STaylor
to make Sacred Harp shapes in Lilypond. Other 7 note systems can be
done by setting up the parameters - telling what shapes you want on
which scale degree. Lilypond in general is not considered "user
friendly." But, it is very versatile. I use it all the time. Best
of all, it is a completely free program.
http://lilypond.org
http://lilypond.org/doc/v2.10/Documentation/user/lilypond/Shape-note-heads#Shape-note-heads
On Aug 17, 8:56 pm, Steven Sabol <sa...@his.com> wrote:
> Friends, I thought that I would forward the query below to this
> group. Although I describe on my resource guide music-writing software
> programs which do shape-noteheads, I have not had the time or talent to
> work with any of them in depth. Probably the composers on this list have
> worked with some of the less expensive programs and can reply as to which
> ones meet the needs of Keith Boler. I recommend to send your reply to him
> directly and also to the list for our edification. Thank you.
>
> Steven Sabol
> Bethesda, MD
>
Roland Hutchinson
both four-shape and roundnote music for a couple of years now.
It is VERY good at doing layout automatically. I did a baroque concerto
for string orchestra with it last spring, and I had to do _no_ manual
tweaking of layout to produce, from the same master file, full score,
miniature score, reduced score with page turns (automatically placed)
suitable for the continuo keyboardist, reduced score with page turns
suitable for the concertmaster, reduced score with page turns suitable
for the soloist, and the full set of solo and orchestral parts.
When I use it for four-shape music, there is usually NO tweaking to do:
I just enter the notes and lyrics into my template (which is still
evolving a bit: actually the "template" at any moment is the last song I
engraved) and Bob is my uncle: out comes the score in PDF and Midi. And
it looks really good. I can e-mail a sample of the result to anyone who
wants one. The entry can go very quickly once you learn the coding that
is used (it is done as a plain-text file, a bit like abc notation if you
know that). Simple things can be done in a matter of minutes; a hymn
tune from start to finish including typing in and dividing the syllables
of the lyrics for several verses (so that they can be underlayed
automatically) might take a couple of hours, including tweaking the
template as needed.
However, the best feature of all is that Lilypond is completely
open-source ("free as in free speech or free enterprise") software, so
that I will not be locking my scores into an undocumented proprietary
format that I won't be able to use after the software becomes obsolete
and no longer runs on available computers. This is _already_ a problem
for me with hymn tunes and anthems that I wrote or edited in the 1990s.
I've already had to re-engrave at least one tune because I could no
longer print it.
The price can't be beat, and you get to help improve it if you want to,
either by coding, by submitting bug reports, or by bribing the
developers to prioritize new features that you need. (It is, however,
by now very feature rich, with support for microtones, Gregorian chant
notation, and all sorts of other esoterica.)
Roland Hutchinson
Montclair, New Jersey