Music notation software

[disorganisedmummy]

Hi,does anyone’s dc use any music notation software such as Sibelius at home?

I ask as did who is 11 and in Year 7 has recently started improvising both on piano and violin which is his main instrument. He is around grade 7 standard violin but he has just started grade 4 theory book. He doesn’t do the grade exams. He is said to be very gifted;he has perfect pitch and his gift is more aural than practical. He can hear a piece of music and then replicate it on piano or violin. He would love to write down his compositions but his theory is not quite up there yet. His violin teacher said that software would be a good idea though she still wants him to go through his theory books as she believes some software can make you lazy. As an example,she played a Christmas carol and asked him to improvise a harmony over the top which he did and he really wanted to write it down.

Does anyone have any experience of using such things and if so is there one that is recommended?

Thanks

My DC use MuseScore which is similar to Sibelius but free. They have Sibelius at school and have come to the opinion that MuseScore is better in most ways.

Another vote for Musescore

I was also going to say muse score. Ds also likes jazz and messes around creating jazz inspired music with garage band on the iPad

Musescore here too!

Sibelius definitely. My dd uses MuseScore and it is fine, so maybe start on that, but Sibelius has a lot more possibilities as you progress.

I agree Lily also as they progress through school they can save their compositions and work on them between home and school . Muse score is a good free place to start though

Talk to his school before you buy anything. Ours allows GCSE and A-level Music students free access to the same software they use in class. If they recognise your ds as G&T in Music, they may extend him the same privilege.

Same topic really, but can I just ask if anyone uses a audio to midi app or software? I have set up MuseScore for DD, but she improvises a lot on the violin (sometimes very quickly) and I thought there was some sort of software for taking the recording (on a phone) and turning it into notes, by translating it through a midi. Has anyone had any success with this? Disorganised, it is difficult, isn't it, if mini musicians start playing around on the violin, as how do you get it down on paper!

Nigglenotes that’s exactly what I was going to ask,you put it so much better than I could of!!

anyone uses a audio to midi app or software?

I've checked with DC and asked what they do - they told me there are various websites you can use that will convert an mp3 file to midi BUT they are not reliable in that the output transposition is not accurate. They say it's best to do it by ear / manually. If you find anything better, please let us know!

Sibelius is brilliant and you can buy the student edition for tens rather than hundreds of pounds. It has the majority of features the full version has, but I find it best used in conjunction with the full one. For example, I arrange music for my string group at home on my personal laptop using the student edition, then take it into school to extract the separate parts in the full version. Before anyone gets cross, the developers allow teachers to purchase the student version.

Lots of my students use MuseScore but I'm afraid I don't have any personal experience of it.

Garageband, which comes on a Mac, I think has the option of scoring what you play, but it's a bit of a faff printing the score. It's another fab piece of kit, but I use it to create backing tracks for my choir as I'm not a happy or particularly competent pianist.

DS uses Sibelius. It was a gift from friends and one of the best gifts he's ever been given. He then bought an M-Audio Oxygen49 MIDI keyboard, he USB connects to computer to input notes. He still uses acoustic piano to come up with the ideas, though. His Sibelius work at home can then be continued at school and vice versa.

drummersmum Thanks for your message and everyone else who’s replied. Ds is getting a keyboard for Christmas which I believe has midi function and you can connect it to a pc. The keyboard will be 8n his room but our pc (MAC) is in our study. He has an iPad though. Pardon my ignorance but would he put Sibelius on his iPad (if it supports that software) and has enough memory? I’m not sure how it would all work. Someone please help me!!

The IPad thing is this: itunes.apple.com/us/app/avid-scorch/id436394592?mt=8
It's not the same as Sibelius. It's compatible with Sibelius but I have never seen it being used so I can't tell what it does. Can you compose on it and then continue with Sibelius on your PC? I'm guessing you can go from one to another but I can't swear on it...

I've never used Sibelius on the iPad; my tablet is quite old and I doubt it could cope. I use it on my MacBook and it is brilliant. We use it on iMacs at school and it is fine.

I would email Avid to ask them about Scorch