MuseScore in 10 Easy Steps: Part 7, 8 and 9

OK, I have a confession to make: I’ve been very slack in keeping my poor blog updated. I have plans for a redesign and a new blogging regime (I think they’ll be part of my New Year resolutions), so stay tuned for that in 2011.  In the meantime, here is a catch-up post about the latest 3 MuseScore videos:

The 7th MuseScore video was uploaded back in mid-August and covered repeats and 1st/2nd time endings (also known as Volta brackets in MuseScore).

[Youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IVmXhlpOpa4%5D

Part 8 – all about creating codas – appeared at the same time as part 7:

[Youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04XTa6IrzGg&feature=related%5D

I’ve had a list of possible video topics for parts 9 and 10, but the most frequently asked question via Youtube is “how do I create drum parts?”, so that became the focus of the ninth video in the series.

[Youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFj7v5S4Akw%5D

I’ll be planning the next video – part 10 – in the next couple of weeks, so keep an eye out for it in the new year.

Musescore in 10 Easy Steps: part 6

Here is the 6th video tutorial in a 10-part series titled MuseScore in 10 Easy Steps.  Part 6 focuses on how to add new instruments to your score, as well as adding articulation and empty bars.  Part 7 on the way soon….

[Youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQn-qlkMHLQ%5D

MuseScore in 10 Easy Steps: Part 5

Well, I admit that it’s been a while between MuseScore videos but I’m hoping that I’ll be able to get 2 or 3 done this week (no promises though!).  Anyway, here is tutorial 5 which covers copying and pasting music, adding lyrics and adding dynamics.  Now on to tutorial 6….

[Youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e55-YnhSk-s%5D

MuseScore in 10 easy steps part 4: note entry with a MIDI keyboard

Here’s the fourth installment in the 10-part video tutorial series about free music notation program MuseScore.  This tutorial covers note entry with a MIDI keyboard and looks at the basics of playing back your score.  It took me a little longer than hoped to find time to make this one.  I’m aiming for a quicker turn-around on the next few!

[Youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVlKTrCcl9A%5D

MuseScore in 10 easy steps: part 2

Here is the second tutorial in the Musescore series.  In this video, we take a walk through the Musescore screen.  In case you missed part 1, you can see it here.

[Vimeo http://vimeo.com/8668551%5D

The next tutorial in this series is coming soon and will cover the basics of note entry.

Musescore in 10 easy steps: part 1

Happy New Year!  Well, one of my new year’s resolutions is to post more frequently to this blog and I thought I’d start off by sharing a series of tutorial videos about the free notation program MuseScore. MuseScore is a good cost-effective alternative to professional notation programs like Sibelius and Finale and is being adopted by many in the education sector.

This series of 10 short videos will cover the basics of using MuseScore: setting up a score, moving around the screen, note entry and sharing your scores.

[Vimeo http://vimeo.com/8668507%5D

If you’re interested in seeing other how-to videos, there are a series of Sibelius videos here.

11 of the Best Free Sheet Music Sites

If you’re a music teacher on a tight budget it can be difficult to find the money to purchase sheet music for the myriad of music ensembles, instrumental and vocal students you may have at your school.  It’s good to know that these days there are literally hundreds of websites that offer free sheet music and a large percent of the titles are also copyright-free so you can arrange, transpose or transform the original to your heart’s content.  I’ve listed a few sites below, but if you’d like to find more, just search Google for “free sheet music”.

1. International Music Score Library Project A collection of public domain scores and scores from modern/current composers who are willing to share their work.

2. Mutopia A collection of public domain classical sheet music.  Their collection of modern editions is also growing.

3. The Gutenberg Sheet Music Project A sister project of the electronic book-sharing site Project Gutenberg

4. Choral Music Public Domain Started in 1998, this site is devoted to choral music

5. Band Music PDF Library They describe their collection as “music from the Golden Age of the American town band”.

6. Sheet Music Fox has public domain music as well as links to other sites containing copyrighted music.

7. Free Scores like some of the other sites, this one contains a variety of public domain scores and scores from current composers.  Check the licence page for details of how each piece can be used.

8. EZ Folk Folk songbooks from the late 1800’s and early 1900’s printed in their entirety.

9. Sibelius Music A place for Sibelius users to share their compositions and arrangements.  Not all are free, but you can include the word “free” in your search terms to narrow the choices.  There are more than 92,600 scores on this site.

10. Mus Open A collection of sheet music and mp3s.  Mus Open are even starting a collaborative text book project.

11. Public Domain Sherpa Although the sites above offer free sheet music it’s wise to be aware that not all titles are completely copyright-free.  Public Domain Sherpa offers a run-down of many sheet music sites (including ones not listed here) and lets you know whether the music may be subject to copyright restrictions.

Image courtesy t8contempo on Flickr

Sibelius tutorial: easy manuscript templates

If you compose or arrange regularly for a particular music ensemble, you might find yourself setting up scores using the same group of instruments over and over again.  To save time, you can set up score templates in Sibelius which will appear in the list of ensembles in the New Score Wizard.  To find out how, take a look at this video:

[Vimeo http://vimeo.com/7230822%5D

If you ever need to delete or rename a manuscript template you can do so by heading to a folder called Manuscript Paper which is located in Sibelius’s application data folder.  Here are the locations of that folder (which differs depending on which operating system you’re working with):

Windows Vista: C:\Users\username\Application Data\Sibelius Software\Sibelius 6\

Windows XP: C:\Documents and Settings\username\Application Data\

Sibelius Software\Sibelius 6

Mac: /Users/username/Library/Application Support/Sibelius Software/Sibelius 6

Creating melodic flashcards with Sibelius

Here’s the first of a series of short tutorial videos: how to create melodic flashcards with Sibelius and Microsoft Word.  If you’re a Kodaly or Orff advocate, you’ll know how useful it can be to use melodic and rhythmic flashcards to reinforce learning in the music classroom.  This first tutorial shows you how to create a short melody in Sibelius and then copy it across into Microsoft Word where you can reformat it and print it out.  Look out for the follow-up tutorial about creating rhythmic flashcards with stick notation.