Scoring Notes

It's here! Black Friday, the time when retailers and consumers meet in the happy place of sales and specials. This time can be about more just getting a few dollars off, though — it can be an opportunity to acquire new skills using products and services that will benefit you all year round. To that end, Philip Rothman and David MacDonald run through all the deals we know about for music notation software, and recap some of the latest new features that could entice you to open your wallet. We...

On the Scoring Notes podcast, we have spoken before about music preparation and the technology we all use to create musical compositions and get them in front of players and an audience. But how do those compositions begin in the first place? We're not talking about the magical moment when a composer wakes up and decides that they are going to create their magnum opus. It's when the phone rings (or maybe these days it’s a text message or an email), and when the composer picks up, on the...

When Aaron Copland thought of the Far West, he probably didn’t have Wisconsin in mind, but Milwaukee was the perfect location to “road test” the new edition of Rodeo. That’s where Philip Rothman went for the first rehearsals of a new edition of Copland’s masterpiece that I prepared. The Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, under the direction of music director Ken-David Masur, agreed to play from a brand new set of score and parts to Rodeo. You might wonder, what was wrong with the old edition?...

We’ve spoken about opera occasionally on a few Scoring Notes episodes — like in the 2-parter we did on lyrics, for instance. But a genre as big and complex as opera deserves our uninterrupted focus. Around for centuries as an art form, opera continues its appeal through the present day, with many contemporary composers working in this area, including a few that have made it their specialty. Due to its length, large forces and form, multiple movements, revisions, vocal elements, piano...

Garrett Breeze's podcast, called Selling Sheet Music, features practical advice about the art and the business of getting scores from your head to the music stand. Garrett invited Scoring Notes co-host Philip Rothman to be a guest on his show, and it was fun having someone ask Philip the questions for a change instead of the other way around. We discussed thoughts on preparing music and the tech that's used in everyday work. Philip talks about his business, NYC Music Services, how he got...

If you're not up to date, then you're missing out on the latest features. That's always been true, but perhaps never more so than now, with regular updates being the norm for music notation software. Philip Rothman and David MacDonald review the latest updates to Dorico, Sibelius, Finale, and MuseScore, and highlight the most useful new features — and what's in those updates that may portend well for the future. More from Scoring Notes: Dorico 4.2 adds percussion to the Key Editor and...

Tim Davies calls himself “really an arranger that fell into orchestrating,” but that barely begins to describe the active and successful musical life that he leads. Born and educated in Australia, now based in Los Angeles, the Grammy-nominated and Annie-winning musician splits his time between orchestrating for features, television, and video games; composing his own scores; and conducting and arranging for orchestras all around the globe. Tim’s film and TV credits as lead orchestrator...

We continue our interviews with members of MOLA, An Association of Performance Librarians, at their annual conference in June. We’re calling these brief conversations "Scoring Half Notes" In this segment, we revisit with our good friend Nicole Jordan, the principal librarian of the Philadelphia Orchestra. Nicole hosted the 2022 MOLA conference in her capacity in Philadelphia, and by sheer coincidence, she was the host of the last in-person MOLA conference in 2019 when she was principal...

We continue to share some interviews that we did with members of MOLA, An Association of Performance Librarians, at their annual conference in June. We’re calling these brief conversations "Scoring Half Notes". In this segment, we talk with Mark Fabulich, an assistant librarian at the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Mark is the chair of MOLA’s Technology Committee. In that role, he guides its members as they stay on top of the latest digital developments and disseminate that information to the...

For the next few weeks we’ll be sharing some interviews that we did with members of MOLA, An Association of Performance Librarians, at their annual conference in June. We’re calling these brief conversations "Scoring Half Notes". In today’s segment, we talk with Jane Cross, a music archivist at the Library of Congress. She’s been in that position nearly three years, and before that, was a librarian with the prestigious United States Marine Band for 22 years; 11 of those as chief librarian....

At the 2022 MOLA conference, Philip Rothman and David MacDonald jointly presented a session called “Advancements in Music Notation Software”. It’s a summary of the developments from the past year or so in the world of music notation software and related technology, and we thought it made for a great podcast episode if you’re looking to get caught up on what’s new or just refresh your memory. We took some questions from the audience, too, and put it all together for you here on Scoring Notes....

What happens when you combine custom fonts, fine-tuned engraving settings, and decades of collective music preparation expertise? The Scoring Express templates for Sibelius, Dorico, and Finale. Philip Rothman and David MacDonald talk with Joseph Trefler and Leo Nicholson about the creation of new template suites for Finale and Dorico, along with an update to the Sibelius version. We discuss the catalysts for creating professional, easy-to-use solutions for each application, and explore the...

Allison Loggins-Hull and Nathalie Joachim are distinguished flutists and composers, and Flutronix, the name of their duo, says it all. Known for their unique blend of classical, hip hop, electronic programming and soulful vocals, music and technology intersect constantly in their work and music. They’re active in all of those genres and more, and yet somehow they found time to talk to Philip Rothman and David MacDonald about all of it. We first learn about how Allison and Nathalie met and...

When using music notation software and other technology, it can be worthwhile to have a consistent workspace for a long period of time. Sometimes, though, the opportunity presents itself to start anew. On this podcast episode, Philip Rothman and David MacDonald talk about making those upgrades — from the desk itself, to what's on and around it. For a the full list of everything we discussed on this episode, and more, with links to products we describe, see David MacDonald's companion Scoring...

As the Scoring Notes podcast approaches the two-year mark and our 100th episode, we announce some changes to the release schedule and preview what's coming in future episodes. More from Scoring Notes and elsewhere: Nicole Jordan, Philadelphia Orchestra librarian [encore]MOLA 40th Annual ConferenceMuseScore 4 - First Alpha Released

Knowing the various rules and conventions that govern the setting of lyrics in vocal music is a good start, but if you use music notation software, there's more to learn. In this second of a two-part episode, Philip Rothman and David MacDonald discuss how to actually apply those principles in the leading scoring programs: Finale, Dorico, and Sibelius. There's a surprising degree of overlap in the way that these programs approach lyrics, but also some crucial differences. We first start by...

Working with lyrics and vocal music presents a special set of challenges and opportunities to burnish your music engraving skill set. In this first of a two-part episode, Philip Rothman and David MacDonald discuss many of the conventions and principles that govern lyric text. Staff position, alignment, and spacing must all be carefully considered when setting vocal text, and we sort through the best approaches for presenting the music clearly in relation to the lyrics. Beaming is an issue...

When you work with music notation software, sometimes the greatest challenge is knowing what a task is actually called and where to find it. Plus, if you use more than one program, the same item might be implemented in different ways. In this encore presentation, Philip Rothman and David MacDonald go on a scavenger hunt to find useful features in Finale, Sibelius, and Dorico. We’ll uncover some hidden and not-so-hidden treasures on our journey, like repitching, exploding and reducing music,...

Software updates are often blockbuster events, but sometimes they are smaller affairs that just make working in the programs appreciably better. Such is the case with the latest updates to Finale and Dorico. Philip Rothman and David MacDonald recap the Finale v27.2 update, which featured new a jazz template and document style designed in collaboration with Darcy James Argue. We also explain why it's important Finale is now a "universal" application for Macs, like Dorico 4 is, which means...

Darcy James Argue returns to Scoring Notes to talk with Philip Rothman about his role in creating the fully revamped SMuFL-compliant jazz default file and document style in the Finale v27.2 update. Darcy’s a composer, bandleader, and, as pertains to today’s topic of conversation, world-renowned music preparation expert, particularly when it comes to Finale. Darcy's a stickler for detail, and he tells us all about the process of overhauling the Finale Jazz defaults, with more than two...