Blog about writing and Sibelius

[isaacs]

If anyone's remotely interested I wrote a long article on my blog about my experiences over the last 40 years with physically getting music onto the page, more recently via the music notation software Sibelius which I wholeheartedly endorse.

Senior Product Manager at Sibelius' UK headquarters Daniel Spreadbury has written about my piece at his own blog, so if you like start there at www.sibeliusblog.com/ and proceed via his link to my rather lengthy piece.

[Woolworthsthefreshfoodpeople]

Mark, nothing personal but I'm not sure I'm entirely comfortable about your post. I concede it's your forum and you can do what you like but for me it's a little bit too over the top. To even read your post I had to do so from the Sibelius bosses blog and the whole thing just reads like a massive advertisement tarted up as a blog entry. Made me feel a bit used. I thought twice about posting this because I really don't mean for it to be personal but it's just how I feel. Anyway as Leyton (brought to you by Qantas) would say C'mon!

[isaacs]

Apr 7, 2010 11:37:41 GMT 10 @Woolworthsthefreshfoodpeople said:

I really don't mean for it to be personal but it's just how I feel.

Fair enough. What I wrote is also exactly how I feel about the program, which has changed my artistic life. I don't feel it's any different from waxing lyrical about someone's CD, which is also a commercial product. If it reads like an ad, so be it. If I endorse someone's music and it leads to people buying their CDs then that's great, it helps them survive. And if people happen to be influenced by my sharing to buy the program and help the ongoing viability and R&D of a fantastic tool for the creation of music I'm also pleased (but it's not why I wrote it).

You're entitled to be squeamish and I'm sorry you experienced discomfiture but I have no qualms or make no apology. I'm not the first musician to talk about a creative tool enthusiastically. Perhaps I should have linked straight to my blog, but I am happy that Daniel saw fit to feature my piece and thought I'd share that amongst friends.

And in case you're wondering, they're not paying me (as if!) and I bought the program.

[don jordan]

Thanks for that, Mark. I really enjoyed reading it! A lot of your earlier experiences resonated with me. Years ago I did some copying for the Victorian Opera Orchestra and was proud of my work in black ink with the music nib on the pen. Mostly, through the years, I've written parts for my own groups in pencil (using HB, though, rather than B, as it is less messy) and setting the photocopier one step to the dark side of 'normal' to get beautiful crisp parts. I love the physicality of writing in that way - being an ex-civil engineer, it compensates for the drawing process I always loved as a young engineer.

I used the program Encore for a while some years ago and got on quite well with it. I especially loved being able to play back what I'd written, as my keyboard skills are rudimentary. However, I found doing it by hand was just quicker, and that seemed to matter most at the time. Recently, I bought a copy of Finale Allegro and began the arduous task (for a 'physical' person) of mastering that, as my scores have got bigger, and the need for hearing playback more pressing. I find it a slow process, but I'm getting there, and I won't go back to the B pencil and paper routine! I'm more a transcriber than a composer, so being able to hear the playback of what I've written, and compare it to the sounds from the recording, helps me quickly identify anything I haven't got quite right. It teaches me a lot about composition and arranging, too.

One disappointment with it is that my ability to find out what I need to know from the Manual is severely restricted by its appalling index. One of the things I do now is work as a professional book indexer, so I know something about the subject! I emailed them with an offer to re-do their index, but got no reply. I've toyed with the idea of making my own, but how many hours are there in a day? However, someone told me there is a Finale group that pools experience and answers questions, but I have yet to find it. I'll keep looking.

Thanks again for sharing your experiences. I find that very helpful.

[isaacs]

Glad you enjoyed it Don.

[lloydswanton]

Just want to say I've always enjoyed the irony that the world's most popular music notation software is named after a composer who was renowned for chucking his latest manuscript in the fire, having to re-write it, chucking that one in the fire, having to rewrite it again...

In all my research on the subject (ie looking up "Sibelius" on Wikipedia) I've seen no mention of that being a factor in the developers choosing the name.

[isaacs]

My music teacher in high school told me Sibelius would stand outside his house with a rifle and try and shoot overflying Russian planes down. Also I remember reading in a book as a kid that without knowing the schedule he would suddenly leap up in company and start frenetically tuning the radio, and a piece of his would invariably come on.