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First attempt at using Musescore

Tenor Viol

Full of frets in Cumbria
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Penrith, Cumbria, UK
Some of you will know that I have Sibelius 5, whcih is not very compatible with Windows 10 (there are all sorts of driver/file issues). Since the current owners of Sibelius of making that version,or 6, 7, or 8 comaptible with W10, I'm stuck (and Sibelius cost me £400). Even the latest version which, as is the new fashion, is a monthly subscription, there is no guarantee of compatibility (or there wasn't last time I checked).

So, I downloaded Musescore a while ago, but only got to trying it this evening.

Last week for the Cafe Ensemble meeting I wrote an arrangement of Anthony Holborne's pavan 'Patiencia' scored for sop, 2 altos, ten, and bari. So I transcribed the arrangement into Musescore and here's the resulting sound file.
 
I've had MuseScore for about 3 years now (current version 2.1), and find it's pretty good for doing scores, at my level of writing anyway.
The instrument sounds aren't brilliant, but the writing & transposing is easy to use (it automatically transposes for Eb and Bb instruments, just copy & paste into the new line).
I tried to upload a wav file of an arrangement I did, but it's too big.
 
If you save it as an mp3 it should be about a tenth the size of a wav.

I found one foible, the alto 2 part came out an octave too high (the original is in octave treble clef so sounds an octave lower than written, so I forced it to transpose down a m3 rather than up a M6, which seems to have worked.
 
It seems I don't have some component to create an mp3. I'll check it out tomorrow.
 
It should be File ==> Export then select mp3 from the drop down list
 
And the second attempt is a Galliard (The Marie-golde) which is in 6/2 with a 3 minim anacrusis. I've probably set the tempo a little slow
 
I've also been using musescore for years. The latest version is a big improvement over earlier versions, but still not as easy as I'd wish. Layouts are good, but you still end up moving text sometimes. Sounds are terrible, but you can add/replace the sound files.

One major irritation is that the key transposition works wrongly. Let's say you want to create a part for tenor, in D. You add the D key signature, expecting to see the two sharps appear on the stave. Musescore assumes you're dumb and transposes for tenor from concert, adding the 4 sharps of E.

But apart from that and a few other funnies it does a great job for the money.
 
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Yes it did something odd with the 2nd alto part, but not the first - it shoved it up an octave when I transpose from concert. I flipped the transposition to be down a minor third rather than up a major sixth and that sorted it. I had a similar problem with baritone going up an octave too many too on the second piece.
As you say the midi sounds are dire.
 
Yes it did something odd with the 2nd alto part, but not the first - it shoved it up an octave when I transpose from concert
Don't forget that alto plays below concert, it's just shorthand to transpose down.
 
When creating a new score, begin by selecting the concert key, then when you add Eb or Bb saxes, it will put them in the correct key.
For trombone, it will put it as concert key in the bass clef, so for a brass band which has trombone as a Bb instrument in treble clef, I do it as a trumpet.

To create an mp3 it was missing something called lame_enc.dll - I installed this and the mp3 it created was just as big as the wav file and when I tried to play it, it required some other component, so sod it, I'm having a busy weekend.

Played at Symphony Hall yesterday afternoon, and playing in a "Big Band Afternoon" at the Spotted Dog (Digbeth, Birmingham) today.
 
Ah, I find I can play the mp3 with Quicktime.
It is 1/10th the size of the wav, 3.7mB compared with 40.9mB (my eyes can't ell the diff at this time of the morning), but still too big to upload.
 
I got it into the right keys OK and yes, concert A would for alto be written as the F# on the top line of the stave, but I wanted it down the octave as it was an octave treble part I was arranging from.

The playing sounds like fun @Jonesy. I would really like to play in a big band. I know there will nothing immediately round here and I accept I'm going to end up driving at least 25 miles to get to something, and probably more. I'm working on my G5, but most groups seem to only want expert players. Makes you wonder where the next generation of players and bands will come from if you can't learn.
 
I use MuseScore and Sibelius. On the whole I prefer the MuseScore user interface, but my version of Sibelius can import from a scanner or PDF file which saves a lot of work. So if I am entering the notes by hand I use MuseScore, but if I am starting from a fairly good printed version I use Sibelius.
 
Makes you wonder where the next generation of players and bands will come from if you can't learn.
The band I play in (The Notebenders Big Band - a Birmingham community band founded by Andy Hamilton) have all ages and abilities. As long as you can play the instrument reasonably, and can read music if only a bit, all other things will be taught (scales & modes, impro etc). No need for grades here (although we do have some who are up to 7 or 8).
I am 65 and been playing 4 years, others who have been playing a long time, some were taught by Andy Hamilton. The oldest player is a 79 year old bass guitarist, and we some talented 13- & 14-year-olds.
Our instructors come from the Birmingham Conservatoire and are very good (and patient).
A former member who played with the band from age 8 is going to Berklee in September (only the 4th Briton to qualify for Berklee as far as we can see) - her name is Romarna Campbell - a brilliant percussionist, watch out for her in the future.
 
I have used MuseScore to transpose The Love of Christ for an alto sax, I did not get on very well until I read the instructions. With many computer programs you can simply press buttons and see what happens in this instance I would suggest reading the instructions first .
 
If you can find a midi file online of any piece of music, 'Musescore' will import it and lay it out instrument by instrument also puts in in key for you as well. You can edit to your hearts content, save and export as a midi file then use that in any decent DAW with decent sounds and do as you like from there.:)

Chris..
 
Yes, but it doesn't recognise bar lines, time sigs, key sigs - or has something changed?
 
A bit off topic, but I am finally coming to grips with Finale. It is a steep learning curve, but I am beginning to appreciate all of the possibilities and am becoming more proficient with note entry. This is a god-send for someone like myself who would like to write arrangements, but has no keyboard skills to speak of. It is sad that Finale discontinued the feature that allowed scanned music. :(
 
Did I misunderstand your first post?
I have Sibelius 7 First, and have had no problems using it on Windows 10.
Or were you just saying Sibelius 5 was a problem?
 
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