DJA’s Notes: Music preparation basics

September 11, 2023

Darcy James Argue shares basics of well-prepared lead sheets, scores, and parts from a jazz/big band perspective — so that you can communicate musical intent in the most clear, familiar, and unambiguous manner.

DJA’s Notes: Left-align chord symbols

March 1, 2018

In this installment of DJA's Notes by Darcy James Argue, learn how to left-align chord symbols in all three major commercial music notation software programs, in order to avoid confusion on the stand.

DJA’s Notes: Group instruments correctly

February 23, 2018

DJA's Notes is a new series inspired by Darcy James Argue's Facebook posts, which offer some quick, basic steps to improve the appearance of notated music, especially from a jazz/big band perspective. In this post, learn how to group instruments correctly and change what the notation software may do by default.