Tips Archives - Scoring Notes

Create a part with an alternate transposition in Sibelius

September 22, 2022September 22, 2022

Need to make a clarinet part in a different transposition that the original part? Or a treble clef baritone part linked to the bass clef euphonium part? Here are the step-by-step instructions to set it all up in Sibelius.

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Podcast

Setting a high bar (from Selling Sheet Music)

September 17, 2022

Garrett Breeze, host of the podcast Selling Sheet Music, interviews Scoring Notes podcast co-host Philip Rothman about the art and the business of getting scores from your head to the music stand and the notation software that helps you do it.

Tips

Score system divider plug-in in Finale

July 21, 2022July 28, 2022

The Score System Divider plug-in, included with Finale, inserts or removes system separation marks between staff systems on the same page. Here’s how it works, along with a little history of this useful creation.

Tips

The point of point sizes

May 12, 2022May 17, 2022

If you use music notation software — or any software where you need to edit text — you will very quickly encounter the concept of point size. But have you ever stopped to consider what point size actually means?

Tips

Upgrade your desk [updated]

May 7, 2022May 17, 2022

What’s on and around our newly upgraded desks — not to mention, the desks themselves.

Podcast

Upgrade your desk — and what’s on (and around) it

May 7, 2022May 7, 2022

It can be worthwhile to have a consistent workspace for a long time. Sometimes, though, the opportunity presents itself to start anew. Here’s how we made those upgrades — from the desk itself, to what’s on and around it.

Tips

Dorico from A to Z

April 21, 2022April 26, 2022

There’s nothing like a good run through the alphabet, from A to Z, and then some. Here’s what pressing each of those 26 letters does in Dorico.

Tips

Sibelius from A to Z

April 18, 2022April 26, 2022

There are lots of ways to get things done in Sibelius. But what could be more elementary than the ABCs? Here’s what pressing each of those 26 letters does on their own.

Podcast

Lyrics and vocal music, part 2

April 2, 2022April 8, 2022

Knowing the various rules and conventions that govern the setting of lyrics in vocal music is good, but if you use music notation software, there’s more to learn. In this second of a two-part episode, we discuss how to apply those principles in Finale, Dorico, and Sibelius.

Podcast

Lyrics and vocal music, part 1

March 26, 2022April 2, 2022

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, we discuss many of the conventions and principles that govern lyric text.

Tips

Fix errant cautionary time signature at end of system in Sibelius

March 21, 2022March 23, 2022

Here’s a solution to correct when a cautionary time signature is uncomfortably hanging outside the edge of the page margin in Sibelius.