In this installment of DJA’s Notes by Darcy James Argue, we learn the dos and donts of one- and two-bar repeats, numbering repeated bars, and how to lay out the music correctly so that the intent is clearly conveyed.
score preparation
Score preparation and production notes
Originally appearing as a document that composer David MacDonald created for his weekly master class, this bullet-list of score preparation and production notes will improve the quality of your performance materials in no time. To it we have added relevant links from Scoring Notes and other sources.
DJA’s Notes: Left-align chord symbols
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
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.
A few brief thoughts about the size of music paper
I often receive inquiries wondering if 9” x 12” paper was acceptable for orchestral use, or if 10” x 13” is necessary. Here are my thoughts based on experience preparing music for hundreds of orchestral projects.
Studio-style bar numbers in Finale
Following up on our last post about getting a studio look to your bar numbers in Sibelius, we’ll now show you how to achieve it in Finale by placing them on their own separate one-line staff.
Studio-style bar numbers in Sibelius
Placing bar numbers on every bar of your score can save precious rehearsal time. Learn how to get a studio look to your bar numbers in Sibelius by placing them on their own separate one-line staff.
Exclusive e-book excerpt: From DAW to Score
Composer, orchestrator, and copyist Tristan Noon’s new e-book, From DAW to Score, is now available. We have an exclusive excerpt from the book on our blog — and a special discount code as well.
Working with instrument names in Sibelius
If instrument names don’t appear correctly in the score, how will anyone know what to play? Learn how to get those items to look just right by reading this series of helpful tips.
Video tutorial: Optimize staff spacing
Are you manually dragging staves up and down to make room for items in your score that are too close together? Have a look at this new video tutorial on optimizing staff spacing automatically in your Sibelius scores.