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Listeners responded to our "call for calls" with some terrific questions about music notation software, related technology, the business of music preparation, and more.

On this episode, Philip Rothman and David MacDonald celebrate the beginning of the academic year by answering questions about the music notation software, tools, and services best suited for education. Whether you're a student, educator, amateur, or professional musician, you'll learn something about the wide variety of products we cover in response to the many terrific inquiries submitted by the Scoring Notes audience.

The third of a multi-part episode — because we got so many questions that we didn't have enough time to fit them all into one sitting.

More from Scoring Notes:

Asked and answered, part 1
Asked and answered, part 2: In awe of the DAW
High fidelity audio comes to Zoom
Better music experiences come to Zoom with high fidelity audio
Share video and audio of music notation software via Zoom
Noteflight, education, innovation, and inspiration
Paperless composition lessons with iPad Pro and Apple Pencil
Teaching and teaming up with tablets and tech
StaffPad acquired by Muse Group; audio support planned
Daniel Ray “muses” about Audacity and StaffPad
Dorico and Sibelius come to the iPad

For the first time ever, MOLA, An Association of Performance Librarians, devoted an entire day to technology that featured vendor exhibits, presentations, discussions, and meetings. Bookending the day were two panel discussions; one moderated by David MacDonald on the subject of music reader tablet experiences, and one moderated by Philip Rothman with representatives from the music notation software platforms.

The concluding discussion, heard here, is entitled “Music Notation Platforms: An Industry Perspective”. It brought together the representatives of a cross-section of notation software solutions: Adrian Holovaty of Soundslice; Bradley Kunda of MuseScore; Daniel Spreadbury of Steinberg (Dorico); and Chris Swaffer of PreSonus (Notion).

These “ABCD”s of the music notation software field engaged in a lively back-and-forth interchange about the philosophy behind their product development, their relationships with their user bases, and how their programs co-exist in a crowded space.

More from Scoring Notes:

The tech trek to the 2023 MOLA conference
Half Notes: A comparison of tablet music reader technology experiences

If there is one book that anyone working with music notation needs to have, either on their desk, or on their device — or at least in a library within walking distance of their home — it's Behind Bars: The Definitive Guide to Music Notation. Published in 2011 by Faber Music, Elaine Gould's 700-page volume quickly became the preeminent reference for music engravers, providing an exhaustive collection of rules, traditions, suggestions, and conventions for how to set music in the clearest way possible.

It's those "general" conventions that take up first third of the book — starting from what Elaine calls the "ground rules" such as the appearance of the staff, clefs, noteheads, and more — and continues on for another 200 pages or so, before the book moves onto the areas of instrumentation and layout. Elaine joins Philip Rothman and David MacDonald to tell us about the new publication of that first section, Behind Bars: General Conventions, as a stand-alone edition suitable for slipping into your bookbag, where it won't break the bank, or your back.

In this wide-ranging conversation, Elaine talks with us about her early background and how she came to the profession of music preparation and editing. We uncover the seeds that eventually became Behind Bars, and the decades-long journey from meticulous refinements to its eventual publication and virtually overnight success.

Elaine gives us her practical tips for working with composers, performers, and publishers, the realities of time pressures and budget restrictions, and the inevitable revisions that occur with new music, and tells us how she's navigated the often-conflicting goals of the  engraving ideal and the necessity of deadline-driven production.

She also has advice for those that are just starting out in the field, and naturally, given our focus on music notation software and technology, she opines on what the computer's strengths and weaknesses, the crucial differences between looking at music on a screen and on a page, and the progress made since Behind Bars was first published in 2011.

For the first time ever, MOLA, An Association of Performance Librarians, devoted an entire day to technology that featured vendor exhibits, presentations, discussions, and meetings. Bookending the day were two panel discussions; one moderated by David MacDonald on the subject of music reader tablet experiences, and one moderated by Philip Rothman with representatives from the music notation software platforms.

We’ll bring Philip's discussion to you later this summer, but first, we hope you enjoy the discussion that David had to kick off the tech fair, about the real-world challenges and benefits of using tablet readers in orchestral performances. His co-moderator was none other than Mark Fabulich, assistant librarian of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the co-chair of MOLA’s Technology Committee.

The distinguished panelists they spoke with were three librarians, each of whom primarily use different reader apps: Julia Pestke of the West German Radio Orchestra, who uses dimusco; Luke Speedy-Hutton of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, who uses Newzik; and Signe Marie Steensland of the Norwegian Radio Orchestra, who uses forScore.

More from Scoring Notes:

The tech trek to the 2023 MOLA conference
The best iPad score reader for most people [2023 update]
Justin Bianco, forScore, and more

Listeners responded to our "call for calls" with some terrific questions about music notation software, related technology, the business of music preparation, and more.

On this episode, Philip Rothman and David MacDonald take a variety of questions and dispense solicited (and unsolicited) advice. The topic at hand for this part: Using music notation software with — or as — a digital audio workstation (DAW).

The second of a multi-part episode — because we got so many questions that we didn't have enough time to fit them all into one sitting.

More from Scoring Notes:

Asked and answered, part 1
NotePerformer 4 connects your favorite notation software to your favorite sample libraries
Graphical MIDI Tools 2.1 for Sibelius updated to add transport, more editing features
Graphical MIDI Tools 2 is a major upgrade to the DAW-like plug-in for Sibelius
Graphical MIDI Tools plug-in brings sequencer-like capabilities to Sibelius
Dorico 5 review: Moving the music forward
Dorico 4.2 adds percussion to the Key Editor and improves linked mode
StaffPad audio update, Graphical MIDI Tools, and software licensing
StaffPad acquired by Muse Group; audio support planned
"Playing" with notation software, part 1 of 2
"Playing" with notation software, part 2 of 2
Long-awaited MuseScore 4 release brings major improvements to engraving and audio

Listeners responded to our "call for calls" with some terrific questions about music notation software, related technology, the business of music preparation, and more.

On this episode, Philip Rothman and David MacDonald take a variety of questions and dispense solicited (and unsolicited) advice. Among the topics: the best way to switch among different platforms, how to set up condensed scores, what makes a good portfolio, what printer to use and where to get paper, and much more.

The first of a multi-part episode — because we got so many questions that we didn't have enough time to fit them all into one sitting.

More from Scoring Notes:

Getting the notes in
Don’t extract parts
Get organized with music notation files
Print perfect
Chronology of a perfect music printing job