A scorewriter, or music notation program, is software Computer software, or just software, is the collection of computer programs and related data that provide the instructions telling a computer what to do. The term was coined to contrast to the old term hardware . In contrast to hardware, software is intangible, meaning it "cannot be touched". Software is also sometimes used in a more used for creating sheet music Sheet music is a hand-written or printed form of musical notation; like its analogs—books, pamphlets, etc.—the medium of sheet music typically is paper , although the access to musical notation in recent years includes also presentation on computer screens. Use of the term "sheet" is intended to differentiate music on paper from an. A scorewriter is to music notation Music notation or musical notation is any system that represents aurally perceived music, through the use of written symbols what a word processor A word processor is a computer application used for the production (including composition, editing, formatting, and possibly printing) of any sort of printable material is to text.
Screenshot of a modern scorewriter program (Overture 3.6), displaying a score of Pachelbel's Canon in WYSIWYG WYSIWYG , is an acronym for What You See Is What You Get. The term is used in computing to describe a system in which content displayed during editing appears very similar to the final output, which might be a printed document, web page, slide presentation or even the lighting for a theatrical event.[clarification needed] view. Palettes for adding notes, clefs, expressions and articulations can be seen. On the left side of the screen is the palette for entering non-standard note shapes.
Contents |
Comparison with multitrack recording software
Multitrack recording software and scorewriters typically employ different types of music notation Music notation or musical notation is any system that represents aurally perceived music, through the use of written symbols. Scorewriters are based on traditional music notation, which originates from European classical music Classical music is the art music produced in, or rooted in, the traditions of Western liturgical and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 9th century to present times. The central norms of this tradition became codified between 1550 and 1900, which is known as the common practice period. Multitrack recording software typically uses piano-roll graphic notation for MIDI instruments and allows for recording of acoustic instruments. However there are several applications that overlap between the two roles. For example, the Overture scorewriter also features a piano roll view (see picture below). Finale is mostly a scorewriter but also allows you to include recordings of acoustic instruments. On the other hand many multitrack recording applications allow traditional notation (albeit limited).
History
The rapid growth of desktop computers in the 1980s caused the creation of dozens of early scorewriters during that decade (see List of scorewriters). However, during the 1990s many of these fell into obsolescence.
By 2000 the market was dominated by Finale Finale is the flagship program of a series of proprietary scorewriters created by MakeMusic for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X. Finale is regarded as one of the industry standards for notation software (particularly in the US), and to a lesser extent Sibelius (which had dominated the UK since 1993, and had expanded worldwide since its Windows release in 1998). Unlike many earlier programs, both of these offered a wide range of sophisticated features, making them suitable for almost all kinds of music and for professional publishing.
In the early 2000s, worldwide sales of Sibelius overtook Finale (according to Sibelius Software). Sibelius and Finale still dominate the market today.
Functionality
Some modern scorewriter programs enable the editing of certain MIDI playback data. In this scorewriter, (Overture), the notes can be displayed on a scrolling piano roll, and their durations and MIDI note velocities can be edited by using the mouseBasic features
All scorewriters allow the user to input, edit and print music notation Music notation or musical notation is any system that represents aurally perceived music, through the use of written symbols, to varying degrees of sophistication. They range from programs which can write a simple song, piano piece or guitar tab Tablature is common for fretted stringed instruments such as the lute, vihuela, or guitar, as well as many free reed aerophones such as the harmonica. Tablature was common during the Renaissance and Baroque eras, and is commonly used in notating rock, pop, folk, ragtime, and blues music, to those that can handle the complexities of orchestral music, specialist notations (from early music to avant garde), and high-quality music engraving.
Input
Music can usually be input by using the mouse, computer keyboard, and/or a MIDI MIDI , pronounced /ˈmɪdi/, is an industry-standard protocol defined in 1982 that enables electronic musical instruments, such as keyboard controllers, computers and other electronic equipment, to communicate and also to control and synchronize with each other. MIDI allows computers, synthesizers, MIDI controllers, sound cards, samplers and drum keyboard. Also a few will allow input by scanning scores using musical OCR software, or by playing or singing into a microphone.
Playback
Most scorewriters also allow the music to be played back via MIDI, or in some cases using virtual instruments. This means that scorewriters have a certain amount in common with sequencers A music sequencer is an application or a device designed to play back musical notation. The original kind of sequencer is now known as a step sequencer to distinguish it from the modern kind, which records a musician playing notes (many of which can also write music notation up to a point), though scorewriters are used primarily for writing notation and sequencers primarily for recording and playing music.
A dialog box in a modern scorewriter program (Overture 3.6), enabling the precise control of music engraving details, such as spacing between elements and the thickness of stems, beams and staff linesEngraving
Some scorewriters allow the printed output to be customized and fine-tuned to a considerable degree, as is required by publishers to produce high-quality music engraving and to suit their individual house style.
Internet publishing
A few scorewriters allow users to publish scores on the Internet The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet Protocol Suite to serve billions of users worldwide. It is a network of networks that consists of millions of private, public, academic, business, and government networks of local to global scope that are linked by a broad array of electronic and, where they can be (for example) played back, transposed, and printed out, perhaps for a fee.
Other features
Most scorewriters provide other musical functions such as transposing, or producing separate instrumental parts from a full score, or applying music transformations such as retrograde. Some can automatically create instrumental exercises and student worksheets. Some support plug-ins, often developed by users or other companies. Various features found in other types of program are also found in some scorewriters; these include version control (similar to Microsoft Word's 'track changes' feature), importing and exporting graphics, Post-It-like sticky notes, etc.
File formats
Almost all scorewriters use their own file formats for saving files. Hence, in order to move notation between different scorewriters (or to/from other kinds of music software such as sequencers A music sequencer is an application or a device designed to play back musical notation. The original kind of sequencer is now known as a step sequencer to distinguish it from the modern kind, which records a musician playing notes), most scorewriters can also import or export one or more standard interchange file formats, such as:
- Standard MIDI File: supported by almost all scorewriters. However, as this format was designed for playback (e.g. by sequencers) rather than notation, it only produces approximate results and much notational information is lost in the process
- MusicXML It was developed by Recordare LLC, deriving several key concepts from existing academic formats . It is designed for the interchange of scores, particularly between different scorewriters: in recent years has become the standard interchange format for accurate notation[1]
- NIFF: a now-obsolete file format that was supported by a few scorewriters.[2]
There are also human-readable text-based formats, generally of limited use, such as Abc notation, ChordPro and ASCII tab.
See also
References
- ^ "MusicXML Software". Recordare LLC. 23 October 2007. http://www.recordare.com/xml/software.html. Retrieved 2007-11-06.
- ^ Belkin, Alan (NIFF coordinator). (February 2006). "The Current Status of NIFF". http://www.musique.umontreal.ca/personnel/Belkin/NIFF.doc.html. Retrieved 2007-11-06. "Niff has now been superseded by MusicXML."
External links
- Musical notation codes - information on most known musical notation file formats.
Categories: Scorewriters | Music software
