#263: Music Notation Apps Reviewed and Why You Need One

There are plenty of things that make me feel old, for instance, when I remember that I used to have to go to the library to do research or that I didn’t know who was calling me before I answered the phone. Here’s another one that makes me feel positively ancient, and I promise you I’m not that old: I remember my mother handwriting music that my teacher wanted me to learn but was out of print. We didn’t have easy access to a copier, although sometimes my dad could make a copy at his work. So, if I needed a piece of music that wasn’t very long, my mother wrote it out for me. That feels practically Stone Age now.

When I started arranging music and publishing it back in the 1990”s, there were two programs that most composers had to choose between - Finale and Sibelius. I chose Sibelius on the recommendation of one of my teaching colleagues at Curtis, and I still use it today. It had a pretty steep learning curve when I first started, and it is still a powerful program that takes a little while to figure out, probably too long for a casual user.

In the years - okay, decades - since then, many more music notation programs and apps have come along, some of them as powerful, or nearly so, as the flagship programs, and for the most part, much simpler to use. This has meant that anybody with a modicum of patience for things technical can produce a professional-looking copy of a piece of music. That means progress for composers and arrangers.

It also means progress for any of us, even those of us who just want to learn to play the harp better. That’s because these apps aren’t just for writing down music you’ve composed. They can also be useful practice tools. 

So on today’s show, I’m going to give you my take on three of the most popular and most user-friendly music notation apps, explaining the best features and the potential deal-breakers of each. I’ll also share some strategies to use these tools to help you in your harp playing, whether you are interested in composing, arranging, or just a little curious.

Links to things I think you might be interested in that were mentioned in the podcast episode: 

• For My Harp Mastery members: Bob Dexter’s Musescore Presentation
• Love the Monday Warm-ups? Use this limited time discount to join My Harp Mastery so you don’t miss out.
• Harpmastery.com

Get involved in the show! Send your questions and suggestions for future podcast episodes to me at [email protected]

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