Teaching Music Notation Software To The Masses

by John Kuzmich, Jr.

A Common Problem in the Music Technology Industry: Lack of Home Participation Music technology should readily be available for use by music educators at all levels of teaching. But in reality, it just doesn't always work that way. Why? Consider the cost of the software for each student, the learning curve of music notation software, the limited time to implement classroom instruction, and how and where to start such training. All of these are challenging factors regardless of how easy manufacturers advertise to the contrary. In this installment, I will show ways of dealing with these factors in the area of music notation software that is perhaps one area of music standards in the primary and secondary education system that is even more neglected than improvisation. When music notation applications are combined with improvisation studies, musicality can be significantly improved beyond performance skills. Creativity music standards should cover not only performance skills but be supplemented and taught from a different perspective for developing musicianship combining performance skills with music theory, ear training, and transcribing skills through music notation activities. But finding sufficient time to incorporate notation teaching is challenging.

While the cost of music notation software can be prohibitively expensive (even when considering educator discounts for professional products such as Sibelius version 3.1.3 and Finale 2005® which are at the $300 (U.S.) mark or higher for a single user), composing/arranging without music notation software can be a tedious activity. Yet, if music notation software use is practiced at home with tutorial instruction, an entire new world of creative learning is opened up that can't be easily duplicated in the classroom. With home computers, students can print, edit, transpose in seconds, and hear compositions instantly for positive feedback purposes. The following music notation software and books are inexpensive and work as well as advertised. Let's find out why!

Innovative Freeware Software Solutions
MakeMusic! ® and Music Technologies have come up with no less than five different music notation programs under $100 (U.S.). All five products are available for both Mac and PC platforms. One, Finale NotePad 2005®, is absolutely free and can be downloaded from the Internet at MakeMusic!. This results in the software application being available to literally any and all music educators and students around the world. (The MakeMusic! web site states there have been nearly two million downloads in over 200 countries.) For a moderate price, a CD can also be acquired from the manufacturer.

What a wonderful marketing concept this is for getting music educators and their students firmly involved with arranging/composing activities at home. NotePad 2005 will even print up to an eight-staff score with transposition as well. It is hard to believe that a free software product such as this also has a third-party 150-page, step-by-step instructional book available, thus making this freeware product even more outstanding for home supplemental instructional use. It is very reasonable to expect home composition and arranging activities for the entire primary and secondary music education scene, thereby freeing the teacher from many procedural and technical support questions. I wish other manufacturers could offer this great marketing strategy. Music technology literally needs to reach out to making home practice realistic for the masses – this is the essence of music education.

Meet Third-Party Music Notation Tutorial Solutions
Back Beat Books has come out with two definitive tutorial-oriented texts, The Finale NotePad Primer and The PrintMusic Primer!. Both cover Macintosh and Windows platforms. The Notepad Primer comes with a ready-to-use Finale NotePad software on a CD. ESC (Electronic Courseware Systems) also publishes a NotePad tutorial titled NotePad to Finale that also includes a CD-ROM with the software. These resource books available are very helpful for learning these two notation products.

The NotePad
The NotePad book by Back Beat Books is organized by getting started, building navigational skills, simple entry in detail, creating a lead sheet, special techniques and printing, and working with MIDI files in NotePad Plus® music notation software by MakeMusic! which can import and export MIDI entry files. Windows hardware configurations for both NotePad products are modest from Windows 98/2000/ME/XP and with 800 pixels by 600 pixels minimum monitor resolution. You will need Internet connection or CD-ROM drive (for installation), 256MB RAM (128 MB may be sufficient in older Windows operating systems), and 25MB hard drive space. For Macs, you will need G4 or higher, OS 10.2 or higher, 800 pixels by 600 pixels minimum monitor resolution, Internet connection or CD-ROM drive (for installation), 256MB RAM, and 25MB of hard drive space.

NotePad to Finale
NotePad to Finale by ECS Media is a practical approach integrated with beginning music theory. It can be downloaded as an e-book for $9.95 (U.S.). The book is organized in seven chapters: introduction; notating a simple song; writing a chorale using layers; creating a score for a small ensemble; adding chords and accompaniment; adding expressions, articulations, and lyrics; and more techniques such as first/second endings, using mass edit, flipping stems, using tuplets, and more. I especially like the comparisons of NotePad and Finale so one can better understand the similarities and in some cases, the differences. It offers a lot of instruction in 69 pages and is attractively priced.

More Powerful Inexpensive Software/Third-Party Tutorial Book Solutions
PrintMusic! 2004 by MakeMusic! is an amazing music notation product with a moderate price. It is a full-feature notation application that has many of the same kind of professional features found in the latest version of Finale 2005 including a music scanning application, Human Playback, MicNotator, compatibility with NotePad and Finale QuickStart Videos, the ability to create SmartMusic accompaniments, swing, internet publishing, and many percussion features such as writing and printing flams, ruffs, 32nd notes, and others. The PrintMusic Primer! is an informative 272-page third-party tutorial book for the software product offering abundant in-depth instruction.

This publication is outstanding for both entry-level teachers and their students and for more advanced composition instruction that leads to mastering the art of music notation. The text includes separate chapters for getting started, navigation skills, simple entry in detail, speedy entry, creating a lead sheet, and mastering the final score. Some really informative appendices with swing playback, saving score, Internet publishing, HyperScribe, and music scanning techniques are included as well. Another marketing first in the entire music technology industry is found here, too. If ever you want to upgrade to Finale 2005 or higher, registered PrintMusic! users will receive a discount when trading up. So save your purchase receipt for a future purchase upgrade rebate that is good even years from now.

More Creative Alternatives
Finale 2005, an industry leader in music notation software for entry-level users to advanced and professional applications, also has a third-party tutorial book, Finale 2005 Power! available from Thomson Course Technology. A no-nonsense tutorial for learning and mastering Finale with minimal effort, written by an employee at MakeMusic!, this publication is first rate. I find it very useful for refreshing details in Finale, including the very latest new features in Finale 2005. I have my students go to the book's index, and in seconds, the page with their answers has been found simply and quickly. I wish I had this book 15 years ago when I was first learning computer music notation technology. The chapters are loaded with appropriate instructional material: Getting Started; Beginning a New Score; Basic Note Entry, Articulations and Expressions; Advanced Note Entry, Chords, and Lyrics; Clefs, Key Signatures and Time Signatures; Slurs, Hairpins, Other Smart Shapes, and Repeats; Creating and Working With Multiple Staff Scores; Alternate Notation, Staff Styles, and Guitar Tablature; Editing Your Music; Fine Tuning: the Details; Measure Numbers, Graphics, Part Extraction, and Printing; Tricks for Specific Projects and Composing with Finale; Customizing Finale, Scanning, and Tricks for Music Educators; Playback and the MIDI Tool; Integrating Finale with the Web and Other Programs.

If that doesn't motivate you, then the index will. It is very helpful for finding quick answers and working without any hesitations. Finale 2005 Power! is outstanding whether you are a beginner or a regular user. With it, you can find out how to maximize the capabilities of Finale including entering music into a score with and without a MIDI keyboard, working efficiently with multiple staff scores, changing clefs, key signatures, and time signatures at any point in a score, using plug-ins to boost efficiency, creating lead sheets and guitar TAB, laying out measures, systems, and pages for printing, and posting music on the web. It comes with a CD-ROM that includes supplemental third-party plug-ins, music examples, and links to informative Finale web sites. It is also available as an e-book making it particularly well suited to a truly international market.

Closing Comments
No matter how good a software product is, the availability of matching quality instructional materials will make a difference in how one can best use the software applications. These four books really are informative in helping to make music notation accessible for music educators and their students. Oddly enough, there are relatively few third-party publications available in the entire music technology industry on how to use music technology. I wish the music technology industry had more third-party publications to help make music technology more user-friendly to the masses. Are these publications necessary for using the Finale family of notation products? Absolutely not. But when teaching students in a classroom situation, having reference tutorials such as these is a valuable teaching aid in making music notation a simpler process.

You will be knocked out by the uniform screen interfaces of Finale NotePad 2005, PrintMusic!2004, and Finale 2005 and by how easy they are to learn. This is evident when viewing any of the 39 video tutorials that are incorporated in PrintMusic!2004 or the 63 videos in Finale 2005. They are outstanding in presenting music notation products to non-technology oriented music educators. The magic of the marketing strategy of MakeMusic! is that they are offering notation products that all eventually lead to Finale 2005 without initially having to spend "megabucks". I like the concept that you can start with freeware and gradually/systematically work up to more advanced software applications. The learning curve is virtually eliminated since the screen interfaces of Finale NotePad 2005, Finale PrintMusic!2004, and Finale 2005 are virtually the same except for the depth of features. I love this music education principal in action: Learn first with freeware and expand to a moderately priced application before investing in a professional level product in the higher-priced range.

Web Links
Back Beat Books
ECS Media
MakeMusic! ®
Music Technologies
Thomson Course Technology
School Band & Orchestra Magazine

Publishers and manufacturers who have innovative products with jazz education applications for possible review in the Watch Out! column are encouraged to contact me at 13888 W. 3rd Place, Golden, CO 80401 USA or at my home page.