Bit of resources I thought I'd share in case you or your friends/pupils etc. don't know that it's available. I have no connection with the company of course - I just have a copy of the program! Especially useful for those doing school or university music exams of any sort (GCSE upwards), composition, just for fun and enjoyment...

I've just installed the update to my music notation program, and I thought I'd do a post in case anyone hasn't got a free copy yet of the world famous (often called No1 - Sibelius is the only other major player I'm aware of) program for writing, hearing and printing your music.

It's called Finale Notepad, and it's a computer program that can be downloaded FREE from http://www.finalenotepad.com (or if that link doesn't work for you, see the more direct link in the P.S.) - and it's permanent, there's no 30 day limits or anything! There are larger versions that you pay for if you want to, but the free Notepad has an amazing amount in it anyway! On a normal phone line connection it took me 36 minutes to download this year. The new 2005 version is just out.

It's such a delight seeing my pupils and GCSE students enjoying the program - do share if you get it to tell us what you think. Also if someone knows of the Sibelius free equivalent, do let us know too (just to be fair!).

P.S. ANY PROBLEMS GETTING ONTO THE WEBSITE: use
http://www.finalemusic.com/notepad/
which is the exact address it redirects to from the one I gave above.

you can down load the sibeluis demo off the web site, but you cant save anything on it. its good if you just want to test someting, or transpose something quickly!

That's interesting to know.

The Finale Notepad can be used to save files - you can write your own music and save it as a file for further editing, hearing, printing etc.

that's great...thanks....

Finale notepad is compatible with sibelius, you can transfer files backwards and forwards as long as you save them in the right format

Do you use a particular search engine ? I've tried www.finalenotepad.com and nothing is found - help ?

Worked fine for me...

Thanks for the info. I recenly spend nearly £50 on a program, and it was hopeless. Gave up with it in the end. This one is really user friendly.

Wow, thanks DomRUK - I can't wait to get stuck into this!

Jen

ANY PROBLEMS GETTING ONTO THE WEBSITE: try

http://www.finalemusic.com/notepad/

which is the exact address it redirects to from the one I gave above.

Thankyou DomRUK - sorted !!
It's not bad eh ? I downloaded the trial version of Noteworthy, which is good, but of course, when you print out it's written 'specimen' all over it !! Shame
Thanks for your help.

I am guessing that you mean Breaburn Software's Music Publisher when you say noteworthy?
That was the name of the original version.
The latest version is very good.
The free demo has 'specimen' on it when you print, but if it is something you are going to use is is very reasonably priced and you certainly can't fault the customer service

I'm sure it is a fine programme, but I am strapped for cash and anything that is COMPLETELY free is of great interest !!!!

QUOTE

I am guessing that you mean Breaburn Software's Music Publisher when you say noteworthy? That was the name of the original version. The latest version is very good. The free demo has 'specimen' on it when you print, but if it is something you are going to use is is very reasonably priced and you certainly can't fault the customer service

I use music publisher too, it's excellent! There is also a scanning option - you can scan in a piece of music and the program will convert it into a music publisher file so that you can edit or transpose it. It isn't free (apart from the demo version) but it's much cheaper than Sibelius.

See http://www.muspub.co.uk

Thanks Dom!

I got totally stuck with the Sibelius demo, but I've done the training on this one and it is as straightforward as you say.

My ropey piano is the one left by the previous owner who couldn't be bothered to take it - it tunes to itself a semitone flat throughout which means I need to transcribe my little boy's piano accompaniments from A major to Bb major - I've just transcribed and printed off the first variation of "twinkle twinkle little star" and the music looks beautiful.

If I can use it to do parts for the church music group it will be great - most of the time we end up playing "tutti" with the only harmonisation coming from keyboard, which is a bit dull.

You are a star!

If you try and print from the Sibelius demo you get "Sibelius demo" printed all over it!

Actually you get 'Silbelius' printed all over it and 'THIS IS A DEMONSTRATION COPY OF SIBELIUS' printed at the bottom. Best to cancel print before it can print 'THIS IS A DEMONSTRATION COPY OF SIBELIUS' at the bottom (LOL! )

--------------------
~tremolololo~
Just done Grade 7 Piano (22nd Sept.) (done well except aurals!)

Yes, thanks so much, it has come just at the time where I needed something like this!

wow!!!
this looks fun - only took 4 mins to download as well!!!

oooo id recommend this to anyone - its fab!!

just downloaded this to do my coursework on - I think its really good! yey! I kept being advised to get Sibeleus but I can't really afford it and I don't know if it will run on our computer! Notepad does the job though! Thank u! (u just saved me goodness knows how much money, plus lots of time that I would have had to spend at school putting my work onto a computer!)

This isn't the best music notation program I've used, but it's certainly good 4 a program that costs nothing! Sibelius is also a excellent program, but it's very expensive! Those kind of programs are easy to use once you get used to using them.

--------------------
~tremolololo~
Just done Grade 7 Piano (22nd Sept.) (done well except aurals!)

I'm always horrified at the cost of Sibelius, and wonder whether it's really worth spending that much if you are not an experienced pro with very sophisticated requirements.
I haven't checked out Finale Notepad, but I always recommend a program called Capella, which I have used for years now - little arrangements for my young pupils, large orchestral arrangements, parts for my own use.....
It's very versatile and is constantly being improved and costs only £99. Very good customer service too. I was pleased to see it in use at the Music Hochschule in Luzern not so long ago - that seemed to justify my faith in it.
Check it out at
http://www.software-partners.co.uk/
where you can download a demo version.
I am not being paid or put up to plug this. I just want to spread the word about a fantastic programme for a good price!

(I'm a professional violinist, have a few pupils Grade 0-8, teach a bit of theory, coach on a summer orchestra course.....)

Finale Notepad is very limited I think ...you can't make a pickup measure at the start of the piece like you can do with Finale. For me Finale itself is full of bugs (I'm using the 2003 version) and it's very expensive. They add up a lot of "fun" features like you can replace the background and colours but they aren't aware of the more important things, like making it even more user-friendly. You still have to type a lot of things if you want a functional repeat sign. Finale Notepad can only handle 8 staves and it's probably only for people who make music just for fun.

It's ok for freeware though...

While we're on the subject - has anyone got the full Sibelius and if so, would you recommend it? I'm saving up to buy it and would be grateful for anyone's opinion (also, is it usable without formal training?)

Thanks
Jen

Or you could try this one Music Publisher5

Easy to learn and totally self formatting. You can do what you want with it (even break the rules of music).
Reasonably priced and superb customer service.

QUOTE (Jen W @ Oct 14 2004, 07:09 AM)

has anyone got the full Sibelius and if so, would you recommend it?

The full version of Sibelius is almost identical to the trial version (or at least it used to be and I think that it still is) but with save and print enabled (rather useful features!). You'll be able to get a fairly good idea of what it's like (usability, features etc.) from the free trial that you can get from the Sibelius Website. If you don't already qualify for some sort of educational discount get a copy of libretto from the AB as there's a discount for Libretto readers.

QUOTE (DGA @ Oct 14 2004, 03:11 AM)

For me Finale itself is full of bugs (I'm using the 2003 version) ....they aren't aware of the more important things, like making it even more user-friendly.

Surprized by the problems you find with the full Finale. I've got the current version (and had it for the last few years) and I'm delighted with it. They have excellent support that you can email, and I've seen product developments happening through that - and it keeps improving! But the bits and bobs I've emailed about haven't been major at all!

QUOTE (DomRUK @ Oct 14 2004, 12:42 PM)

QUOTE (DGA @ Oct 14 2004, 03:11 AM) For me Finale itself is full of bugs (I'm using the 2003 version) ....they aren't aware of the more important things, like making it even more user-friendly. Surprized by the problems you find with the full Finale. I've got the current version (and had it for the last few years) and I'm delighted with it. They have excellent support that you can email, and I've seen product developments happening through that - and it keeps improving! But the bits and bobs I've emailed about haven't been major at all!

OK, maybe you're right...maybe all of the bugs is because my copy of Finale isn't original. I'm still not sure whether it's original or not. That's because in Indonesia here original software is extremely difficult to find, and if there is any, the price is very very high (for Indonesian people). My cello teacher likes Sibelius better though...