Re: Re music software

["Michael Edwards" mje@xxxxxxxx]

   I think gremlins have got into the system, and confused topics. Still, one
more point, now that I have an idea what the program is to be used for (silly
me, I should have thought of it before):

   I hadn't thought about the difficulties Patricia mentions that Finale and
Sibelius would present, with their moden music notational rules, for Gregorian
chant or Jewish liturgical music, since I didn't know what the program was going
to be used for. But, without knowing anything about either of these types of
music, I would agree with Patricia in a general sense: both these programs are
very much oriented towards modern notation, and will try to enforce modern rules
as used in "art music", and would regard free rhythm as attempting to do
something illegal (according to music notation rules).
   There are possibly work-arounds, but constantly having to resort to them
may get very awkward and tiresome. I have a feeling Finale would be likely to
be more flexible here, but am not prepared to say that as a certainty.
   Unfortunately I don't know of any software that will be especially good for
this - but, considering the specialized use intended, I would say go slowly and
take your time in researching and choosing software.
   Even if by now you're convinced that neither Sibelius nor Finale will
really do the job, it might still be a good idea to join one of the mailing
lists I mentioned, state there what you want to do musically, and go through the
motions of asking how the program would cope with it - and if the expert
opinions agree that there will be difficulties, then suggestions about what to
use instead may be forthcoming, since both lists are very busy, talkative ones,
quite tolerant of marginal or off-topic tangents. And neither list is owned or
sponsored by the company producing the respective software, so people won't feel
inhibited about suggesting something more suitable for fear of being stamped on
for recommending competing software.

   There is also the MS-DOS program Score, which is still available (and quite
expensive), but I doubt that many people who have not grown up with the MS-DOS
system (such as many of us here) would find this attractive. (That's why I
didn't mention it before. There is no Windows version, and one doesn't look to
be even on the horizon, in spite of years-old rumours that one was being slowly
developed.)

    However, some people still regard it as the most powerful and customizable
music notation in the world, and say there's nothing you can't do in it. If any
software will let you do free rhythms easily, it is probably Score.

   Input is apparently by typing in lots of numbers controlling various
parameters, and the learning curve is probably even steeper than with Finale,
and it's not what you would call a "user-friendly" program by today's
graphically-oriented, mouse-based "point and click" standards. Quite likely it
still has a whiff of FORTRAN and mainframes to it.

   There is a mailing list for Score, too, at
http://ace.acadiau.ca/score/s-list.htm. If this looks promising, after proper
research, then questions should be asked on this mailing list - a purchase of
Score should not be undertaken lightly. Once again, the mailing list is where
the experts are.

   Until quite recently, many of the major music publishing houses used Score
well into the Windows era, although I gather some are switching now to more
modern software.

   Score was written single-handedly in FORTRAN by a music professor, Leland
Smith, beginning round about 1970, and has apparently been maintained and
upgraded ever since then solely by himself.

             Regards,
             Michael Edwards.