MuseScore

Gabriel Fauré (12 May 1845 – 4 November 1924) We went public with OpenScore back in February at FOSDEM 2017, when we told the world about our plan to liberate public domain sheet music. Since then, we’ve been really busy spreading the word, meeting ... [More] up with partners and other interested parties, creating demos and showcase projects, and generally getting everything ready for the upcoming launch of the Kickstarter campaign (not long to wait now!). Pilot transcription While all that’s been going on, we’ve also been running a small pilot to make sure the whole transcription process is as smooth as possible. A small number of MuseScore.com members were invited to take part in a trial transcription of Fauré’s Requiem. As today is Gabriel Fauré’s 172nd Birthday, we thought it would be appropriate to share it with you now. (Please be aware that this is an unfinished preview version and as such is likely to contain lots of errors and layout problems. We need your help to get it ready for final release! More on this below.) https://musescore.com/user/16916841/scores/3896176 Process Starting with a PDF scan of the original score from IMSLP, we divided it up into small chunks, each just a few pages in length. These were sent out to the volunteer transcribers, along with an empty MuseScore template document with all the instruments already added. The transcribers were given a few days to complete their pages and upload them to be checked by a member of the admin team. If no errors were found then transcription was accepted straight away and the transcriber was rewarded with a month of MuseScore PRO membership. If errors were found then score was sent back to the transcriber along with comments about what they needed to improve, and they were given a bit more time to make those improvements and get the reward. We were really impressed with what we saw, and in one or two cases we were able to accept the transcription straight away. However, in most cases there were at least a few mistakes, or places where the transcriber hadn’t been aware that there was a better way to do whatever it was that they had been trying to do. However, they all did a great job of making the changes we asked for, and we didn’t have to reject any transcriptions! Guidelines If you are interested in transcribing then you might like to take a look at this set of guidelines which I put together to help transcribers. The guidelines describe the most common errors we saw in transcriptions and explain how to avoid them. Peer review Once the transcriptions have been collected and joined together, it's time to check the full score to look for: Errors that escaped notice during the first check Inconsistencies between sections transcribed by different people Issues that arise during the joining process We'll need your help to be able to spot all these things and put them right. We'll soon launch a new tool for MuseScore.com which will allow you to click on the exact part of a score where a problem lies and leave a comment to bring it to our attention. Publishing an OpenScore Edition The final step in the process of creating an OpenScore Edition is to give it a nice cover page. For this purpose, we're teaming up with Nicholas Rougeux, a digital artist and web designer based in Chicago. Nicholas created visualisations of sheet music for his Off The Staff project, and he has agreed to create a visualisation of each OpenScore Edition. Visualisation of Fauré’s Requiem by Nicholas Rougeux The visualisation should be read clockwise starting from the 12 o’clock position. Each circle represents a note in the score; the size of the circle represents the duration of the note, while the pitch is indicated by the distance from the centre of the image. Previous Section Next OpenScore: Join the transcription effort! shoogle's blog [Less]

While the development of MuseScore 3 is ongoing and we are rebuilding a lot of features from the ground up, we wanted to bring you some of that work sooner—so here comes MuseScore 2.1! Built on top of the 2.0 series, with cherry-picked developments ... [More] from the in-progress MuseScore 3, MuseScore 2.1 offers a bunch of new features and 300+ bug fixes and user interface improvements, making it both our most powerful and our most stable version yet. Download MuseScore 2.1 Windows Mac OS X 10.7 or higher Linux New features A picture is worth a thousand words… so how about a video. Watch and listen to Isaac Weiss walking you through some of the new features in MuseScore 2.1. For those who prefer reading, here are some of the highlights: New note input modes allow you to play music on a MIDI keyboard in real time and have MuseScore transcribe both pitches and rhythms, either using the built-in metronome or your foot pedal to keep the tempo New input mode to allow entry of rhythm first, pitches later New command to rewrite rhythms to show beat divisions according to time signature rules New and improved commands to change duration of existing notes while in note input mode, including adding and removing augmentation dots Synthesizer improvements, including updates to the default SoundFont and better support for SFZ format Ability to upload audio to MuseScore.com along with your score, so others can hear your score with your chosen SoundFont or SFZ Improved historical tablature support, including lute bass strings When changing instruments mid-score (e.g., from flute to clarinet), the transposition is now handled correctly Improved selection controls, including the ability to select notes of the same pitch, duration, or notehead, and the ability to select or deselect all element types in the Selection Filter New command to swap selection with clipboard (simultaneously paste to and copy from the selected range) More controls: ability to reorder score tabs, customize pause length of breaths and caesuras, add/remove brackets on accidentals, set MP3 bitrate, add page breaks when creating albums, include fingering in tablature staves New and improved templates and instruments, including various marching bands and percussion ensembles, a general percussion staff, more standard clefs for basses, additional ethnic instruments UI improvements in Staff Properties, New Score Wizard, Edit Drumset, and other windows There are many more improvements than that, including some under the hood; check out the release notes for an exhaustive list of new features and fixed bugs. Note that though MuseScore 2.1 is almost fully compatible with the 2.0 series in both directions, there are a few corner cases where scores may be rendered slightly differently in the different versions of MuseScore, documented here. Credits On top of the long-time contributors who participated in creating MuseScore 2.1, we are very proud to welcome 20 new contributors since the release of version 2.0.3 last year. It brings the total number of MuseScore contributors to exactly 100. Thanks to all the code contributors, translators and documentation writers! What’s next? While the development of MuseScore 3 continues behind the scenes, following up on the redesign of MuseScore.com earlier this year, a new design for MuseScore.org is also on its way. It will make it easier to follow and contribute to conversations from mobile and touch devices, and also improve access to support and help resources to make the learning curve easier for new users. We will also officially launch the OpenScore initiative soon, in collaboration with IMSLP. [Less]

While the development of MuseScore 3 is ongoing and we are rebuilding a lot of features from the ground up, we wanted to bring you some of that work sooner—so here comes MuseScore 2.1! Built on top of the 2.0 series, with cherry-picked developments ... [More] from the in-progress MuseScore 3, MuseScore 2.1 offers a bunch of new features and 300+ bug fixes and user interface improvements, making it both our most powerful and our most stable version yet. Download MuseScore 2.1 Windows Mac OS X 10.7 or higher Linux New features A picture is worth a thousand words… so how about a video. Watch and listen to Isaac Weiss walking you through some of the new features in MuseScore 2.1. For those who prefer reading, here are some of the highlights: New note input modes allow you to play music on a MIDI keyboard in real time and have MuseScore transcribe both pitches and rhythms, either using the built-in metronome or your foot pedal to keep the tempo New input mode to allow entry of rhythm first, pitches later New command to rewrite rhythms to show beat divisions according to time signature rules New and improved commands to change duration of existing notes while in note input mode, including adding and removing augmentation dots Synthesizer improvements, including updates to the default SoundFont and better support for SFZ format Ability to upload audio to MuseScore.com along with your score, so others can hear your score with your chosen SoundFont or SFZ Improved historical tablature support, including lute bass strings When changing instruments mid-score (e.g., from flute to clarinet), the transposition is now handled correctly Improved selection controls, including the ability to select notes of the same pitch, duration, or notehead, and the ability to select or deselect all element types in the Selection Filter New command to swap selection with clipboard (simultaneously paste to and copy from the selected range) More controls: ability to reorder score tabs, customize pause length of breaths and caesuras, add/remove brackets on accidentals, set MP3 bitrate, add page breaks when creating albums, include fingering in tablature staves New and improved templates and instruments, including various marching bands and percussion ensembles, a general percussion staff, more standard clefs for basses, additional ethnic instruments UI improvements in Staff Properties, New Score Wizard, Edit Drumset, and other windows There are many more improvements than that, including some under the hood; check out the release notes for an exhaustive list of new features and fixed bugs. Note that though MuseScore 2.1 is almost fully compatible with the 2.0 series in both directions, there are a few corner cases where scores may be rendered slightly differently in the different versions of MuseScore, documented here. Credits On top of the long-time contributors who participated in creating MuseScore 2.1, we are very proud to welcome 20 new contributors since the release of version 2.0.3 last year. It brings the total number of MuseScore contributors to exactly 100. Thanks to all the code contributors, translators and documentation writers! What’s next? While the development of MuseScore 3 continues behind the scenes, following up on the redesign of MuseScore.com earlier this year, a new design for MuseScore.org is also on its way. It will make it easier to follow and contribute to conversations from mobile and touch devices, and also improve access to support and help resources to make the learning curve easier for new users. We will also officially launch the OpenScore initiative soon, in collaboration with IMSLP. [Less]

Welcome to May’s edition of “MuseScorer of the month.” This is your chance to get to know one of MuseScore.com’s many brilliant members each month of the year. We’re featuring a wide variety of composers and types of music in this series; last month ... [More] , we introduced you to TheNightreader. This month is a little different—instead of a composer, we’re featuring a transcriber. Many people use MuseScore to transcribe and share public domain sheet music—if you would like to see more transcribers featured in the future, please comment below or in the Improving MuseScore.com group to let us know. Now, meet Norwegian student Brede Sørøy, aka ClassicMan! How did you discover MuseScore? I discovered MuseScore when I was 14 years old, I think. The reason I found it was due to a growing interest in classical music which, I thought, required some insight into how the different notations in a composition work and what they mean. From what I remember, I just typed “free notation programme” on Google, and MuseScore was one of the first things Google showed me. I started with some easy scores I found on the internet, but I started after a short time trying to transcribe greater compositions (my first upload on the site is Beethoven’s last movement of his “Moonlight Sonata” No. 14). I have learned a lot more than I ever expected to learn just to transcribe such compositions to a MuseScore file. What motivates you to transcribe? My motivation to transcribe classical pieces is an urge to hear more compositions from the greatest composers of all time! I can without reluctance admit that I would not have known that many different pieces if it were not for my involvement with MuseScore. One of my greatest discoveries was the for me unknown French composer Charles-Valentin Alkan. I remember the first composition I heard by him, Étude de Bravoure Opus 16 No. 3 (the first composition I uploaded from him, in fact), made me one of his greatest fans instantly! I was mesmerized by his composition style from the very first time I heard something by him! The compositions and composers aside, the MuseScore community itself motivates me to continue the transcription journey with engaging comments which help me improve the scores I already have uploaded, their suggestions of pieces I should upload next time, and the great variety of questions regarding how to notate a passage I did or other interesting topics. I try to reply to most of my comments, but because I study at a university now, I mostly only have time to transcribe scores and upload them. What is your typical transcribing workflow like? I simply just pick a score I want to do (either from my own wishes or suggestions from others). When I start transcribing a score, I usually do not stop until I am finished. However, on some rare occasions, I start to transcribe a piece without finishing it. This may be due to not having time or an urge to rather do another score instead. Some of the pieces I have uploaded have been in my folder for months, but eventually I get a feeling that I have to complete the piece so that I can start another project (two examples are the Sonata in B Minor by Liszt and the Concerto for Solo Piano in G♯ Minor, Opus 39 No. 8, by Alkan). What have you shared on MuseScore.com that you’re most proud of? There are several things I am proud of I have done. If I have to pick, I would say the completion of Bach’s two Well-Tempered Clavier books, Chopin’s Préludes, Alkan’s Opus 39 and Beethoven’s Sonatas are the four sets I am most satisfied to have finished! Even though they required many hours of working to make them finished, I enjoyed every one of them when I transcribed these sets. These projects were never planned, they just were completed after a while! See a typical ClassicMan transcription, excerpted from Alkan’s Opus 39, below. Étude Opus 39 No. 12 in E Minor, “Le Festin d'Ésope” by ClassicMan Watch for our next MuseScorer of the month in June! [Less]

Welcome to May’s edition of “MuseScorer of the month.” This is your chance to get to know one of MuseScore.com’s many brilliant members each month of the year. We’re featuring a wide variety of composers and types of music in this series; last month ... [More] , we introduced you to TheNightreader. This month is a little different—instead of a composer, we’re featuring a transcriber. Many people use MuseScore to transcribe and share public domain sheet music—if you would like to see more transcribers featured in the future, please comment below or in the Improving MuseScore.com group to let us know. Now, meet Norwegian student Brede Sørøy, aka ClassicMan! How did you discover MuseScore? I discovered MuseScore when I was 14 years old, I think. The reason I found it was due to a growing interest in classical music which, I thought, required some insight into how the different notations in a composition work and what they mean. From what I remember, I just typed “free notation programme” on Google, and MuseScore was one of the first things Google showed me. I started with some easy scores I found on the internet, but I started after a short time trying to transcribe greater compositions (my first upload on the site is Beethoven’s last movement of his “Moonlight Sonata” No. 14). I have learned a lot more than I ever expected to learn just to transcribe such compositions to a MuseScore file. What motivates you to transcribe? My motivation to transcribe classical pieces is an urge to hear more compositions from the greatest composers of all time! I can without reluctance admit that I would not have known that many different pieces if it were not for my involvement with MuseScore. One of my greatest discoveries was the for me unknown French composer Charles-Valentin Alkan. I remember the first composition I heard by him, Étude de Bravoure Opus 16 No. 3 (the first composition I uploaded from him, in fact), made me one of his greatest fans instantly! I was mesmerized by his composition style from the very first time I heard something by him! The compositions and composers aside, the MuseScore community itself motivates me to continue the transcription journey with engaging comments which help me improve the scores I already have uploaded, their suggestions of pieces I should upload next time, and the great variety of questions regarding how to notate a passage I did or other interesting topics. I try to reply to most of my comments, but because I study at a university now, I mostly only have time to transcribe scores and upload them. What is your typical transcribing workflow like? I simply just pick a score I want to do (either from my own wishes or suggestions from others). When I start transcribing a score, I usually do not stop until I am finished. However, on some rare occasions, I start to transcribe a piece without finishing it. This may be due to not having time or an urge to rather do another score instead. Some of the pieces I have uploaded have been in my folder for months, but eventually I get a feeling that I have to complete the piece so that I can start another project (two examples are the Sonata in B Minor by Liszt and the Concerto for Solo Piano in G♯ Minor, Opus 39 No. 8, by Alkan). What have you shared on MuseScore.com that you’re most proud of? There are several things I am proud of I have done. If I have to pick, I would say the completion of Bach’s two Well-Tempered Clavier books, Chopin’s Préludes, Alkan’s Opus 39 and Beethoven’s Sonatas are the four sets I am most satisfied to have finished! Even though they required many hours of working to make them finished, I enjoyed every one of them when I transcribed these sets. These projects were never planned, they just were completed after a while! See a typical ClassicMan transcription, excerpted from Alkan’s Opus 39, below. Étude Opus 39 No. 12 in E Minor, “Le Festin d'Ésope” by ClassicMan Watch for our next MuseScorer of the month in June! [Less]

Welcome to May’s edition of “MuseScorer of the month.” This is your chance to get to know one of MuseScore.com’s many brilliant members each month of the year. We’re featuring a wide variety of composers and types of music in this series; last month ... [More] , we introduced you to TheNightreader. This month is a little different—instead of a composer, we’re featuring a transcriber. Many people use MuseScore to transcribe and share public domain sheet music—if you would like to see more transcribers featured in the future, please comment below or in the Improving MuseScore.com group to let us know. Now, meet Norwegian student Brede Sørøy, aka ClassicMan! How did you discover MuseScore? I discovered MuseScore when I was 14 years old, I think. The reason I found it was due to a growing interest in classical music which, I thought, required some insight into how the different notations in a composition work and what they mean. From what I remember, I just typed “free notation programme” on Google, and MuseScore was one of the first things Google showed me. I started with some easy scores I found on the internet, but I started after a short time trying to transcribe greater compositions (my first upload on the site is Beethoven’s last movement of his “Moonlight Sonata” No. 14). I have learned a lot more than I ever expected to learn just to transcribe such compositions to a MuseScore file. What motivates you to transcribe? My motivation to transcribe classical pieces is an urge to hear more compositions from the greatest composers of all time! I can without reluctance admit that I would not have known that many different pieces if it were not for my involvement with MuseScore. One of my greatest discoveries was the for me unknown French composer Charles-Valentin Alkan. I remember the first composition I heard by him, Étude de Bravoure Opus 16 No. 3 (the first composition I uploaded from him, in fact), made me one of his greatest fans instantly! I was mesmerized by his composition style from the very first time I heard something by him! The compositions and composers aside, the MuseScore community itself motivates me to continue the transcription journey with engaging comments which help me improve the scores I already have uploaded, their suggestions of pieces I should upload next time, and the great variety of questions regarding how to notate a passage I did or other interesting topics. I try to reply to most of my comments, but because I study at a university now, I mostly only have time to transcribe scores and upload them. What is your typical transcribing workflow like? I simply just pick a score I want to do (either from my own wishes or suggestions from others). When I start transcribing a score, I usually do not stop until I am finished. However, on some rare occasions, I start to transcribe a piece without finishing it. This may be due to not having time or an urge to rather do another score instead. Some of the pieces I have uploaded have been in my folder for months, but eventually I get a feeling that I have to complete the piece so that I can start another project (two examples are the Sonata in B Minor by Liszt and the Concerto for Solo Piano in G♯ Minor, Opus 39 No. 8, by Alkan). What have you shared on MuseScore.com that you’re most proud of? There are several things I am proud of I have done. If I have to pick, I would say the completion of Bach’s two Well-Tempered Clavier books, Chopin’s Préludes, Alkan’s Opus 39 and Beethoven’s Sonatas are the four sets I am most satisfied to have finished! Even though they required many hours of working to make them finished, I enjoyed every one of them when I transcribed these sets. These projects were never planned, they just were completed after a while! See a typical ClassicMan transcription, excerpted from Alkan’s Opus 39, below. Étude Opus 39 No. 12 in E Minor, “Le Festin d'Ésope” by ClassicMan Watch for our next MuseScorer of the month in June! [Less]

Welcome to May’s edition of “MuseScorer of the month.” This is your chance to get to know one of MuseScore.com’s many brilliant members each month of the year. We’re featuring a wide variety of composers and types of music in this series; last month ... [More] , we introduced you to TheNightreader. This month is a little different—instead of a composer, we’re featuring a transcriber. Many people use MuseScore to transcribe and share public domain sheet music—if you would like to see more transcribers featured in the future, please comment below or in the Improving MuseScore.com group to let us know. Now, meet Norwegian student Brede Sørøy, aka ClassicMan! How did you discover MuseScore? I discovered MuseScore when I was 14 years old, I think. The reason I found it was due to a growing interest in classical music which, I thought, required some insight into how the different notations in a composition work and what they mean. From what I remember, I just typed “free notation programme” on Google, and MuseScore was one of the first things Google showed me. I started with some easy scores I found on the internet, but I started after a short time trying to transcribe greater compositions (my first upload on the site is Beethoven’s last movement of his “Moonlight Sonata” No. 14). I have learned a lot more than I ever expected to learn just to transcribe such compositions to a MuseScore file. What motivates you to transcribe? My motivation to transcribe classical pieces is an urge to hear more compositions from the greatest composers of all time! I can without reluctance admit that I would not have known that many different pieces if it were not for my involvement with MuseScore. One of my greatest discoveries was the for me unknown French composer Charles-Valentin Alkan. I remember the first composition I heard by him, Étude de Bravoure Opus 16 No. 3 (the first composition I uploaded from him, in fact), made me one of his greatest fans instantly! I was mesmerized by his composition style from the very first time I heard something by him! The compositions and composers aside, the MuseScore community itself motivates me to continue the transcription journey with engaging comments which help me improve the scores I already have uploaded, their suggestions of pieces I should upload next time, and the great variety of questions regarding how to notate a passage I did or other interesting topics. I try to reply to most of my comments, but because I study at a university now, I mostly only have time to transcribe scores and upload them. What is your typical transcribing workflow like? I simply just pick a score I want to do (either from my own wishes or suggestions from others). When I start transcribing a score, I usually do not stop until I am finished. However, on some rare occasions, I start to transcribe a piece without finishing it. This may be due to not having time or an urge to rather do another score instead. Some of the pieces I have uploaded have been in my folder for months, but eventually I get a feeling that I have to complete the piece so that I can start another project (two examples are the Sonata in B Minor by Liszt and the Concerto for Solo Piano in G♯ Minor, Opus 39 No. 8, by Alkan). What have you shared on MuseScore.com that you’re most proud of? There are several things I am proud of I have done. If I have to pick, I would say the completion of Bach’s two Well-Tempered Clavier books, Chopin’s Préludes, Alkan’s Opus 39 and Beethoven’s Sonatas are the four sets I am most satisfied to have finished! Even though they required many hours of working to make them finished, I enjoyed every one of them when I transcribed these sets. These projects were never planned, they just were completed after a while! See a typical ClassicMan transcription, excerpted from Alkan’s Opus 39, below. Étude Opus 39 No. 12 in E Minor, “Le Festin d'Ésope” by ClassicMan Watch for our next MuseScorer of the month in June! [Less]

Are you interested in a MuseScore workshop? There are two coming up! One in the US and one in Germany. The first is organised by the renowned Major Orchestra Librarians’ Association (MOLA) and the second one by Yamaha.The Major Orchestra Librarians’ ... [More] Association is an American-based association that comprises over 270 performance organisations around the world. They represent over 450 librarians whose job is to manage sheet music for each of those institutions. From May 5th to May 8th, 2017, MOLA organises a conference in San Diego. On the 6th and the 8th of May, Marc Sabatella, Adjunct Faculty, University of Denver, will give a MuseScore workshop. Marc completely knows the ins and outs of MuseScore, as he is the author of Mastering MuseScore. A person you might want to meet!On May 18th and 19th, Yamaha organises the Yamaha BläserKlassen-Kongress 2017 in Schlitz. Every year, around 200 teachers from all over Germany come to this event to share information and get new ideas about teaching wind instruments. Felix Maier is music teacher and big band leader at MCG Gehrden, and saxophonist with the band “soul control”. He will give workshops on topics including how to set up a big band score, how to perform in a big band, and how to improvise. In these sessions, he will incorporate useful insights on how MuseScore can be of great help for creating and learning sheet music Would you like to organise or conduct a MuseScore workshop? Please, contact us with some information about yourself! We regularly get requests for this, and we can offer you promotional exposure to get your workshop known within the MuseScore community. [Less]

Are you interested in a MuseScore workshop? There are two coming up! One in the US and one in Germany. The first is organised by the renowned Major Orchestra Librarians’ Association (MOLA) and the second one by Yamaha.The Major Orchestra Librarians’ ... [More] Association is an American-based association that comprises over 270 performance organisations around the world. They represent over 450 librarians whose job is to manage sheet music for each of those institutions. From May 5th to May 8th, 2017, MOLA organises a conference in San Diego. On the 6th and the 8th of May, Marc Sabatella, Adjunct Faculty, University of Denver, will give a MuseScore workshop. Marc completely knows the ins and outs of MuseScore, as he is the author of Mastering MuseScore. A person you might want to meet!On May 18th and 19th, Yamaha organises the Yamaha BläserKlassen-Kongress 2017 in Schlitz. Every year, around 200 teachers from all over Germany come to this event to share information and get new ideas about teaching wind instruments. Felix Maier is music teacher and big band leader at MCG Gehrden, and saxophonist with the band “soul control”. He will give workshops on topics including how to set up a big band score, how to perform in a big band, and how to improvise. In these sessions, he will incorporate useful insights on how MuseScore can be of great help for creating and learning sheet music Would you like to organise or conduct a MuseScore workshop? Please, contact us with some information about yourself! We regularly get requests for this, and we can offer you promotional exposure to get your workshop known within the MuseScore community. [Less]

Are you interested in a MuseScore workshop? There are two coming up! One in the US and one in Germany. The first is organised by the renowned Major Orchestra Librarians’ Association (MOLA) and the second one by Yamaha.The Major Orchestra Librarians’ ... [More] Association is an American-based association that comprises over 270 performance organisations around the world. They represent over 450 librarians whose job is to manage sheet music for each of those institutions. From May 5th to May 8th, 2017, MOLA organises a conference in San Diego. On the 6th and the 8th of May, Marc Sabatella, Adjunct Faculty, University of Denver, will give a MuseScore workshop. Marc completely knows the ins and outs of MuseScore, as he is the author of Mastering MuseScore. A person you might want to meet!On May 18th and 19th, Yamaha organises the Yamaha BläserKlassen-Kongress 2017 in Schlitz. Every year, around 200 teachers from all over Germany come to this event to share information and get new ideas about teaching wind instruments. Felix Maier is music teacher and big band leader at MCG Gehrden, and saxophonist with the band “soul control”. He will give workshops on topics including how to set up a big band score, how to perform in a big band, and how to improvise. In these sessions, he will incorporate useful insights on how MuseScore can be of great help for creating and learning sheet music Would you like to organise or conduct a MuseScore workshop? Please, contact us with some information about yourself! We regularly get requests for this, and we can offer you promotional exposure to get your workshop known within the MuseScore community. [Less]