MuseScore

And here comes August’s MuseScorer of the Month! In case you missed it, each month we pick one of MuseScore.com’s brilliant members, featuring him or her in an interview available to all MuseScorers. Last month we introduced you to flutist and ... [More] composer Robin M. Butler. Now, please welcome: the MuseScorer Of August, Takeru aka Takernikov from Fukuoka, Japan. “I love the words of my professor at the university. He said, that good music has ‘consistency’ and ‘variety’; If no consistency, it would be confusing. If no variety, it’d be boring.” The following interview is featuring Takeru and is conducted by our staff member Alexander T. - Hi, Takeru.It’s a pleasure to meet you! Tell our readers, please, a few words about yourself. Hello, Alexander, nice to meet you too. Well, I’m from Fukuoka, northern side of Kyushu island, Japan, and live in this city with my wife and a little son (three years old right now). I studied acoustic design at the university, i.e. solving room acoustic issues with physics. Actually I wanted to study at conservatory but my musical skills were not good enough to pass the examination. Luckily, I had an opportunity to take composing classes at the university. So, I learnt music theory, notation, how to compose, and musical forms like sonata.Now, I’ve been an IT engineer specialized in networks for a decade, I like this job. My experience as a musician includes playing: - tuba, double bass and clarinet at high-school; - bassoon and contrabassoon at university; - piano - since I turned 15 years old. - Cool, such a variety of instruments ! Did you come a long way to learn playing them? Actually I was kinda tone deaf when in junior high school. There were lotta choral classes sadly, the music teacher pointed out my tone deafness every time, some students teased me. But, finally, I overcame that so-called “tone deafness”; I got interested in music, I began to play piano, which had been bought by my mother when she got married. Then, I played in a brass band in high school. As far as I remember, at some point I came across a really attracting piece called “El Camino Real”. First time I saw the score, I was confused about the key signature for transposing instruments, but I found my own way to read it. The skill I got at that time has helped me a lot later, when studying from the other composer’s work. I was also playing contrabass for a year, clarinet for two months and tuba for about two years. When I entered university, as I have already said, I began to play bassoon and contrabassoon in the “Orchestra club”. I’ve played symphonies (Brahms No.1, 4, Beethoven No.5, 7, 9, Tchaikovsky No.5, 6, Rachmaninoff No.1, 2, Dvorak No.5, 7, 8, 9, Berlioz Symphonie Fantastique, and so on), overtures and suites. I tried to perform in a rock band as a keyboard player, but sadly it wasn’t good… - But, anyway, trying something different is always (or almost always) a nice experience…Well, let’s talk about your composing experience: what is that about for you, and what or who helped you to start composing? Apart from the composing classes at the university, I took part in picking musical pieces for upcoming concerts as a member of the council of the university orchestra (I was a leading bassoon player). We listened to all of the ‘candidate’ scores to decide whether they are playable for our orchestra, worthwhile or not. So,I read a lot of scores from Bach to Shostakovich. Especially I’ve been curious about the orchestration, I tried to understand, how do composers notate their music to make it sound really nice and beautiful. At first, I tried to compose something with Finale when in the university, about eleven years ago, but quitted composing after I graduated. As I dislike using a mouse, I felt it was inefficient to notate with drag and drop, so I lost some motivation. Then, when I was searching for sheet music from Final Fantasy XV soundtrack for piano, I came across this amazing MuseScore notation program. I remember, that I was greatly impressed by the features MuseScore had (and still has, of course). It has intuitive UI for me, mostly I can notate with keyboard quickly as if writing a document. Till that day I hadn’t composed a piece for about ten years. But now almost everything motivates me to compose, but especially natural landscapes or some exercises (sports) I did or things happened to me… - …and now, as I can see, you’ve got a plenty of your own pieces on MuseScore.com Can you describe at least some of them? All-right. Let’s start with Snow Run - one Sunday morning I did a trail run with friends through an urban forest park and some ranch, the duration of the 3D map movie generated by my GPS log data on the run was 52 seconds, so I decided to compose this piece in 2/4, 52 measures with 120 bpm to make it easy to count. Composed this piece within an hour or so - I realized I could compose quicker than imagined… - Sorry for interrupting, but I wonder - do you often compose these “GPS-log” pieces after your morning runs, and is that the only reason why most of your compositions are short? Basically there are two reasons for that: 1: you are right about the “GPS compositions”: after I do some endurance exercise like cycling or running, there’s some service which can create some short movies by my GPS logs. Usually the duration of the movies are short, less than 1-2 minutes; I compose for this ‘movies’ on the same day and share with my friends. 2: I said “compose on the same day”. I set a deadline for myself and try to accomplish that on time. Kind of repetitive practices, it’s a good way to express my feelings and to ‘improve productivity’ in my opinion. I feel, this affects even my job activity in a good way as well. - So, let’s continue with your compositions… Ok, then I’ll tell you about a couple more. La Chute D'eau élargi - inspired by French impressionists, deliberately titled in French, however, it includes some pentatonic scales, so for me it sounds like some Japanese folk music. Pa-Pa-Pa-Pa-Pa-Pa - an attempt to create minimal music from my original phrases I came up with, after I was reading a picture book for my son. That sounds a little weird, but I ended up with clear and refreshing atmosphere in this piece. - Nice pieces, the second one reminded me of Steve Reich. And now, here is our “traditional” question: what have you shared on MuseScore.com that you’re most proud of (and why are you proud of it) ? It’s Symphonic Poem “Mamacoco”. This is the most emotional and dramatic one I have ever composed. Although I’m generally a short piece composer, the duration of this one is about 14min. and it contains almost everything I could do as a composer. Attempted to fill it with beautiful melodies and counterpoints in the tonal slow part, and to make it exciting in the quasi-atonal fast part, naturally “covered” the previous slow melodies with different instruments (brass). I was surprised what I did actually, huge resolution followed by very tensed atmosphere before the recapitulation. The last part starts with almost sad flute’s phrase, it gradually changes to a kind of brilliant sounding. Symphonic Poem “Mamacoco” by Takernikov - I love the melodies in it, for me “Mamacoco” sounds like ‘pastoral’ music. I wonder what composers/performers influenced you. And, generally, what are your favorites? I love Russian composers Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff, Rimsky-Korsakov, Shostakovich, Stravinsky, and that’s why my MuseScore account name is “Takernikov”, like a Russian surname. I don’t mean that I’m limited by the Romantic era, I also respect Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, Dvorak, Debussy, Ravel, Liszt, even Steve Reich. In film composing, Hans Zimmer is the first composer that comes to my mind. Generally, most of the film composers affected me: James Horner, Steve Jablonsky, Joe Hisaishi, Ryuichi Sakamoto, etc..Honestly saying, the composer I can’t even imitate is Don Davis. His music, especially the orchestration and atonality in it, is outstanding in my opinion. Would like to admit, that Takernikov is the first composer I met, whose beautiful music is often inspired by morning runs and whose pieces’ length really depend on the time he devoted to his physical exercises. That’s an interesting fact and Takeru is a really nice composer, it was a pleasure for me to do this interview and to meet him. Thank you, guys, for reading. Yours, Alexander T. P.S. Following the nice tradition - I am adding here a piece I really enjoyed , this is a kind of “spanish sketch” composed by Mr.Takernikov. Él irá a España by Takernikov [Less]

And here comes August’s MuseScorer of the Month! In case you missed it, each month we pick one of MuseScore.com’s brilliant members, featuring him or her in an interview available to all MuseScorers. Last month we introduced you to flutist and ... [More] composer Robin M. Butler. Now, please welcome: the MuseScorer Of August, Takeru aka Takernikov from Fukuoka, Japan. “I love the words of my professor at the university. He said, that good music has ‘consistency’ and ‘variety’; If no consistency, it would be confusing. If no variety, it’d be boring.” The following interview is featuring Takeru and is conducted by our staff member Alexander T. - Hi, Takeru.It’s a pleasure to meet you! Tell our readers, please, a few words about yourself. Hello, Alexander, nice to meet you too. Well, I’m from Fukuoka, northern side of Kyushu island, Japan, and live in this city with my wife and a little son (three years old right now). I studied acoustic design at the university, i.e. solving room acoustic issues with physics. Actually I wanted to study at conservatory but my musical skills were not good enough to pass the examination. Luckily, I had an opportunity to take composing classes at the university. So, I learnt music theory, notation, how to compose, and musical forms like sonata.Now, I’ve been an IT engineer specialized in networks for a decade, I like this job. My experience as a musician includes playing: - tuba, double bass and clarinet at high-school; - bassoon and contrabassoon at university; - piano - since I turned 15 years old. - Cool, such a variety of instruments ! Did you come a long way to learn playing them? Actually I was kinda tone deaf when in junior high school. There were lotta choral classes sadly, the music teacher pointed out my tone deafness every time, some students teased me. But, finally, I overcame that so-called “tone deafness”; I got interested in music, I began to play piano, which had been bought by my mother when she got married. Then, I played in a brass band in high school. As far as I remember, at some point I came across a really attracting piece called “El Camino Real”. First time I saw the score, I was confused about the key signature for transposing instruments, but I found my own way to read it. The skill I got at that time has helped me a lot later, when studying from the other composer’s work. I was also playing contrabass for a year, clarinet for two months and tuba for about two years. When I entered university, as I have already said, I began to play bassoon and contrabassoon in the “Orchestra club”. I’ve played symphonies (Brahms No.1, 4, Beethoven No.5, 7, 9, Tchaikovsky No.5, 6, Rachmaninoff No.1, 2, Dvorak No.5, 7, 8, 9, Berlioz Symphonie Fantastique, and so on), overtures and suites. I tried to perform in a rock band as a keyboard player, but sadly it wasn’t good… - But, anyway, trying something different is always (or almost always) a nice experience…Well, let’s talk about your composing experience: what is that about for you, and what or who helped you to start composing? Apart from the composing classes at the university, I took part in picking musical pieces for upcoming concerts as a member of the council of the university orchestra (I was a leading bassoon player). We listened to all of the ‘candidate’ scores to decide whether they are playable for our orchestra, worthwhile or not. So,I read a lot of scores from Bach to Shostakovich. Especially I’ve been curious about the orchestration, I tried to understand, how do composers notate their music to make it sound really nice and beautiful. At first, I tried to compose something with Finale when in the university, about eleven years ago, but quitted composing after I graduated. As I dislike using a mouse, I felt it was inefficient to notate with drag and drop, so I lost some motivation. Then, when I was searching for sheet music from Final Fantasy XV soundtrack for piano, I came across this amazing MuseScore notation program. I remember, that I was greatly impressed by the features MuseScore had (and still has, of course). It has intuitive UI for me, mostly I can notate with keyboard quickly as if writing a document. Till that day I hadn’t composed a piece for about ten years. But now almost everything motivates me to compose, but especially natural landscapes or some exercises (sports) I did or things happened to me… - …and now, as I can see, you’ve got a plenty of your own pieces on MuseScore.com Can you describe at least some of them? All-right. Let’s start with Snow Run - one Sunday morning I did a trail run with friends through an urban forest park and some ranch, the duration of the 3D map movie generated by my GPS log data on the run was 52 seconds, so I decided to compose this piece in 2/4, 52 measures with 120 bpm to make it easy to count. Composed this piece within an hour or so - I realized I could compose quicker than imagined… - Sorry for interrupting, but I wonder - do you often compose these “GPS-log” pieces after your morning runs, and is that the only reason why most of your compositions are short? Basically there are two reasons for that: 1: you are right about the “GPS compositions”: after I do some endurance exercise like cycling or running, there’s some service which can create some short movies by my GPS logs. Usually the duration of the movies are short, less than 1-2 minutes; I compose for this ‘movies’ on the same day and share with my friends. 2: I said “compose on the same day”. I set a deadline for myself and try to accomplish that on time. Kind of repetitive practices, it’s a good way to express my feelings and to ‘improve productivity’ in my opinion. I feel, this affects even my job activity in a good way as well. - So, let’s continue with your compositions… Ok, then I’ll tell you about a couple more. La Chute D'eau élargi - inspired by French impressionists, deliberately titled in French, however, it includes some pentatonic scales, so for me it sounds like some Japanese folk music. Pa-Pa-Pa-Pa-Pa-Pa - an attempt to create minimal music from my original phrases I came up with, after I was reading a picture book for my son. That sounds a little weird, but I ended up with clear and refreshing atmosphere in this piece. - Nice pieces, the second one reminded me of Steve Reich. And now, here is our “traditional” question: what have you shared on MuseScore.com that you’re most proud of (and why are you proud of it) ? It’s Symphonic Poem “Mamacoco”. This is the most emotional and dramatic one I have ever composed. Although I’m generally a short piece composer, the duration of this one is about 14min. and it contains almost everything I could do as a composer. Attempted to fill it with beautiful melodies and counterpoints in the tonal slow part, and to make it exciting in the quasi-atonal fast part, naturally “covered” the previous slow melodies with different instruments (brass). I was surprised what I did actually, huge resolution followed by very tensed atmosphere before the recapitulation. The last part starts with almost sad flute’s phrase, it gradually changes to a kind of brilliant sounding. Symphonic Poem “Mamacoco” by Takernikov - I love the melodies in it, for me “Mamacoco” sounds like ‘pastoral’ music. I wonder what composers/performers influenced you. And, generally, what are your favorites? I love Russian composers Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff, Rimsky-Korsakov, Shostakovich, Stravinsky, and that’s why my MuseScore account name is “Takernikov”, like a Russian surname. I don’t mean that I’m limited by the Romantic era, I also respect Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, Dvorak, Debussy, Ravel, Liszt, even Steve Reich. In film composing, Hans Zimmer is the first composer that comes to my mind. Generally, most of the film composers affected me: James Horner, Steve Jablonsky, Joe Hisaishi, Ryuichi Sakamoto, etc..Honestly saying, the composer I can’t even imitate is Don Davis. His music, especially the orchestration and atonality in it, is outstanding in my opinion. Would like to admit, that Takernikov is the first composer I met, whose beautiful music is often inspired by morning runs and whose pieces’ length really depend on the time he devoted to his physical exercises. That’s an interesting fact and Takeru is a really nice composer, it was a pleasure for me to do this interview and to meet him. Thank you, guys, for reading. Yours, Alexander T. P.S. Following the nice tradition - I am adding here a piece I really enjoyed , this is a kind of “spanish sketch” composed by Mr.Takernikov. Él irá a España by Takernikov [Less]

Ladies and gentlemen, I think it’s a really good day to announce the MuseScorer of July! Just would like to remind you, what I’m talking about: we are featuring one of the brilliant MuseScore members every month for all users of our site on the ... [More] dashboard, also making a post here with an interview and with a couple of the featured user’s works (own compositions or arrangements) included. In July you met Bob Driggs (Iowa Bob), a third-generation tubist with a graduate degree in chemistry. This month, I’m proud to introduce you to Robin M. Butler. Robin is a flutist and also a composer, “hoping to go into film composing”, as his MuseScore profile page says. “I am a Homeschooled High School Senior with a love for music, born in Chicago IL. The first instrument I started playing was piano, and in 2013 picked up the Flute. shortly after I tried composing for the first time and immediately loved it” Robin manages to express deep emotions even in short compositions. Besides, the sound of his scores is great - so I really enjoyed not only the musical ideas, but also their implementation. Alexander T. (A.T., MuseScore staff member): Robin, thanks for your great scores! I just want to ask you, how did you make them sound so good? Have your compositions been actually played by some performers (ensembles)? Robin M. Butler (R.M.B.): Concerning the playback sound of my scores - over the past couple years, I’ve always been on the search for the best free soundfonts out there. I’ve acquired a few over time and used them in my scores, but some are sadly no longer available. Then, regarding “real” performers of my pieces: the first piece of mine ever performed was an arrangement I made for my Flute Ensemble a couple years ago. It was a piece called “Spanish Dance” by Ignaz Brull. As you’ve understood, I play flute; have had a lot of fun playing in different ensembles with it. I am principal flute in our local youth symphony, I played in a local municipal band this past summer, and I play Alto flute in our Flute Choir. I have written an original piece for our Flute Ensemble this spring titled “Spring Birds Suite”, which is a 3 movement piece with each movement having a poem I wrote to go along with them. We are planning on playing that sometime in the next year, but I am not positive when exactly we will. But, I think,the most exciting performance of one of my pieces is the performance of my Adagio. This fall I will get to hear it performed live by the UMSL’s orchestra, and will be getting a recording of it as well. A.T.: Sounds awesome! But did you take composition classes or something like that? And I’m really eager to know - generally, what inspires you to compose? R.M.B.: I have not had any formal education in writing music, I have taught myself mostly by ear, and have also picked up a bunch of little things from listening to many composers from Tchaikovsky to Alan Menken. I really draw my inspiration from Emotions. When I am feeling a certain way, I really exaggerate those emotions into the music. my favorite inspiration comes from the Spring Air. It just fills me with life, and that is when I write my best music. A.T.: What a beautiful reply! Now, here come our “traditional” questions - the first one is: what have you shared on MuseScore.com that you’re most proud of? R.M.B.: The piece I am probably most happy with is my “Adagio - A Silent Tear”. I would like it to be more than what it is, but one is never fully happy with the final version of his/her piece. It is not my usual style of piece, but I am always wanting to learn new styles. It has a place in my heart because of the story behind it, but also because it was the winning piece in the UMSL composition competition for students of Illinois and Missouri (USA) in the Orchestral High School division. “Adagio - A Silent Tear” by Robin M. Butler Unto Thee is my most recent piece and has a unique story, I won’t get into that, but I feel it has more potential than most of my pieces. “Unto Thee” by Robin M. Butler “Morning Dew” has been one of my most popular scores on Musescore, it’s a short little piece, but I was very happy with the mood it portrays. “Morning Dew” by Robin M. Butler A.T.: Great pieces - and, again, your music is really expressive, in my opinion. Hey, thanks for the interview, and here is the second (and the last for today) “traditional” question for you: how did you discover MuseScore? R.M.B.: My brother and I found Musescore while looking for a better program than Finale Notepad, and we immediately loved it. The reason I still use Musescore is because the feel was very different from Finale and Sibelius, I really liked it, and it’s only getting better. A.T.: All the MuseScore staff members, including me, are sure to be pleased to hear that! Would like to say thanks again to Robin M. Butler for his beautiful music, and for the nice interview. Also thank you, guys, for reading. And: watch for our next MuseScorer of the month in September! Yours, Alexander T. [Less]

Ladies and gentlemen, I think it’s a really good day to announce the MuseScorer of July! Just would like to remind you, what I’m talking about: we are featuring one of the brilliant MuseScore members every month for all users of our site on the ... [More] dashboard, also making a post here with an interview and with a couple of the featured user’s works (own compositions or arrangements) included. In July you met Bob Driggs (Iowa Bob), a third-generation tubist with a graduate degree in chemistry. This month, I’m proud to introduce you to Robin M. Butler. Robin is a flutist and also a composer, “hoping to go into film composing”, as his MuseScore profile page says. “I am a Homeschooled High School Senior with a love for music, born in Chicago IL. The first instrument I started playing was piano, and in 2013 picked up the Flute. shortly after I tried composing for the first time and immediately loved it” Robin manages to express deep emotions even in short compositions. Besides, the sound of his scores is great - so I really enjoyed not only the musical ideas, but also their implementation. Alexander T. (A.T., MuseScore staff member): Robin, thanks for your great scores! I just want to ask you, how did you make them sound so good? Have your compositions been actually played by some performers (ensembles)? Robin M. Butler (R.M.B.): Concerning the playback sound of my scores - over the past couple years, I’ve always been on the search for the best free soundfonts out there. I’ve acquired a few over time and used them in my scores, but some are sadly no longer available. Then, regarding “real” performers of my pieces: the first piece of mine ever performed was an arrangement I made for my Flute Ensemble a couple years ago. It was a piece called “Spanish Dance” by Ignaz Brull. As you’ve understood, I play flute; have had a lot of fun playing in different ensembles with it. I am principal flute in our local youth symphony, I played in a local municipal band this past summer, and I play Alto flute in our Flute Choir. I have written an original piece for our Flute Ensemble this spring titled “Spring Birds Suite”, which is a 3 movement piece with each movement having a poem I wrote to go along with them. We are planning on playing that sometime in the next year, but I am not positive when exactly we will. But, I think,the most exciting performance of one of my pieces is the performance of my Adagio. This fall I will get to hear it performed live by the UMSL’s orchestra, and will be getting a recording of it as well. A.T.: Sounds awesome! But did you take composition classes or something like that? And I’m really eager to know - generally, what inspires you to compose? R.M.B.: I have not had any formal education in writing music, I have taught myself mostly by ear, and have also picked up a bunch of little things from listening to many composers from Tchaikovsky to Alan Menken. I really draw my inspiration from Emotions. When I am feeling a certain way, I really exaggerate those emotions into the music. my favorite inspiration comes from the Spring Air. It just fills me with life, and that is when I write my best music. A.T.: What a beautiful reply! Now, here come our “traditional” questions - the first one is: what have you shared on MuseScore.com that you’re most proud of? R.M.B.: The piece I am probably most happy with is my “Adagio - A Silent Tear”. I would like it to be more than what it is, but one is never fully happy with the final version of his/her piece. It is not my usual style of piece, but I am always wanting to learn new styles. It has a place in my heart because of the story behind it, but also because it was the winning piece in the UMSL composition competition for students of Illinois and Missouri (USA) in the Orchestral High School division. “Adagio - A Silent Tear” by Robin M. Butler Unto Thee is my most recent piece and has a unique story, I won’t get into that, but I feel it has more potential than most of my pieces. “Unto Thee” by Robin M. Butler “Morning Dew” has been one of my most popular scores on Musescore, it’s a short little piece, but I was very happy with the mood it portrays. “Morning Dew” by Robin M. Butler A.T.: Great pieces - and, again, your music is really expressive, in my opinion. Hey, thanks for the interview, and here is the second (and the last for today) “traditional” question for you: how did you discover MuseScore? R.M.B.: My brother and I found Musescore while looking for a better program than Finale Notepad, and we immediately loved it. The reason I still use Musescore is because the feel was very different from Finale and Sibelius, I really liked it, and it’s only getting better. A.T.: All the MuseScore staff members, including me, are sure to be pleased to hear that! Would like to say thanks again to Robin M. Butler for his beautiful music, and for the nice interview. Also thank you, guys, for reading. And: watch for our next MuseScorer of the month in September! Yours, Alexander T. [Less]

Ladies and gentlemen, I think it’s a really good day to announce the MuseScorer of July! Just would like to remind you, what I’m talking about: we are featuring one of the brilliant MuseScore members every month for all users of our site on the ... [More] dashboard, also making a post here with an interview and with a couple of the featured user’s works (own compositions or arrangements) included. In July you met Bob Driggs (Iowa Bob), a third-generation tubist with a graduate degree in chemistry. This month, I’m proud to introduce you to Robin M. Butler. Robin is a flutist and also a composer, “hoping to go into film composing”, as his MuseScore profile page says. “I am a Homeschooled High School Senior with a love for music, born in Chicago IL. The first instrument I started playing was piano, and in 2013 picked up the Flute. shortly after I tried composing for the first time and immediately loved it” Robin manages to express deep emotions even in short compositions. Besides, the sound of his scores is great - so I really enjoyed not only the musical ideas, but also their implementation. Alexander T. (A.T., MuseScore staff member): Robin, thanks for your great scores! I just want to ask you, how did you make them sound so good? Have your compositions been actually played by some performers (ensembles)? Robin M. Butler (R.M.B.): Concerning the playback sound of my scores - over the past couple years, I’ve always been on the search for the best free soundfonts out there. I’ve acquired a few over time and used them in my scores, but some are sadly no longer available. Then, regarding “real” performers of my pieces: the first piece of mine ever performed was an arrangement I made for my Flute Ensemble a couple years ago. It was a piece called “Spanish Dance” by Ignaz Brull. As you’ve understood, I play flute; have had a lot of fun playing in different ensembles with it. I am principal flute in our local youth symphony, I played in a local municipal band this past summer, and I play Alto flute in our Flute Choir. I have written an original piece for our Flute Ensemble this spring titled “Spring Birds Suite”, which is a 3 movement piece with each movement having a poem I wrote to go along with them. We are planning on playing that sometime in the next year, but I am not positive when exactly we will. But, I think,the most exciting performance of one of my pieces is the performance of my Adagio. This fall I will get to hear it performed live by the UMSL’s orchestra, and will be getting a recording of it as well. A.T.: Sounds awesome! But did you take composition classes or something like that? And I’m really eager to know - generally, what inspires you to compose? R.M.B.: I have not had any formal education in writing music, I have taught myself mostly by ear, and have also picked up a bunch of little things from listening to many composers from Tchaikovsky to Alan Menken. I really draw my inspiration from Emotions. When I am feeling a certain way, I really exaggerate those emotions into the music. my favorite inspiration comes from the Spring Air. It just fills me with life, and that is when I write my best music. A.T.: What a beautiful reply! Now, here come our “traditional” questions - the first one is: what have you shared on MuseScore.com that you’re most proud of? R.M.B.: The piece I am probably most happy with is my “Adagio - A Silent Tear”. I would like it to be more than what it is, but one is never fully happy with the final version of his/her piece. It is not my usual style of piece, but I am always wanting to learn new styles. It has a place in my heart because of the story behind it, but also because it was the winning piece in the UMSL composition competition for students of Illinois and Missouri (USA) in the Orchestral High School division. “Adagio - A Silent Tear” by Robin M. Butler Unto Thee is my most recent piece and has a unique story, I won’t get into that, but I feel it has more potential than most of my pieces. “Unto Thee” by Robin M. Butler “Morning Dew” has been one of my most popular scores on Musescore, it’s a short little piece, but I was very happy with the mood it portrays. “Morning Dew” by Robin M. Butler A.T.: Great pieces - and, again, your music is really expressive, in my opinion. Hey, thanks for the interview, and here is the second (and the last for today) “traditional” question for you: how did you discover MuseScore? R.M.B.: My brother and I found Musescore while looking for a better program than Finale Notepad, and we immediately loved it. The reason I still use Musescore is because the feel was very different from Finale and Sibelius, I really liked it, and it’s only getting better. A.T.: All the MuseScore staff members, including me, are sure to be pleased to hear that! Would like to say thanks again to Robin M. Butler for his beautiful music, and for the nice interview. Also thank you, guys, for reading. And: watch for our next MuseScorer of the month in September! Yours, Alexander T. [Less]

Ladies and gentlemen, I think it’s a really good day to announce the MuseScorer of July! Just would like to remind you, what I’m talking about: we are featuring one of the brilliant MuseScore members every month for all users of our site on the ... [More] dashboard, also making a post here with an interview and with a couple of the featured user’s works (own compositions or arrangements) included. In July you met Bob Driggs (Iowa Bob), a third-generation tubist with a graduate degree in chemistry. This month, I’m proud to introduce you to Robin M. Butler. Robin is a flutist and also a composer, “hoping to go into film composing”, as his MuseScore profile page says. “I am a Homeschooled High School Senior with a love for music, born in Chicago IL. The first instrument I started playing was piano, and in 2013 picked up the Flute. shortly after I tried composing for the first time and immediately loved it” Robin manages to express deep emotions even in short compositions. Besides, the sound of his scores is great - so I really enjoyed not only the musical ideas, but also their implementation. Alexander T. (A.T., MuseScore staff member): Robin, thanks for your great scores! I just want to ask you, how did you make them sound so good? Have your compositions been actually played by some performers (ensembles)? Robin M. Butler (R.M.B.): Concerning the playback sound of my scores - over the past couple years, I’ve always been on the search for the best free soundfonts out there. I’ve acquired a few over time and used them in my scores, but some are sadly no longer available. Then, regarding “real” performers of my pieces: the first piece of mine ever performed was an arrangement I made for my Flute Ensemble a couple years ago. It was a piece called “Spanish Dance” by Ignaz Brull. As you’ve understood, I play flute; have had a lot of fun playing in different ensembles with it. I am principal flute in our local youth symphony, I played in a local municipal band this past summer, and I play Alto flute in our Flute Choir. I have written an original piece for our Flute Ensemble this spring titled “Spring Birds Suite”, which is a 3 movement piece with each movement having a poem I wrote to go along with them. We are planning on playing that sometime in the next year, but I am not positive when exactly we will. But, I think,the most exciting performance of one of my pieces is the performance of my Adagio. This fall I will get to hear it performed live by the UMSL’s orchestra, and will be getting a recording of it as well. A.T.: Sounds awesome! But did you take composition classes or something like that? And I’m really eager to know - generally, what inspires you to compose? R.M.B.: I have not had any formal education in writing music, I have taught myself mostly by ear, and have also picked up a bunch of little things from listening to many composers from Tchaikovsky to Alan Menken. I really draw my inspiration from Emotions. When I am feeling a certain way, I really exaggerate those emotions into the music. my favorite inspiration comes from the Spring Air. It just fills me with life, and that is when I write my best music. A.T.: What a beautiful reply! Now, here come our “traditional” questions - the first one is: what have you shared on MuseScore.com that you’re most proud of? R.M.B.: The piece I am probably most happy with is my “Adagio - A Silent Tear”. I would like it to be more than what it is, but one is never fully happy with the final version of his/her piece. It is not my usual style of piece, but I am always wanting to learn new styles. It has a place in my heart because of the story behind it, but also because it was the winning piece in the UMSL composition competition for students of Illinois and Missouri (USA) in the Orchestral High School division. “Adagio - A Silent Tear” by Robin M. Butler Unto Thee is my most recent piece and has a unique story, I won’t get into that, but I feel it has more potential than most of my pieces. “Unto Thee” by Robin M. Butler “Morning Dew” has been one of my most popular scores on Musescore, it’s a short little piece, but I was very happy with the mood it portrays. “Morning Dew” by Robin M. Butler A.T.: Great pieces - and, again, your music is really expressive, in my opinion. Hey, thanks for the interview, and here is the second (and the last for today) “traditional” question for you: how did you discover MuseScore? R.M.B.: My brother and I found Musescore while looking for a better program than Finale Notepad, and we immediately loved it. The reason I still use Musescore is because the feel was very different from Finale and Sibelius, I really liked it, and it’s only getting better. A.T.: All the MuseScore staff members, including me, are sure to be pleased to hear that! Would like to say thanks again to Robin M. Butler for his beautiful music, and for the nice interview. Also thank you, guys, for reading. And: watch for our next MuseScorer of the month in September! Yours, Alexander T. [Less]

Ladies and gentlemen, I think it’s a really good day to announce the MuseScorer of July! Just would like to remind you, what I’m talking about: we are featuring one of the brilliant MuseScore members every month for all users of our site on the ... [More] dashboard, also making a post here with an interview and with a couple of the featured user’s works (own compositions or arrangements) included. In July you met Bob Driggs (Iowa Bob), a third-generation tubist with a graduate degree in chemistry. This month, I’m proud to introduce you to Robin M. Butler. Robin is a flutist and also a composer, “hoping to go into film composing”, as his MuseScore profile page says. “I am a Homeschooled High School Senior with a love for music, born in Chicago IL. The first instrument I started playing was piano, and in 2013 picked up the Flute. shortly after I tried composing for the first time and immediately loved it” Robin manages to express deep emotions even in short compositions. Besides, the sound of his scores is great - so I really enjoyed not only the musical ideas, but also their implementation. Alexander T. (A.T., MuseScore staff member): Robin, thanks for your great scores! I just want to ask you, how did you make them sound so good? Have your compositions been actually played by some performers (ensembles)? Robin M. Butler (R.M.B.): Concerning the playback sound of my scores - over the past couple years, I’ve always been on the search for the best free soundfonts out there. I’ve acquired a few over time and used them in my scores, but some are sadly no longer available. Then, regarding “real” performers of my pieces: the first piece of mine ever performed was an arrangement I made for my Flute Ensemble a couple years ago. It was a piece called “Spanish Dance” by Ignaz Brull. As you’ve understood, I play flute; have had a lot of fun playing in different ensembles with it. I am principal flute in our local youth symphony, I played in a local municipal band this past summer, and I play Alto flute in our Flute Choir. I have written an original piece for our Flute Ensemble this spring titled “Spring Birds Suite”, which is a 3 movement piece with each movement having a poem I wrote to go along with them. We are planning on playing that sometime in the next year, but I am not positive when exactly we will. But, I think,the most exciting performance of one of my pieces is the performance of my Adagio. This fall I will get to hear it performed live by the UMSL’s orchestra, and will be getting a recording of it as well. A.T.: Sounds awesome! But did you take composition classes or something like that? And I’m really eager to know - generally, what inspires you to compose? R.M.B.: I have not had any formal education in writing music, I have taught myself mostly by ear, and have also picked up a bunch of little things from listening to many composers from Tchaikovsky to Alan Menken. I really draw my inspiration from Emotions. When I am feeling a certain way, I really exaggerate those emotions into the music. my favorite inspiration comes from the Spring Air. It just fills me with life, and that is when I write my best music. A.T.: What a beautiful reply! Now, here come our “traditional” questions - the first one is: what have you shared on MuseScore.com that you’re most proud of? R.M.B.: The piece I am probably most happy with is my “Adagio - A Silent Tear”. I would like it to be more than what it is, but one is never fully happy with the final version of his/her piece. It is not my usual style of piece, but I am always wanting to learn new styles. It has a place in my heart because of the story behind it, but also because it was the winning piece in the UMSL composition competition for students of Illinois and Missouri (USA) in the Orchestral High School division. “Adagio - A Silent Tear” by Robin M. Butler Unto Thee is my most recent piece and has a unique story, I won’t get into that, but I feel it has more potential than most of my pieces. “Unto Thee” by Robin M. Butler “Morning Dew” has been one of my most popular scores on Musescore, it’s a short little piece, but I was very happy with the mood it portrays. “Morning Dew” by Robin M. Butler A.T.: Great pieces - and, again, your music is really expressive, in my opinion. Hey, thanks for the interview, and here is the second (and the last for today) “traditional” question for you: how did you discover MuseScore? R.M.B.: My brother and I found Musescore while looking for a better program than Finale Notepad, and we immediately loved it. The reason I still use Musescore is because the feel was very different from Finale and Sibelius, I really liked it, and it’s only getting better. A.T.: All the MuseScore staff members, including me, are sure to be pleased to hear that! Would like to say thanks again to Robin M. Butler for his beautiful music, and for the nice interview. Also thank you, guys, for reading. And: watch for our next MuseScorer of the month in September! Yours, Alexander T. [Less]

Greetings, and welcome again to the MuseScorer of The Month project! We are featuring one of the brilliant MuseScore members every month, making an interview with him or her and posting it here, including his works (own compositions or arrangements) ... [More] into the blogpost. Last month you met Hans Jacobi, a professional church organist and a composer Now, I am happy to announce the MuseScorer of June - Bob Driggs (Iowa Bob), tubist and arranger from Iowa (US): Bob makes really good-sounding arrangements of well-known jazz and rock compositions for brass quintet. Here is what he says about that: “I like a variety of music, from classical to Rock to Latin to jazz. Audiences seem to like familiar music presented in a new form. My goal is to create arrangements that are fun to play and fun to listen to.” Alexander T. (A.T., MuseScore staff member): Nice to meet you, Bob. First of all, could you tell us a few words about yourself, your musical background, etc.? Iowa Bob (I.B.): I was raised in a musical family and am a third-generation tubist. If fact, I play my grandfather’s 1918-vintage Eb tuba in a polka band. I have a graduate degree in chemistry and was a professor and administrator at the collegiate level until I retired. I play Bb Tuba in a British-style brass band as well as in other small ensembles. My wife and I live in the country with two dogs and four cats . We have two married sons and one beautiful granddaughter. A.T.: So, when and why did you start to arrange music? I.B.: I started arranging years ago when my sons were still in high school. They introduced me to a lot of their music as they practiced riffs on their electric guitars and basses. Just for fun, I arranged a few of their songs (Rush, Metallica and other metal bands) for a Tuba-Euphonium quartet that I occasionally played in. While my sons were slightly horrified that tubas would be playing their music, they gave me some good feedback and encouraged me to continue. Since then I have been arranging primarily for brass quintet. A.T.: Oh, I get that. And now, let’s talk about your arrangements: can you just pick some significant ones and tell us about them? I.B.: Okay, let’s start with “Twinkle,Twinkle Little Star”. Richard deRosa is a Grammy Award-winning composer and arranger and has produced many notable works over the years. One of my favorites of his work is a big band arrangement of a very familiar, simple tune. It was a fun learning experience to analyze his work for a score reduction. Then, the famous “Ode to Joy”. I spent hours and hours and hours analyzing Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony and extracting and reassigning parts for these variations. If you like this one, it’s because of Beethoven’s brilliance shining through a pretty severe score reduction. The next song is “Stairway to Heaven”, originally by Led Zeppelin. After listening to Musescore member Joel Gonzalez’s score, I had to give this one a try. Fortunately, Joel had done the hard work, and my job was to simply shuffle things around a bit. I like this one because (like a Tuba-Euphonium quartet of Metallica) this tune should NOT work for quintet, but somehow does. The fourth piece is Santana’s “Smooth”. Santana was on of favorite bands as I was forming my musical preferences, and this particular song makes the transition to quintet format pretty well. And finally, “Let it Be”, originally by The Beatles. I applied the New Orleans Brass Band style (e.g. Lucky Chops) to a well-known Beatles tune, and I took the many liberties with that arrangement. A repetitive bass riff is laid down and the melody is stated by a single player. Layers of harmony are added so that it feels like a collaborative effort rather than a soloist accompanied by four others. This was a fun one to do, as I had no constraints on what it should sound like in the end. “Let it Be” by Iowa Bob A.T.: Sounds great! And who performs all those musical things made by you? I.B.: I have been contacted by Musescore members who play in quintets asking for permission to perform. I always say “Of course!” I play in a N.O. – style (New Orleans style) brass band and a British-style brass band, and both have occasionally used one of my arrangements. A more likely scenario is that we get a request for a small ensemble (for a wedding, a social event, or a holiday) and we pull together a quintet for those occasions. Many of my scores have been performed in this way. I was contacted by a publisher to commercialize a few of my scores, but I’d much prefer to make them available for free to anybody who wants to have fun making music. A.T.: What is your main motivation? I mean, what “makes” you to do your brass quintet arrangements? I.B.: There are three reasons. First, I like many types of music, and it is a challenge for me to migrate some of those compositions to a quintet format. As I tell my wife, “My brain lights up when I am arranging.” Many scores are successful, but my hard drive is littered with failed attempts. Second, getting together with friends to create live music is great fun. Having interesting music to play makes the experience for the musicians and the audience more enjoyable. The popular quintets of the world understand this, and work to make their music accessible. Third, I have developed some good friends on Musescore from around the world, and we like to encourage each other. A.T.: Awesome! Let me ask you our “traditional” question: how did you discover MuseScore? I.B.: Our quintet was asked to play in a wedding, and there were specific songs that were requested. It was a pretty short timeline, so I went online to look for MIDI files or existing scores.I was pleasantly surprised when I came across the Musescore website. The software was free and the downloaded scores were free. I had been using a competing product for about ten years, but I was intrigued and a bit intimidated by the possibility of posting one of my scores. Fortunately, I could migrate files using the XML format. As I groomed those files for Musescore, I found the software to be a very good environment for the work that I had been doing. So, my primary platform is now Musescore. After the interview, as usually, I’d like to share a composition made by the MuseScorer Of The Month I particularly liked (this time it is a brass quintet arrangement by Iowa Bob) - Moanin’, originally performed by Charles Mingus big band: “Moanin'” by Iowa Bob Thanks for reading and watch for our next MuseScorer of the month in August! Yours, Alexander T. [Less]

Greetings, and welcome again to the MuseScorer of The Month project! We are featuring one of the brilliant MuseScore members every month, making an interview with him or her and posting it here, including his works (own compositions or arrangements) ... [More] into the blogpost. Last month you met Hans Jacobi, a professional church organist and a composer Now, I am happy to announce the MuseScorer of June - Bob Driggs (Iowa Bob), tubist and arranger from Iowa (US): Bob makes really good-sounding arrangements of well-known jazz and rock compositions for brass quintet. Here is what he says about that: “I like a variety of music, from classical to Rock to Latin to jazz. Audiences seem to like familiar music presented in a new form. My goal is to create arrangements that are fun to play and fun to listen to.” Alexander T. (A.T., MuseScore staff member): Nice to meet you, Bob. First of all, could you tell us a few words about yourself, your musical background, etc.? Iowa Bob (I.B.): I was raised in a musical family and am a third-generation tubist. If fact, I play my grandfather’s 1918-vintage Eb tuba in a polka band. I have a graduate degree in chemistry and was a professor and administrator at the collegiate level until I retired. I play Bb Tuba in a British-style brass band as well as in other small ensembles. My wife and I live in the country with two dogs and four cats . We have two married sons and one beautiful granddaughter. A.T.: So, when and why did you start to arrange music? I.B.: I started arranging years ago when my sons were still in high school. They introduced me to a lot of their music as they practiced riffs on their electric guitars and basses. Just for fun, I arranged a few of their songs (Rush, Metallica and other metal bands) for a Tuba-Euphonium quartet that I occasionally played in. While my sons were slightly horrified that tubas would be playing their music, they gave me some good feedback and encouraged me to continue. Since then I have been arranging primarily for brass quintet. A.T.: Oh, I get that. And now, let’s talk about your arrangements: can you just pick some significant ones and tell us about them? I.B.: Okay, let’s start with “Twinkle,Twinkle Little Star”. Richard deRosa is a Grammy Award-winning composer and arranger and has produced many notable works over the years. One of my favorites of his work is a big band arrangement of a very familiar, simple tune. It was a fun learning experience to analyze his work for a score reduction. Then, the famous “Ode to Joy”. I spent hours and hours and hours analyzing Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony and extracting and reassigning parts for these variations. If you like this one, it’s because of Beethoven’s brilliance shining through a pretty severe score reduction. The next song is “Stairway to Heaven”, originally by Led Zeppelin. After listening to Musescore member Joel Gonzalez’s score, I had to give this one a try. Fortunately, Joel had done the hard work, and my job was to simply shuffle things around a bit. I like this one because (like a Tuba-Euphonium quartet of Metallica) this tune should NOT work for quintet, but somehow does. The fourth piece is Santana’s “Smooth”. Santana was on of favorite bands as I was forming my musical preferences, and this particular song makes the transition to quintet format pretty well. And finally, “Let it Be”, originally by The Beatles. I applied the New Orleans Brass Band style (e.g. Lucky Chops) to a well-known Beatles tune, and I took the many liberties with that arrangement. A repetitive bass riff is laid down and the melody is stated by a single player. Layers of harmony are added so that it feels like a collaborative effort rather than a soloist accompanied by four others. This was a fun one to do, as I had no constraints on what it should sound like in the end. “Let it Be” by Iowa Bob A.T.: Sounds great! And who performs all those musical things made by you? I.B.: I have been contacted by Musescore members who play in quintets asking for permission to perform. I always say “Of course!” I play in a N.O. – style (New Orleans style) brass band and a British-style brass band, and both have occasionally used one of my arrangements. A more likely scenario is that we get a request for a small ensemble (for a wedding, a social event, or a holiday) and we pull together a quintet for those occasions. Many of my scores have been performed in this way. I was contacted by a publisher to commercialize a few of my scores, but I’d much prefer to make them available for free to anybody who wants to have fun making music. A.T.: What is your main motivation? I mean, what “makes” you to do your brass quintet arrangements? I.B.: There are three reasons. First, I like many types of music, and it is a challenge for me to migrate some of those compositions to a quintet format. As I tell my wife, “My brain lights up when I am arranging.” Many scores are successful, but my hard drive is littered with failed attempts. Second, getting together with friends to create live music is great fun. Having interesting music to play makes the experience for the musicians and the audience more enjoyable. The popular quintets of the world understand this, and work to make their music accessible. Third, I have developed some good friends on Musescore from around the world, and we like to encourage each other. A.T.: Awesome! Let me ask you our “traditional” question: how did you discover MuseScore? I.B.: Our quintet was asked to play in a wedding, and there were specific songs that were requested. It was a pretty short timeline, so I went online to look for MIDI files or existing scores.I was pleasantly surprised when I came across the Musescore website. The software was free and the downloaded scores were free. I had been using a competing product for about ten years, but I was intrigued and a bit intimidated by the possibility of posting one of my scores. Fortunately, I could migrate files using the XML format. As I groomed those files for Musescore, I found the software to be a very good environment for the work that I had been doing. So, my primary platform is now Musescore. After the interview, as usually, I’d like to share a composition made by the MuseScorer Of The Month I particularly liked (this time it is a brass quintet arrangement by Iowa Bob) - Moanin’, originally performed by Charles Mingus big band: “Moanin'” by Iowa Bob Thanks for reading and watch for our next MuseScorer of the month in August! Yours, Alexander T. [Less]

Greetings, and welcome again to the MuseScorer of The Month project! We are featuring one of the brilliant MuseScore members every month, making an interview with him or her and posting it here, including his works (own compositions or arrangements) ... [More] into the blogpost. Last month you met Hans Jacobi, a professional church organist and a composer Now, I am happy to announce the MuseScorer of June - Bob Driggs (Iowa Bob), tubist and arranger from Iowa (US): Bob makes really good-sounding arrangements of well-known jazz and rock compositions for brass quintet. Here is what he says about that: “I like a variety of music, from classical to Rock to Latin to jazz. Audiences seem to like familiar music presented in a new form. My goal is to create arrangements that are fun to play and fun to listen to.” Alexander T. (A.T., MuseScore staff member): Nice to meet you, Bob. First of all, could you tell us a few words about yourself, your musical background, etc.? Iowa Bob (I.B.): I was raised in a musical family and am a third-generation tubist. If fact, I play my grandfather’s 1918-vintage Eb tuba in a polka band. I have a graduate degree in chemistry and was a professor and administrator at the collegiate level until I retired. I play Bb Tuba in a British-style brass band as well as in other small ensembles. My wife and I live in the country with two dogs and four cats . We have two married sons and one beautiful granddaughter. A.T.: So, when and why did you start to arrange music? I.B.: I started arranging years ago when my sons were still in high school. They introduced me to a lot of their music as they practiced riffs on their electric guitars and basses. Just for fun, I arranged a few of their songs (Rush, Metallica and other metal bands) for a Tuba-Euphonium quartet that I occasionally played in. While my sons were slightly horrified that tubas would be playing their music, they gave me some good feedback and encouraged me to continue. Since then I have been arranging primarily for brass quintet. A.T.: Oh, I get that. And now, let’s talk about your arrangements: can you just pick some significant ones and tell us about them? I.B.: Okay, let’s start with “Twinkle,Twinkle Little Star”. Richard deRosa is a Grammy Award-winning composer and arranger and has produced many notable works over the years. One of my favorites of his work is a big band arrangement of a very familiar, simple tune. It was a fun learning experience to analyze his work for a score reduction. Then, the famous “Ode to Joy”. I spent hours and hours and hours analyzing Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony and extracting and reassigning parts for these variations. If you like this one, it’s because of Beethoven’s brilliance shining through a pretty severe score reduction. The next song is “Stairway to Heaven”, originally by Led Zeppelin. After listening to Musescore member Joel Gonzalez’s score, I had to give this one a try. Fortunately, Joel had done the hard work, and my job was to simply shuffle things around a bit. I like this one because (like a Tuba-Euphonium quartet of Metallica) this tune should NOT work for quintet, but somehow does. The fourth piece is Santana’s “Smooth”. Santana was on of favorite bands as I was forming my musical preferences, and this particular song makes the transition to quintet format pretty well. And finally, “Let it Be”, originally by The Beatles. I applied the New Orleans Brass Band style (e.g. Lucky Chops) to a well-known Beatles tune, and I took the many liberties with that arrangement. A repetitive bass riff is laid down and the melody is stated by a single player. Layers of harmony are added so that it feels like a collaborative effort rather than a soloist accompanied by four others. This was a fun one to do, as I had no constraints on what it should sound like in the end. “Let it Be” by Iowa Bob A.T.: Sounds great! And who performs all those musical things made by you? I.B.: I have been contacted by Musescore members who play in quintets asking for permission to perform. I always say “Of course!” I play in a N.O. – style (New Orleans style) brass band and a British-style brass band, and both have occasionally used one of my arrangements. A more likely scenario is that we get a request for a small ensemble (for a wedding, a social event, or a holiday) and we pull together a quintet for those occasions. Many of my scores have been performed in this way. I was contacted by a publisher to commercialize a few of my scores, but I’d much prefer to make them available for free to anybody who wants to have fun making music. A.T.: What is your main motivation? I mean, what “makes” you to do your brass quintet arrangements? I.B.: There are three reasons. First, I like many types of music, and it is a challenge for me to migrate some of those compositions to a quintet format. As I tell my wife, “My brain lights up when I am arranging.” Many scores are successful, but my hard drive is littered with failed attempts. Second, getting together with friends to create live music is great fun. Having interesting music to play makes the experience for the musicians and the audience more enjoyable. The popular quintets of the world understand this, and work to make their music accessible. Third, I have developed some good friends on Musescore from around the world, and we like to encourage each other. A.T.: Awesome! Let me ask you our “traditional” question: how did you discover MuseScore? I.B.: Our quintet was asked to play in a wedding, and there were specific songs that were requested. It was a pretty short timeline, so I went online to look for MIDI files or existing scores.I was pleasantly surprised when I came across the Musescore website. The software was free and the downloaded scores were free. I had been using a competing product for about ten years, but I was intrigued and a bit intimidated by the possibility of posting one of my scores. Fortunately, I could migrate files using the XML format. As I groomed those files for Musescore, I found the software to be a very good environment for the work that I had been doing. So, my primary platform is now Musescore. After the interview, as usually, I’d like to share a composition made by the MuseScorer Of The Month I particularly liked (this time it is a brass quintet arrangement by Iowa Bob) - Moanin’, originally performed by Charles Mingus big band: “Moanin'” by Iowa Bob Thanks for reading and watch for our next MuseScorer of the month in August! Yours, Alexander T. [Less]