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MuseScore free music editing software
Dec. 9th, 2018 09:44 amIf you want to transcribe sheet music, auto-transpose a score, or just be able to hear a musical line that you want to learn, I highly recommend MuseScore, which is open source software, free to download and use. https://musescore.org/en
It takes a while to get comfortable entering notation. You have to get into note-entry mode, set the note length, and then either click where you want the note on the staff, or type the letter for the note. Sometimes it goes into the wrong octave, at which point you can drag it to the correct spot, use the up/down arrow keys to move it by half-steps or use CMD-up-arrow or CMD-down-arrow (ALT on a Windows keyboard) to move it by a an octave all at once.
Like Photoshop, MuseScore has a ton of functionality that is not easily discoverable. There is extensive online documentation, so I usually do an online search for what I need to know. I also bought the book, and have discovered useful tips there.
It's also a good idea to browse through the menus occasionally. Turns you can "view Piano" and it puts a piano keyboard at the bottom of the screen. Not only is that helpful in finding notes by ear, but it highlights notes on the keyboard as it plays the score, and you can use the keyboard to enter notes. View Inspector is also useful for fine-tuning exactly where a score element is placed.
Formatting an overall score is a hassle and a half. There are a bunch of settings with unclear effects, and you just have to play with them until, for example, the score fits on one page the way you want it to.
You can set instruments for each staff, and play your score. Even though I'm creating vocal scores, I usually choose violin or viola because it sounds better. Unfortunately in the desktop app you can't play just one part, although you can use right-arrow to play the notes one at a time.
There is an app for iOS and Android where you can play just a single part at a time, but it seems to be going through an unpleasant transition right now. It is not free. I bought it a few years back for iOS for a few dollars, but didn't use it because there's no easy way to bulk-add scores.
Recently I decided it might be helpful at our singing group meetings to be able to transpose scores on the fly. I went through uploading all my scores to Dropbox and then adding them to the app one at a time. I discovered that they've gone to a substantial monthly fee for using the app, but I'm "grandfathered" in because I already owned it. Also they seem to have broken important functionality in the latest update, judging by the irate posts in the forum.
There is an online community where you can share and download scores. https://musescore.com/community I haven't joined or posted there because the copyright is unclear on a lot of what my group has transcribed.
If you decide to try MuseScore out, I recommend the online tutorials. https://musescore.org/en/tutorials Let me know if you have questions!
It takes a while to get comfortable entering notation. You have to get into note-entry mode, set the note length, and then either click where you want the note on the staff, or type the letter for the note. Sometimes it goes into the wrong octave, at which point you can drag it to the correct spot, use the up/down arrow keys to move it by half-steps or use CMD-up-arrow or CMD-down-arrow (ALT on a Windows keyboard) to move it by a an octave all at once.
Like Photoshop, MuseScore has a ton of functionality that is not easily discoverable. There is extensive online documentation, so I usually do an online search for what I need to know. I also bought the book, and have discovered useful tips there.
It's also a good idea to browse through the menus occasionally. Turns you can "view Piano" and it puts a piano keyboard at the bottom of the screen. Not only is that helpful in finding notes by ear, but it highlights notes on the keyboard as it plays the score, and you can use the keyboard to enter notes. View Inspector is also useful for fine-tuning exactly where a score element is placed.
Formatting an overall score is a hassle and a half. There are a bunch of settings with unclear effects, and you just have to play with them until, for example, the score fits on one page the way you want it to.
You can set instruments for each staff, and play your score. Even though I'm creating vocal scores, I usually choose violin or viola because it sounds better. Unfortunately in the desktop app you can't play just one part, although you can use right-arrow to play the notes one at a time.
There is an app for iOS and Android where you can play just a single part at a time, but it seems to be going through an unpleasant transition right now. It is not free. I bought it a few years back for iOS for a few dollars, but didn't use it because there's no easy way to bulk-add scores.
Recently I decided it might be helpful at our singing group meetings to be able to transpose scores on the fly. I went through uploading all my scores to Dropbox and then adding them to the app one at a time. I discovered that they've gone to a substantial monthly fee for using the app, but I'm "grandfathered" in because I already owned it. Also they seem to have broken important functionality in the latest update, judging by the irate posts in the forum.
There is an online community where you can share and download scores. https://musescore.com/community I haven't joined or posted there because the copyright is unclear on a lot of what my group has transcribed.
If you decide to try MuseScore out, I recommend the online tutorials. https://musescore.org/en/tutorials Let me know if you have questions!
