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Music notation software is perhaps the most ubiquitous creative tool among music educators. Competition in research and development has opened up a new world of teaching and productivity that has, in turn, influenced all notation manufacturers. Two companies have been at the very center of this growth: Sibelius and MakeMusic, the creators of Finale. Perhaps, the best thing that happened to Finale (1988) was Sibelius' (1992) entrance into the American market in 1998. These notation titans have tried to out-duel each other ever since with major updates, trendsetting, innovative features and user-friendliness; improving each other and all their competitors in the process.
Sibelius and MakeMusic have also established a full-spectrum family of music notation products to attract entry, intermediate, and advanced users with affordable pricings. Entry-level students can begin learning with the same software interface of latest professional level music notation product, minus the complexity. These entry-level products can be gradually upgraded to approximate more advanced editions.
And that's not all. Sibelius and MakeMusic have created landmark video tutorials and automatic arranging features to teach creative composition from scratch. Both Sibelius and Finale have championed music scanning, which is the fastest way to input music scores. Finale partnered with SmartScore, and Sibelius with PhotoScore. There is no doubt about it: these are the Two Titans of the music notation market. Their variety of products and wealth of features have made a world of difference for music educators. And each new update raises the bar for the entire music notation market.
Sibelius or Finale
Sibelius and Finale have both expanded and developed into stellar products worthy of examination. They are competitive, and each has unique assets to fit users' personal preferences. With either of these titans, users can accomplish just about anything in music notation. And each updated version is even more impressive.
Sibelius has a unique arranging feature with which a complete thematic composition can be written from scratch in just six steps. Web publishing with companion product, Scorch, is the best in the business. Its more than 1,700 worksheet templates for teachers are a joy to work with and great for creating student handouts. Sibelius' Ideas Hub has over 2,000 ready-made ideas for music writing ideas. This library of thematic/rhythmic concepts covers all styles of music and can be used as a source of inspiration. The list of these types of features goes on and on.
 Finale, likewise, has unique products that are inspiring to work with. Exercise Wizard that can generate customized warm-up exercises for an entire ensemble. Finale includes dozens of plug-ins, including Band-in-a-Box Auto-Harmonizing that automatically generates up to six-part harmony from a melody. Drum Groove and Latin Percussion features add percussion to a piece. Their QuickStart video tutorials are an industry standard for learning a music notation program. Finale, alone, has the ability to record or import audio tracks allowing users to add a recorded solo to a score, compare a transcription to an audio recording, and more. Their Human Playback option offers incredible authentic playback. There's nothing easier than Finale NotePad, an inexpensive, downloadable Finale notation program. There is no better way to begin composing and arranging with your students.
The Sibelius Family Groovy Series
The Groovy Series is designed as a true primer-level series of products for sequentially teaching composition skills. It consists of three software programs: Groovy Shapes, for ages five to seven; Groovy Jungle, for ages eight and nine; and Groovy City, for ages 10 to 12. These are part of a spiral curriculum that teaches the basics of sound, rhythm, pitch, and composition using pictures and animation, progressing from simple notation to more complex functions. Each program guides the student with a voiceover to create his or her own music and complete directed activities.
In Groovy Shapes, children learn about basic music concepts. The "Explore" section guides them aurally through a series of progressive exercises that teach how music works. Students can then put into practice what they've learned by creating their own music in the "Create" section. Shapes are used to represent elements of music such as rhythms, melodies, and chords. As a chosen character walks across the screen, the shapes play their sounds. A library of preset sounds is included, which children can drag onto the screen to build up their musical creations. They can then play back their piece, edit it, and see the elements displayed as music notation.
Groovy Jungle introduces children to notes and notation, ostinato, major and minor scales, and simple musical terms. More complex musical textures are explored, and additional instruments allow them to experiment further with their own compositions. Music can be added to a composition by recording from a keyboard or other MIDI instrument, and compositions can also be viewed in a full-score display.
In Groove City, students learn more about notation, and complete more complex listening tasks. They are also introduced to question and answer phrases and the blues scale, so that they can begin to create more sophisticated compositions. The library of sounds includes patterns, as well as individual sounds.
Sibelius Compass is a unique program to help students systematically learn how to compose. It includes lessons, worksheets, and self-tests covering a wide range of topics, leading to complete composition projects. For each lesson in their theory and practice section, students study relevant interactive topics, test themselves with the built-in quiz, and try out what they've learned in the Tracker. Topics include melody, harmony, scales, rhythm, dynamics, transformations, timbre, texture, and form.
Sibelius Student is the entry-level notation software based on and fully compatible with the Sibelius 5 software. It is designed for students in grades three through 12, and it is priced to suit the student budget.
 This complete notation software is intended to give students a positive experience with composing and arranging. The playback feature allows students to listen to and refine their compositions on the spot. Music can be published online at SibeliusMusic.com and scores can be shared and e-mailed between friends, classmates, and teachers. Even if your school doesn't have Sibelius, Sibelius Student will save MIDI files compatible with most other music software. When students outgrow Sibelius Student, they can upgrade to Sibelius 5 at a discounted price. For details on differences between Sibelius Student and Sibelius, go to: www.sibelius.com/products/sibelius_student/features.html.
Sibelius 5 is a music engraving program that can produce beautiful scores, inspire spellbinding performances, and print pieces that look as professional as published sheet music. It has a simple interface and great tools. Compositions can receive authentic sounding playback through the built-in Sibelius Sounds Essentials library, a 2GB collection of sounds selected from top-name libraries such as Garritan Personal Orchestra, Garritan Jazz & Big Band, Garritan Concert & Marching Band, and Tapspace Virtual Drumline. Its parts are dynamically linked to the score so users can flick between them using a drop-down menu. When changes are made to a full score, the relevant parts are automatically updated, and vice versa. Sibelius 5's Ideas Hub is an easy way to capture, tag, find, and bring together musical ideas. Ideas Hub comes preloaded with over 2,000 ready-made ideas that cover all styles of music and help provide useful inspiration for your compositions.
The Panorama view shows the music in a single, infinitely-wide strip, which is easy to read and navigate. It enables users to think just about the notes, and forget about page layout until they're ready to print.
The Finale Family
Finale NotePad is one of the wonders of music technology. It provides universal access to music notation and is compatible with the entire Finale family of products. Its streamlined interface offers a Setup Wizard to assist the selection of instruments or voices needed, and then sets up the score instantly. Lyrics can be automatically placed under notes, and Human Playback plays the music as to the user's preferences. Educators have made great progress with NotePad's many invaluable features because their students can jump in and create music anytime at home and in the classroom. Recent additions to the features list include MIDI file import/export, step-time entry, and MIDI playback. MakeMusic's challenge has been to add the most requested features, while keeping Notepad affordable to students. This fall, they plan to add more requested functionality, while keeping the price under $10. Check out the details at www.finalemsuic.com/notepad.
Finale SongWriter is the entry-level version of the Finale music software. It can be used to create melodies and songs, then experiment and explore the possibilities using SongWriter's powerful features. Create all types of lead sheets, including religious music, guitar, piano lead sheets and more. In addition to everything offered in Finale Notepad, SongWriter lets users enter music in real time by playing a MIDI keyboard, and add guitar fretboards and slash notation. Band-in-a-Box Auto-Harmonization can add up to three voices of harmonization to a melody, and Drum Groove can automatically add a drum part to your score. SongWriter can also save audio files for burning to CD.
PrintMusic adds music scanning, import and export of TIFF graphics, and the ability to extract instrument parts from a score, useful for songwriters, students, teachers, church musicians, and band leaders. Included is MicNotator, which lets brass and woodwind players enter notes using a computer microphone. In fact, PrintMusic offers far more features found in the full version of Finale features than its significantly lower price might suggest.
Finale Allegro is a Finale music score software program alterative with a variety of features that make it easy, fast, and powerful. Whether you're an experienced composer, a beginner, or educator, the multitude of features allow the software to adapt to your specific needs. In addition to a powerful mixer to control volume, panning, patch and reverb, Allegro adds more Finale-level customization to the many features in PrintMusic. For example, guitar tablature beyond standard tunings of guitar and bass, Human Playback effects can be customized, and Allegro can also "optimize" a score, automatically hiding non-active staves on a system-by-system basis.
At every turn, Finale is a leader in getting started, entering notes, adding markings, lyrics, and playback. It offers exclusive educator tools, including expanded SmartMusic support. One aspect of this expansion is the support of Finale's linked parts, which lets educators create SmartMusic files for their entire ensemble from one Finale score. Sonic options have been greatly expanded as well. Finale includes a huge library of world-class sounds, including hundreds of instruments from Garritan and Tapspace, and Finale also supports all VST/AU instruments. Recent additions include the Aria Player (the next generation of VST players), multi-page editing, and workflow enhancements. Its contextual menu system pops up with a simple right click of the mouse, making Finale 2009 the most powerful and easiest version ever to use. Every menu system in Finale can be quickly generated with a simple right mouse click. Its simple note entry system is extremely powerful and easy to use.
Product-By-Product Features
To better understand and appreciate the full spectrum of quality of the two titans and their family of music notation products, download their product demos from their Web sites and give them a try. There's no substitute for hands-on experience. For a bird's eye view, the following tables give you product-by-product comparisons for each product in the entire Sibelius/Finale music notation family. The professional products offer the very highest, state-of-the-art features while staying user-friendly making, and the entry- and intermediate-level music notation products are very powerful, affordable, and attractive for most users. Writing your own music has never been more accessible.
Future Trends
Can you imagine what the next decade of music notation will look like. if the last decade is any indicator? There are already several music notation products with multiple editing views. Mastering Music has a professional level MIDI and digital/audio sequencer built-in. Plus over 400 lesson-plan tutorials that get students creating right "out-of-the box." Tom Carruth of GIA Publications has just released a book that focuses on creative projects with Finale that include PDF files with step-by-step instructions on how to use Finale. Virtual instruments will be the next wave of authentic playback. In Finale 2009, Gary Garritan's new media player allows the user simple customization of the vast library of virtual instruments built into the program that affords customization of playback sounds.
Educator and composers of every level and kind owe a debt of gratitude to the battle of the titans. Our world of music looks and sounds better for it.
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What topics or questions would you like to read about in upcoming issues? What do you view as relevant in improving your understanding of music technology and applied "chops"? Do you have a success story or "how to" tip that you or your colleagues would like to share?
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