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I've written songs, but they've been in the world of popular music. I want to start getting into academic music composition, or classical music as many call it. How can I learn to read music as a composition student? As far as I understand, an instrumentalist's music reading is different because they learn to read sheet music while playing their instrument (sight reading), so they have a sound reference. But how do you learn or study sheet music reading to become a composer? I play electric guitar and a bit of piano, but I'm not an instrumentalist. I don't know how to approach learning music reading. Do composers hear the score in their heads? How can they learn to read sheet music without playing an instrument? I'm confused about the difference between sight reading as a performer and reading music as a composer. Thanks for the help.

Hello everyone. I tried Scanscore that is a paid software for windows 10 and it allows you to scan any sheet music and make changes on it. It is only available for Windows for now. It has a very simple interface that you can easily use. First of all, there are three options for scanning. The first option is the scanner option. This option is the most accurate one for the detailed view of the score, however, it is the most impractical one since we are all using our smartphones instead of a scanner. The second option is importing image or PDF files. For the musicians who mostly use IMSLP to obtain sheet music, this option is very helpful. Third and the last option is to import photos from the app. This option was dissatisfying for me since the considerable amount of notes were absent despite the high-resolution photos that I had taken. After the scanning was complete, the first thing I saw was the original score on the left side. On the right side, there was a page with detected notes. Pages can be turned around with the "Change Layout" option. The next thing I had recognized was the Scanscore toolbar that allows you to make the most important changes like editing and playing the scores. I think this software can be used by a lot of musicians from different states like music students, teachers, conducters or orchestra members. I teach piano and my students are mostly children and beginner level adults. These groups of students are enthusiastic about playing some known pieces but most of those pieces are harder than their level. Plenty of times I thought about arranging the pieces to an easier version and dictate all of them to Finale. Instead of simplifying the music by rewriting and arranging from scratch, Scanscore is a great help for all of those procedures. Composing process mostly start with handwriting but it is required to be in a digital platform. After the handwriting, composer usually dictates the whole thing to Finale or Sibelius, one by one. I know this is a really inconvenient job to do and in my opinion, this process might be less painful by using Scanscore. Files can be exported as XML files and that files can be launched in Finale. Scanscore may be used effectively by both amateur and professional orchestras, chamber music groups, a great variety of gigs and in the educational field. I believe this software will continue to be developed by updates and get better and I hope they start these improvements from scanning quality. Even in this state, it is a life saver. You can visit this link to purchase: https://scan-score.com/en/ There's a free version you can try but there's no saving option :/

Would anyone like to try their hand at transcribing a gospel hymn? I have a few original hymns that I'd like notated into sheet music in a bach chorales style

Hello everyone. I am a young composer, This is my first original composition, which wrote for symphony orchestra. Petro Melnyk - "Overture of life" Music shows how diverse life can be. Lyrical, melodic, harmonious, but also disturbing, tense. In the first part, the music constantly keeps us in suspense. Marked trombones keep the rhythm, and the different timbres of the instruments do not allow to calm down until the culmination of tension reaches its highest point and the lyrical part begins with a solo oboe which shows not everything as scary as it seems, later other timbres are connected until the string enters. a band that gives melodies fullness of sound. Permanent glissando horns also add fullness to the sound. Only at the end of the first and second parts are combined in major key. And the code, thanks to the unusual rhythm, shows that everything is much more complicated than it seems, but the work ends in major and it gives us hope for a better future. You can find other my arrangement on my chanel on YouTube. In description also you can find link to buy sheet music, or if you want to buy sheets by another method, please write to me. I will be glad if you support me with like and subscription.

Hi all! This here is my first attempt to write a waltz for piano and my first attempt to transcribe it into sheet music. This piece was composed in the piano roll of a DAW. Please excuse any mistakes or unprofessional parts in the score, since I am neither a piano player nor am trained in music Theory. It is my first waltz, so I tried to keep this piece simple and understandable. The structure of the piece is as follows: Short Intro - A - B - C - A' - D - B' - C - A'' A: A rather quiet presentation of the main theme B: A lively intermediate theme 😄 A dramatic theme in a minor (?) that develops into A' A': A louder, festive presentation of the main theme 😧 A development into B' B': A simple variation of B with a few more trills A'': The first 2/3 are from A', the last 1/3 is from A. Thank you for listening & I hope you enjoy! K.R. Alex 🙂

Hey everyone, I am an amateur piano composer. A few years ago I composed a series of solo piano pieces, one in each key. I wrote out all the sheet music, pretty meticulously, and made less meticulous recordings. I previously emailed a bunch of solo music publishers with a sample of my music, and one of them agreed to publish it, but they eventually stopped responding to me (I got the impression that they were pretty busy). Anyways, I have some free time right now, so I'm looking into trying to publish my music again. My current plan is to put the recordings on youtube and soundcloud, then link a place to purchase my sheet music. I just discovered a few sites that will publish your sheet music and give you some of the sales. I'm just wondering 1) if anyone has used any of these sites, and if so, which one(s) they reccomend, 2) if I've missed any good websites in this category, 3) if anyone has any advice regarding my general plan? Here are the best websites I've found so far: https://smppress.sheetmusicplus.com/ https://www.musicaneo.com/services/publish_sheet_music.html http://www.arcomis.com/publishing/ https://www.scoreexchange.com/ For context, I have a day job, and am not at all worried about supporting myself from music sales. However, I thought it would be cool to get my music out there, and see if I could make any money in the process. I know a little about website development, but am shying away from this option due to the time commitment. Thanks in advance!

Theme is default.

I'm sure that most of you know that writing out music is very time consuming, whether you're spending 20 minutes on drawing your staff neatly for your notes to sit on, or constantly erasing notes on Finale because your mouse slipped by a centimeter and placed a Snare Drum buzz roll instead of a rim shot. Over the years of composing marching percussion music, I've developed another method of composing music that may prove useful to composers with limited time. Because this is so different in comparison to the notation that has always been used throughout the history of music, this probably won't gain any popularity at all among percussion composers. But I guess this is worth a shot, since it works for me, and might work for you. So let me begin presenting to you what I call the "Alphabet Notation" for rhythm or percussion. This is what one measure of rest looks like: / [ . . . . ] [ . . . . ] [ . . . . ] [ . . . . ] / / = measure bar [] = one count . = 16th subdivision of a measure A note's value is determined by the number of "." subdivisions that follow it (A 1/16th note having no following subdivisions, an 1/8th note having one following subdivision, and a 1/4 note having 3). Keep in mind that one count can fit four 16th notes in it. The classic "Eights" warm-up would look like this: TD (4/4) / [ 1 . 1 . ] [ 1 . 1 . ] [ 1 . 1 . ] [ 1 . 1 . ] / [ 2 . 2 . ] [ 2 . 2 . ] [ 2 . 2 . ] [ 2 . 2 . ] / And so on... BD (4/4) / [ 1 . 1 . ] [ 1 . 1 . ] [ 1 . 1 . ] [ 1 . 1 . ] / [ 2 . 2 . ] [ 2 . 2 . ] [ 2 . 2 . ] [ 2 . 2 . ] / And so on... SD (4/4) / [ R . R . ] [ R . R . ] [ R . R . ] [ R . R . ] / [ L . L . ] [ L . L . ] [ L . L . ] [ L . L . ] / And so on... For tenor and bassline, notes are represented by numbers corresponding to drum size. s = Spock Drum 1 S = Spock Drum 2 5 = Bass 5 X = rimshot x = stick click r = on the rim For snareline: R/L = right or left hand for each note Rr/Ll = flam notes Rz/Lz = buzzed notes X = rimshot x = stick click r = on the rim Tremolo is tricky, but hear me out. As most of you know, a tremolo line divides the notes value by two and fills the original value with notes of the new value. (A 1/4 note with a tremolo sounds like two eight notes; an 1/8th note with a tremolo sounds like two 16th notes.) In alphabet notation, consider this and maintain the count's value of four 16th subdivisions. When adding tremolo lines in this notation, you need to cancel out the subdivisions that the sound of the tremolo note goes over in that count. For example: (4/4) / [ R . L . ] [ R . L . ] [ R, L, ] [ R, L, ] // The first two counts are normal. But on counts three and four, you can see that I didn't include the second and fourth subdivisions on that count. That's because with the "," tremolo line, the eight note's value doubles into the next subdivision. Applying this concept may become increasingly difficult with drags on 16th notes, thus creating 32nd notes. To put it somewhat simple, you eliminate the "." subdivision that is played over with the preceding tremolo note. Two tremolo lines indicate a double stroke roll, which is basically 32nd notes filling the value of the original note. When placing two tremolo lines on a "[ R . . . ]" quarter note, you would write [ R,, ] since the entire count is played through, leaving no room for "." subdivisions. When placing two tremolo lines on "[ R . R .]" one of two 1/8th notes, you would write [R,, R . ] since the roll fills the 1/8th note value, leaving no room for the subdivision after the "R." Moving on, triplet figures indicated by underlining. For example, (4/4) / [ R L R L R L ] [ R . R L L ] [[ R Rl Rl ]] / [ R L R ] [ L R L ] [ R . . . ] [ R L L ] / [ R . . . ] [ . . . . ] [ . . . . ] [ . . . . ] // **Envision the bracket topped with a "3" that indicates a triplet figure in traditional notation.** The first count in the first measure presents a sextuplet figure, while the second count presents an regular 1/8th note followed by a triplet figure of 1/8th notes. For figures that last more than one count, you can combine the count brackets like I did in the first measure. It presents a triplet figure of quarter notes in the third and fourth counts. And in the second measure, the first, second and fourth counts present 1/8th note triplet figures, with a regular quarter note on the third count. Time signature in boldface preceding the first measure. Dynamics can be placed before the count in which it should be expressed in italics or cursive. Crescendos/Decrescendos between counts. For example: TD (4/4) / f [ 1 . 2 2 ] [ 3 . 4 . ] [ 3, 2, ] [ 1, S . ] / [ 1 1 1, ] > [ 2 2 2, ] > [ 3 3 3, ] > [ 4 4 4, ] > / p [ 4 . 4 4 ] [ . 4 4 . ] [ 4 . . . ] [ . . . . ] // >/< = crescendo or decrescendo And Accents indicated by bold faced notes. I'm sure most of you understand that one count consists of 4 16th subdivisions. That's basically what this notation is based on. There are no rests, you're pretty much looking at the subdivisions for each count and plugging in the notes from there. I believe this can make music translatable through keyboard without needing a special program. And when writing music by hand, this can safe the time-consuming preparations, like drawing the 5-line staff. And this is new, so of course, there's tons of room for evolution if Alphabet Notation turns out useful to anyone else.

Hi. I've come across a deal like this: coupon for a 15% discount on any sheet music at MusicaNeo All you need to do is enter the code SAVEME15 at the checkout. Honestly, I have never used coupons before (to my shame) and I'm wondering if there are a lot of musicians who do it regularly? Taking into account that performers always need the sheets, is it a good way to save some pennies?

Hi Guys. We have started a publishing company in germany, and are currently looking for composers in concert band music, symphonic wind music, to sign up with our publishing company. In europe is a huge market for wind orchestra music and ensemble work for winds, as we have thousands of amateur and professional orchestras always on the look for new music. Please send us a work, in midi or sibelius format, and we will have a listen. If your work is accepted, a publishing deal will be discussed and all works will be recorded by our inhouse orchestra. please email me at idicusmusic@gmail.com if you have interest in our offer, and for more details please feel free to ask We are looking for new composers to add to our German catalog Wish you well and all success in making music!

Hey, So I am using Finale 2012 to write sheet music, and I recently came across a small presentational dilemma concerning accidentals. This is the choice I have to make: do I use a double flat, or do I use multiple flats and naturals? I know that when I read music, I hate trying to negotiate with double flats, but I think that the music would look very cluttered otherwise. I hope that makes sense.

Hopefully this is the correct place for this. I am trying to use public-domain sheet music to create riffs and new music using LMMS, but I am not having much luck. I have saved some webpages with information on how to read sheet music; and I started trying to recreate a few bars of Beethoven's Moonlight to increase my non-existent skills. The entire endeavor was mostly fruitless, so I came here for some direction. I am assuming that LMMS' piano roll is grouped in eight sets of eight keys; each group and individual key ranging from A-G; starting at the top. The tutorials I have do not mention anything about the notes that are far below the lines, and I know nothing about the black keys in the piano roll. I know as much as a tone-deaf rock, but I can learn pretty quickly when motivated, I just need a good starting point.

Our school follows the AQA board and out unit two compulsory topic is popular song. I'm completely lost. I have finished the first draft but needs to be a million times better. Has anyone composed a pop piece with sheet music so I can look at the style and the common layout and characteristics of each instrument? Also has anyone done GCSE or A level music and got an A/A* with a pop composition if so could I see sheet music and hopefully take some ideas to improve my own. Any help ASAP greatly appreciated :)