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www.codamusic.com has Finale Notepad. It's very easy to work with and there's a free version. You do have to register before downloading. Also when you use it you have to put up with "UPGRADE NOW" messages but otherwise it's very nice.
Some others are Cakewalk. I don't particularly like it's staff editing features. I still haven't found out how to make it do repeats, slurs or ties.
There are others. Try searching for music notation software on the web.
Codamusic also offers Finale, which seems to be a standard. It is not cheap and might be a bit of an overkill for your daughter's needs, but who knows what a musical genius may need next week?
I use both of the programs mentioned above and I think they are great, the best you can get without paying too much. But if I had any musical genius I would probably go ahead and buy something like Sibelius.
Unreasonable person,
ants
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Sibelius and Fianle are both exceptional programs...
I don't have either, but a couple I know who are professional musicians, composers, and teachers use Finale, and I have used Notepad. I have also used Sibelius, and I really like it.
Pros of Sibelius and Finale:
You can play music into it (single tones in a microphone or keyboard hooked direct to computer)
Time Sig's and Key Sig's can change in middle of song
Both can do 10s of parts at once (I think around 100)
Cons:
Notepad doesn't allow different time or key in one song
Both can be hard to enter notes, until you get the hang of it. Point and click isn't all that easy. Especially of you aren't too steady. (ie unlike playing, drinking does not improve the composition)
But I believe both full versions allow for keyboard entry...
I still think that if neatness isn't important writing by hand is easiest, but you can't beat the programs for neatness and FAST EASY transposition. (and if you play french horn this is nice... It is good too, if you have music in Bb and want it in D... like for a whistle)
If your daughter is just doing simple music (like no more than 8 parts, no key and time changes, and no perc... long story) than Notepad is the best, with a price that can't be beat ($0)
Nico Moreno
PS I just finished my last year of high school last year, in which I used Notepad for a transcription of a SATB choir piece called In Remembrance.
I had something like 12 parts. I used Notepad for a lot of it, but I had to write out everything to hand it in...
Just to add that Sibelius may offer an substantial educational discount. It's worth giving them a ring to see what they can do for you.
I teach at a Sixth Form College in the UK and we have a 30 site licence, soon to be extended to 42. It is a pretty simple program to use. You can also import MIDI files with a fair degree of success.
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geek4music wrote:
So you can't print it without Print Sheet?
What I do with Anvil is to press the “Print Scrn” button, then paste that in Paint, cut out what I want, and put that together as a BMP file. It’s a little time consuming, but if you don’t want to have to pay anything, it works
How compatible are any of the above mentioned programs with ABC format? I find that most programs that offer ABC support have really awful (or just absent) user interfaces: abc2win, abc2ps, yaps. They're great and all, but my ABC skills aren't quite perfected yet and I need to see the output every couple of bars to make sure I'm doing it right. I'd be interested in a program that could support ABC <i>and</I> be easy to use.
