[Menvi-discuss] synphony pro for ipad, and other notation options

Mon Feb 27 09:55:49 UTC 2017

You are right there; It is easier to read. Do you know if there are programmes that will enable me to render abc to standard music notation using a ios device or mac? Would this work for piano and choral scores, which is mostly what I would use it for. As a piano teacher I'd like to be able to write examples for my students. I'd also like to do theory using it also.

I'm just exploring options. I loved mup, but I cant get it to work any more.
Steph

On 27/02/2017 2:13 pm, Marc Sabatella <marc at outsideshore.com> wrote:
>
> From my perspective, what ABC has going for it over LilyPond or mup (which I also investigated) is tht it was designed first and foremost to be human-readable.  That is, the original point for musicians to actually play music directly from the text.  So it really does read and write pretty naturally, but also happens to work as an input language to programs like abcm2ps that can render an ABC score in standard notation.  Where LilyPond and mup were both designed specifically as input language for computer programs, and as a result are rather harder to just read like music.
>
> Marc
>
> On Sun, Feb 26, 2017 at 6:53 PM <sim.musicschool at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> Hi all,
>>
>> First of all, I am wondering if anyone has used synphony pro for ipad? It's meant to be accessible, and I'm looking for some tips on how to use it.
>>
>> Secondly, I used to use something called mup, which stod for music publisher. It used ghostscript and a media player too and with this combo you could create, play and print music compositions. You entered the music via a text-based langauage.
>>
>> I'm wondering if anyone have ever tried using these systems? I'm talking about abc and lilypond, 2 text based langauages.
>>
>> I use a mac, and also an ipad and don't have windows. I also don't have the money for goodfeel so am looking at other options.
>>
>> Steph
>>
>> On 27/02/2017 4:21 am, Marc Sabatella <marc at outsideshore.com> wrote:
>> >
>> > Realistically, the idea of playing music into a computer and having it magically transformed into readable notation is a pipe dream.  it's not going to happen any time soon, sighted or not.  You might gets some ink on the paper, but it won't resemble readable sheet music and more than you'd get a readable movie script taking your cell phone into a movie theater and asking Siri to transcribe every word she hears.  It's just *way* too complex of a problem to get anything remotely readable.
>> >
>> > So - again, sighted or not - there is no getting around the need to enter music compositions into software one note at a time, or to do extensive corrections to the music after the fact if you do eleect to use real-time input to get started.  it's not a question of the software being "forgiving" or not; it's just an essentially unsolvable problem.  Consider, the program has no idea if the black key between F & G should be spelled F# or Gb; it has no idea if that middle C you played is with the right hand or left hand, and about a thousand other things it won't know.  I don't know what program you tried that supposedly did good things but wouldn't print it out, but I can absolutely assure you that if the composition was more complex than "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star", whatever it was displaying on screen was not anything resembling a readable score, so printing it would not have helped.
>> >
>> > What does this mean for you and your son?  Perhaps, it means he needs to learn to use some accessible notation software himself and expect to enter the music the traditional way - one note at a time - and not rely on just playing it in real time.  Just as, presumably, if he needs to create a readable essay, he tyypes that in one letter at a time rather than relying on Siri to dictate the entire for him (or he expects to need to do extensive editing if he starts out with a computer-created transcription).  Or - probably more realistically - it means continuing to work with a sighted musician to help.  but either way, the process is going to be soemthing other than just playing the music in real time and expecting it to magically turn into readable notation.
>> >
>> > Marc
>> >
>> > On Sun, Feb 26, 2017 at 10:45 AM Ray and Nancy Jones <paulr_jones at bellsouth.net> wrote:
>> >>
>> >> My son Timothy recently ran into a situation that made us aware of how difficult it is to get one’s own compositions done in music notation, and I wanted to ask how members here have handled that.
>> >>
>> >> Timothy was applying for some music scholarships, and found one from NFMC that was for students who had created an original composition—with the deadline of March 1.  Because he had recently written a  composition (the first movement of a Sonata) for one of his classes, he wanted to try to apply for that.
>> >>
>> >> However, as far as he/ we know, the choices available are Finale (with extensive sighted help), Sibelius (again with extensive sighted help), and Goodfeel (Dancing Dots)—which still requires “some” sighted help (and the sighted assistant has to be “trained” on how to use the software—so that time for training has to be included).
>> >>
>> >> Timothy had tried (for this composition assignment) to use the Finale and / or Sibelius programs in his college’s piano labs, but apparently either the programs they have there are a bit old, or it’s just that the programs themselves are not too user-friendly, because (as his piano teacher told us) unless you’re practically playing with a metronome, the “slightest” deviation / pause / etc. in your playing will be registered by the program in a way that throws the entire timing of the piece into havoc, and that will have to be corrected measure-by-measure, line-by-line with a sighted person sitting there with the blind keyboardist as they go through and correct every note/rest/etc.
>> >>
>> >> Timothy has a sighted graduate student assistant who tried to help him with this, but the whole process proved so cumbersome they ultimately gave up.  He finally ended up producing his composition in notation using software provided by a different graduate student, who had access to a program on his computer the school did not have—a program that was more “forgiving” and user-friendly.  However—the drawback of “this” program is that there was no way to PRINT OUT the music once it was recorded in music notation---so for Timothy’s assignment to the shown visually to his teacher this graduate student had to just let the teacher actually see Timothy’s music notation ON the screen of this other student’s computer.
>> >>
>> >> So—bottom line---Timothy STILL did not have his composition in any written or printable format.
>> >>
>> >> Therefore when he needed the music for this scholarship competition, he tried to go back and get the file, but apparently it’s either partially erased or not in an easily accessible form---etc., etc., so  he ended up giving up on the composition scholarship altogether.  (Fortunately, he’ll still be eligible for it when it’s offered again in 2 years, if he wants to try again).
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> So—in looking ahead to the future, when this problem will surely crop up again---
>> >>
>> >> HOW do you folks handle it, when you MUST get your music in printed or manuscript music notation format?
>> >>
>> >> Do you pay a sighted person to do it for you, by hand?  (and that would become expensive, correct?  If paying them by the hour?  Because you’d have to play a little, then they jot it down, play a little more, and they jot it down—and you’re at the mercy of them really knowing how to correctly notate the music)
>> >>
>> >> Or do you pay someone to sit with you in a computer lab and use Sibelius, Finale, Goodfeel, or some other program to get it into a printable format?
>> >>
>> >> And what about ORGAN music?  Piano music can be done electronically, by connecting a keyboard with a MIDI to a computer---but what about recording organ music?
>> >>
>> >> We used to know the lady who was Langlais’ personal assistant, but I don’t know if she’s still living.  If anyone knows how to get in touch with her, it would be very instructive to ask how Langlais got his music written down for organ.
>> >>
>> >> Thanks for any help,
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> Nancy Jones, for Timothy (who is sick with a cold right now)
>> >>
>> >> ---------
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