I need a computer program for composing and writing music

[wil-weten]

Hi Susie,

Do you mean you would like to hear the sound of

[barbara-brundage]

There are midi harps. David Kortier makes one, which I believe Sylvia Woods uses to input her arrangements.

[patricia-jaeger]

Bernhard Schmidt, who sometimes contributes helpful posts here, is a harpmaker in Germany and has developed a midi harp. This is his web site, where it is described: http://www.harfenbau.de/midiharp.htm.

[bernhard-schmidt]

Patricia,

thank you for the reference.

Yes, with a midi harp it is possible to write direct into a natation software via MIDI.
This works for full chords….its like playing a keybord…but with the midi harp you stay with your instrument. There

[barbara-brundage]

Hi, Bernhard. Sorry, didn’t mean to slight you: I just wasn’t aware of your midi harp.

Personally, I think midi is a fiddly way to input music, whether you use a keyboard or a harp. I have friends who engrave for Warner and they all use Finale’s speedy entry system, where you type the music in on a computer keybarod. A bit difficult to learn, but very fast once you get used to it.

[barbara-low]

Just saw this today. AudioScore Professional claims to be able to receive input via microphone. There’s a free demo; only available for Windows.
Not affiliated, yada, yada.

[sherry-lenox]

Maybe it depends on how you compose. Just let me tether my horse and buggy, and I’ll tell you how I do it.

First, I get a melody in my brain. Sometimes, the melody belongs with words, so I think of it as the words part and the melody part. Then I think of it morning, noon and night

[Saul Davis Zlatkovski]

On that note….

All you need is a number one or two pencil, a white eraser, and manuscript paper.

The rest is coordination between your ear, mind and hand. The more you work with these tools, the sharper they will be. Many errors and wonderful things will happen in the process of writing out a piece, and you do get faster at it. You can put a slash or x instead of writing a note-head when you are sketching something out. You can develop your own kind of shorthand. It is important that your tools be part of your process, not dominate it, like the computer. The computer is misleading, and a playback function is perhaps the worst part of it. The only other tool I need is a piano, because I get tired of having to put the harp down to write a note. If you can write left-handedly, you can avoid that. The tools are so important to the process. It’s like synthetically processing food before you cook it to use a computer.

[Saul Davis Zlatkovski]

Nevertheless, I will try the free download, as writing out exercises is a bit too tedious for me.

[sherry-lenox]

Saul I’ve been doin’ this for fourty odd years, and the problem isn’t coming up with the ideas. The problem is the very mundane task of getting them from brain to print. I know what I want the music to say, I haven’t the facility to get a machine to do it so that I can have someone else see or hear it.

I was thinking about this in the afterglow of my mini-tantrum, and I think I may experiencing something akin to people who believe they can’t- ever- learn to read bass clef. Well, I think to myself, everyone can do that. So maybe MY issue is not having exhausted the search for teaching-tiny-fingers-to-input level programs that will not overwhelm my very non-cyber brain.

I know that some of you can use Sibelius as though you were born to it, and in spite of that, I still like you. But can anyone suggest some REALLY REALLY baby basic program that I can use without ruining my otherwise sunny dispostion?

[sherry-lenox]

Sorry, I neglected your materials question, I did take copy making in college and we were to use dip pens and India ink. Torture.

If chained to the wall, I can make a readable copy in pencil, but loathe having to do so. No more Scheaffer cartridges? This gets worse and worse……..

How would one go about synthetically processing food?

[Saul Davis Zlatkovski]

I tried the free download, and after three days and reading the tutorial, I could not make it write a simple scale. Back to the pens. I love my c-thru rulers.

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