Tool: Images, Video and Audio Tools

Audio
Sibelius 6

Overview

Sibelius 6 is a high quality music notation software which offers the user the ability to create, edit, playback and produce both music scores and high quality audio for any occasion. Within the educational realm, Sibelius 6 provides even the most novice music student the ability to create simple melodies and harmonies which can be played back to them instantaneously by the computer. Teachers also are able to create worksheets and audio files which can target topic areas of a music students learning. The next dimension to Sibelius 6 also includes the ability to add your created files to the internet where others can view and critique your masterpiece from all around the world.

Functionality

Creation

Once you have installed Sibelius 6 to your computer, open the program and we start creating our own basic tune for playback.

Setting Up the Score –

Firstly, to setup our score, in the “Quick Start” script, click “Start a new score” and then “OK” down the bottom of the screen.

The new score guide appears and helps guide you through setting up your manuscript. Make sure, you have clicked “Blank” as the manuscript, and then click on “Change Instruments” to add the instrument you want to play your melody.

The Instruments script will open, where you will find numerous instruments you can add to your score, organized by instrument family. Once found the Piano, click “Add to Score” and the right hand column “Staves in score:” will show the instruments added to the Score. Click “OK”.

Once back on the Manuscript Paper, click “Next” and this will take you to what style font you want to write your score in. Just click “Next” as this can be altered later on.

Now, on the next screen we are asked to add a time signature and tempo to our piece. We want the piece in 4/4 so click the button which corresponds and leave the tempo marking alone as we can change this later on. Click “Next”.

We then choose a Key Signature for the piece. We want it in C Major so click the corresponding button and then click “Next”.

Once this is done, we can add a title to the piece and who has written the piece. In the Title box, type the title, and in the Composer/Song Writer box type the composer or song writer. Then click “Finish”.

The score is now setup for composing and should appear as follows:

Writing a Melody –

Now it is time to let the creative juices flow. Using the movable keypad pagelet, you can click on various notes to create different length notes. In my song I want to create four crochet notes on the pitch of C in my first bar.

I click the crochet on the keypad and then click where I want my notes to go on the staff. The program changes the music rest values once I add the music notes to the score.

Now once I have added the notes to the page, the score should look as follows:

Playback –

Further on down the creative journey, I decide I want to listen to how my masterpiece sounds. To do so I look for the Playback pagelet on the screen, it looks like this:

The Playback acts just like a CD player, where you can play, rewind and fast forward your piece to where you want. There is a moveable green line on the stave which shows the user where the playback is at. Thus, allowing you to move the slider on the playback to where you want to hear a section of a song.

Extension

There are many other aspects of Sibelius 6 that can be utilized to create and enhance your score. These include, adding dynamics, directive symbols and tempos, more text and other instruments.

Example

Below is an example of Sibelius 6, when utilizing more of its tools on offer:

This is a score created by Julie Giroux which is for full Concert Band, it contains all Woodwind, Brass and Percussion parts. It includes articulations, dynamics and tempos and can be played back using Sibelius to hear how it would sound in a real life situation.

Interaction

With Sibelius 6, besides being able to work autonomously by listening and reacting to the sound played back and producing printed scores, the student is also able to have their work appraised and heard over the web, using the application Scorch and the Sibeliusmusic.com website.

Creating an audio track –

To create an audio track that can be added to a CD or other medium. Click “File” which is located on the crumb trail at the top of the program and go to “Export” and “Midi File”.

A command window will open asking for you to change Midi settings, leave all the settings as is and click “OK”.

An export MIDI command will appear where you choose where you want your MIDI audio sound file saved. Choose a Title for the file and the files destination and click “Save”.

You are then able to burn your piece to CD or upload it to the internet using that .midi file.

Creating a Scorch File –

Once finished composing your piece and you don’t want to just print it out or condense it to just a sound file, you could turn it into a scorch file which creates your piece into an interactive website where once uploaded to the internet, people could listen to your piece, playing, pausing, rewinding or stopping your piece at different sections, whilst watching the score.

To create a Scorch File go File – Export – Scorch Web page…

The Save command window will appear, asking you where you want to save your Scorch file and what you want to call it. Once done click “OK”.

This will then bring up a “Export Scorch Web Page” option where you can choose details such as background colour for the website and whether you want people to be able to Save your piece to their computer once online. Once done, Click “OK”

Once completed, the file should appear as a .html file in your saved location. The Scorch file will be imbedded in the webpage as a Scorch plug-in, and have a similar Playback bar to what you see in Sibelius 6. The video below is an example of how a Sibeliusscorch file looks and plays:

Analysis

Negative – Black	Judgement: What is wrong with this? Why will this not work? Is this safe? Can this be done?	·         Expensive for Schools to Buy ·         Quite a bit of prior knowledge is needed for the tool to be effective ·         If put on the Internet it is Publically Accessible ·         Needs fast computers to run the program ·         Requires Speakers or Headphones
Process – Blue	The Process: Where are we now? What is the next step? Where have we been? What sort of thinking is needed?	·         Sibelius 1-5 has began working on making the program more user-friendly where prior knowledge isn’t the basis of creation ·         Sibelius 1-5 was cumbersome at times in certain areas however, Sibelius 6 has become a lot easier to navigate and control. ·         Sibelius 6 Creates scores and worksheets for numerous groups of Instruments with user input ·         For Sibelius 6 to work effectively (besides having prior Music Theory knowledge), creativity and extra thought process is needed when arranging or composing ·         Sibelius 6 offers a Midi convert that turns Midi Files to music ·         Sibelius 6 has a Scan option for already printed music, to be scanned and transferred to soft copy to be altered or arranged.
Creative – Green	Creativity: What new ideas are possible with this? What is my suggestion for success? Can I create something new?	·         Sibelius 6 has been so well designed it is hard to find any other ideas they could implement to make the program better ·         Within the program you can do almost anything music orientated, creativity is paramount to innovation and “the new” ·         Sibelius is being to lower its price to buy, however they should look at further discounts for schools to make it more accessible
Intuitive – Red	Feelings: How do I feel about this? What do I like about the idea? What don't I like about the idea?	·         I feel Sibelius 6 to be a very powerful tool which can do almost anything with Music ·         I feel all music students should be able to have access to the program when composing or arranging in schools ·         I love that Sibelius 6 can be very simple to use but also has the extra application and tools within it for the most advanced musician ·         I don’t like the cost of the program or how fast the computer needs to be for the program to work properly.
Positive – Yellow	Benefits: What are the good points? Why can this be successful? Why is this, a good thing?	·         Has instant playback for review ·         Notes go red when out of instrument range ·         If any bars or symbols etc. cross one another they go red (aids in de-cluttering) ·         Creates neatly presented scores ·         Allows for almost anything musical to be made on the page (worksheets, scores, videos) ·         Sibelius 6 can promote neatness and accuracy when hand writing music ·         Sibelius 6 promotes aural skills when composing and reviewing ·         Sibelius 6 helps teachers bring fun to something that in the past has been seen as boring or lifeless and only for the advanced person
Objective – White	Information: What information do I have? What are the facts? What information do I need? What do I want to KNOW?	·         A advanced understanding of the program and its functions and abilities ·         Needs a department that understands its necessity in Music Education ·         Requires quick computers that have headphones or speakers ·         Pricing for Education/Multiple Licences