The Technograph

Mozart probably wrote many of his symphonies by candlelight, seated at his desk, a piece of parchment in front of him and a quill in his hand. So did Beethoven, Bach, and Pachebel, most likely. Today, most composers write music in a very different way – by the light of a computer screen.

The dawn and advancement of computers brought to musicians the possibility of using software to compose music. Music composition software offers many features to today’s composers that early composers went without, such as the ability to make quick changes, analyze parts, organize the presentation of notes on the page, and hear the piece play back. To learn more about music notation software, Technograph spoke with Lucinda Lawrence, who serves as bands librarian at the University of Illinois, teaches composition classes, and composes and arranges many musical pieces herself. Lawrence explained that perhaps the most important advantage of music notation software is the time and money it saves during the composition process. Before composing became computerized, musicians wrote out music on semi-transparent paper, brought them to a printing company, waited a few days before picking up the printed parts, and then put the music before a band or orchestra to listen to it. Nowadays, music notation software allows parts to be written out, easily edited, and printed right away, eliminating the time and money associated with a printing company. Also, composers can listen to their piece while they write it, allowing them to quickly find basic errors in the orchestration or instrument ranges and correct them. The software offers other useful features, such as the ability to scan hard copies of music into a file for printing and editing (a very useful tool for a bands librarian).

Where there is opportunity to make money, there is competition, and music software is no exception. Two of the most popular music notation programs on the market are Sibelius and Finale, and each has its pros and cons. Lawrence prefers using Finale because she has spent many years learning its many tricks and shortcuts, and she has witnessed her students’ difficulties with transposition and scoring with Sibelius. On the other hand, Andrew Hile, a senior in chemical engineering and baritone horn player who has arranged many tunes for the Marching Illini, swears by Sibelius. Hile claims that Sibelius’ keyboard shortcuts are more intuitive and its playback options are less of a hassle, though he acknowledges that Finale has advantages in adjusting sizes of staves and such on the page.

But is it possible that the automation and ease of these music programs can take the “music” out of writing music? On a separate occasion, Lawrence remarked to me that no music software she has ever seen can substitute for hearing a piece played by a live band. When writing a score, she tries to keep the program from doing the actual composing for her. “For me, composing and arranging is like doing brain-teaser puzzles, except that I get to create the puzzle and rules of the game…,” Lawrence explained to me. “Having the software solve the problem for me would take all the fun/challenge out of it! And I doubt that the end result would be as satisfying or as good: I would not want to take credit for it.”

Mozart never had such a powerful tool to write his masterpieces that could offer so many features for analyzing and changing his music. But if he did, would his symphonies be any less intricate and colorful? Probably not. For many composers, music software seems to be a vehicle, rather than a replacement, for good old human creativity and ingenuity. In many ways, music software brings more brilliant ideas to the page than pen and parchment ever did.

Tagged with: