Generating & Printing Sheet Music

[RSLancastr]

Does anyone know of a utility for entering & Printing sheet music in Windows?

I know a song I want to share with my choir, but I do not have the sheet music for it. It is a simple song (a fugue, actually) with just a melody (the harmony comes from that melody being sung by multiple voices sraring at differenttimes (a'la "Row, Row, Row Your Boat...").

So, all I need to do is get that one melodyline down on sheet music to hand out and we are set.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[arthwollipot]

Originally Posted by RSLancastr

Does anyone know of a utility for entering & Printing sheet music in Windows?

I know a song I want to share with my choir, but I do not have the sheet music for it. It is a simple song (a fugue, actually) with just a melody (the harmony comes from that melody being sung by multiple voices sraring at differenttimes (a'la "Row, Row, Row Your Boat...").

So, all I need to do is get that one melodyline down on sheet music to hand out and we are set.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

It's a canon, not a fugue.

[/pedant]

I'm afraid I haven't used any modern music software. I suspect that most of the decent (ie. usable) ones would be quite expensive. This appears to be a free download, but I can't vouch for it.

[xterra]

Originally Posted by RSLancastr

Does anyone know of a utility for entering & Printing sheet music in Windows?

Robert,

Are you aware of ABC notation? It will do exactly what you want, and without your even needing to put software on your computer.

I can't post links to point you to, but if you will PM me, I'd be glad to discuss this off-list.

Edited to add:

There is no cost for using ABC notation, nor for producing sheet music, except for the cost of printing it on your own printer.

The tune you want may already exist in ABC format. There are literally thousands of tunes available at sites devoted to the notation. I regularly use several for Irish instrumental tunes.

[Fuzzy Dunlop]

If you know your guitar you can do this easily with a program like Powertabs (free) or Tuxguitar (free) or Guitarpro (not free). Just enter in the song and print out the notes sans guitar tabs. Tuxguitar even lets you pop the notes right on the staff without worrying about the guitar part of it (the others might also, haven't used them in a long time).

[RSLancastr]

[quote=arthwollipot;8245624]It's a canon, not a fugue.

[/pedant]

Thanks for the correction.

I got the impression that what is commonly called a Round was more properly a Fugue, from the (apparently misnamed) song "Fugue for Tinhorns" which opens up (after the Overture) the Broadway musical Guys and Dolls ("I got the horse right here, his name is Paul Revere...")

[IMST]

A canon is a piece where every voice performs the same or similar melodies, starting at different times. A round is a special case of canon where all lines are identical, so your case sounds like it is properly named a round.
A fugue is a bit more complex, where there is a central theme that is the first thing each voice does, and the theme will be repeated throughout the piece, but the voices will also have development in between statements of the theme and the music accompanying the theme will vary.

a Bach Canon:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A41CI...eature=related
a Bach Fugue:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xY_GMnQvj6E

Note that the second and third parts in the cannon are based off each other, but in the fugue the theme that is stated alone is repeated periodically, but there is variation of all voices and sequences with the theme absent.

If you don't find someone quickly, I'm hoping to have software back on my computer soon that will be able to write out the part and PDF it to you.

[RSLancastr]

Originally Posted by xterra

Robert,

Are you aware of ABC notation? It will do exactly what you want, and without your even needing to put software on your computer.

I can't post links to point you to, but if you will PM me, I'd be glad to discuss this off-list.

Edited to add:

There is no cost for using ABC notation, nor for producing sheet music, except for the cost of printing it on your own printer.

The tune you want may already exist in ABC format. There are literally thousands of tunes available at sites devoted to the notation. I regularly use several for Irish instrumental tunes.

No, I was not aware of ABC nontation, but will look into it, thanks!

[RSLancastr]

Originally Posted by Fuzzy Dunlop

If you know your guitar you can do this easily with a program like Powertabs (free) or Tuxguitar (free) or Guitarpro (not free). Just enter in the song and print out the notes sans guitar tabs. Tuxguitar even lets you pop the notes right on the staff without worrying about the guitar part of it (the others might also, haven't used them in a long time).

I;'m familiarwith tab (from my mandolin playing), but generally eschewed it for actualtraditional music notation.

I;'ll look into Tuxguitar, as Guitar tab would be a nightmare for me.

Thanks!

[Reviresco]

I use Finale (Finale Music Composing & Notation Software) - don't think I can post links yet - but I'm pretty sure there's a free version (download on the home page).

ABC is very cool, and there are a lot of free apps for it. However, it does involve learning a (simple) code or format to notate it in. The apps then convert it to sheet music.

[Brian-M]

LilyPond: http://lilypond.org

This one is free. I've played around with the Linux version, and it does an okay job, but it's tricky and time-consuming to learn how to use. It's essentially a text-based programming language used to generate sheet-music PDF files.

Here's an example of a LilyPond program...

{

\clef treble
\time 4/4

r2

c'4 d'
e' g' g' a'
g' e' c' d'
e' e' d' c'
d'2 c'4 d'
e' g' g' a'
g' e' c' d'
e' e' d' d'
c'2 r

f' f'
a'4 a'2 a'4
g' g' e' c'
d'2 c'4 d'
e' g' g' a'
g' e' c' d'
e' e' d' d'
c'2

}

You can also add lyrics. The program converts it to sheet music in PDF format.

[RSLancastr]

Originally Posted by Brian-M

LilyPond: http://lilypond.org

This one is free. I've played around with the Linux version, and it does an okay job, but it's tricky and time-consuming to learn how to use. It's essentially a text-based programming language used to generate sheet-music PDF files.

Here's an example of a LilyPond program...

{

\clef treble
\time 4/4

r2

c'4 d'
e' g' g' a'
g' e' c' d'
e' e' d' c'
d'2 c'4 d'
e' g' g' a'
g' e' c' d'
e' e' d' d'
c'2 r

f' f'
a'4 a'2 a'4
g' g' e' c'
d'2 c'4 d'
e' g' g' a'
g' e' c' d'
e' e' d' d'
c'2

}

You can also add lyrics. The program converts it to sheet music in PDF format.

This was the type of interface I was hoping to find!

Downloaded - thanks!

[RSLancastr]

Originally Posted by Brian-M

LilyPond: http://lilypond.org

This one is free. I've played around with the Linux version, and it does an okay job, but it's tricky and time-consuming to learn how to use. It's essentially a text-based programming language used to generate sheet-music PDF files.

Here's an example of a LilyPond program...

{

\clef treble
\time 4/4

r2

c'4 d'
e' g' g' a'
g' e' c' d'
e' e' d' c'
d'2 c'4 d'
e' g' g' a'
g' e' c' d'
e' e' d' d'
c'2 r

f' f'
a'4 a'2 a'4
g' g' e' c'
d'2 c'4 d'
e' g' g' a'
g' e' c' d'
e' e' d' d'
c'2

}

You can also add lyrics. The program converts it to sheet music in PDF format.

I have, after fair amount of trial and error (mostly the latter), generated the sheet music for the round I needed, and another besides!

Thanks so much, Brian!

[RSLancastr]

I did use Lily Pond to create and print out sheet music to the song I wanted to introduce to our church choir.

I emailed it to the Choir Mistress, and she said she would consider having me teach it to the choir.

A week or so ago, she told me that she wanted me to teach the song as one of the "fun activities" at the choir's End of the Season party (Sort of a send-off before the Summer Hiatus, during which there are no choir rehearsals or performances).

the party was last night. I was pretty nervous about it. I haven't conducted a choir since around 1980! I was also unsure of how I would conduct without the use of my left arm/hand (with all of the entrances and exits at different times for each of the four sections of the choir (which varied for each time we ran through it), conducting with both hands (one for keeping time, the other for cueing sections in and out) would be how I would do it if I had the use of both arms/hands, so I had to rethink, and do everything with just my right arm/hand.

It actually went very well, and the choir was very accepting of me as a "guest conductor" of sorts (between my being new to them as a conductor, and my nerves about being "back in the saddle" for the first time in ages, it could easily have been a disaster).

...and the song sounded glorious.

The song, by the way, was William Billings' "When Jesus Wept" - a deceptivly simple tune which, whe performed as a canon/round, sounds something like a human pipe organ.

Search YouTube for "When Jesus Wept (Round)" to see & hear some performances of it.

I did fine with the one-handed conducting, doing most of the cueing in/out verbally and with nods of my head.

During the proceedings, someone in the choir said to me "Hey, you really know how to direct!"

As we were all leaving, several people approached me and thanked me for bringing the song in.

The Choir Mistress said that we would definitely be doing the song again when we return from the Hiatus, although she did not say that we would be performing it for the congregation (I believe she has to get approval for that from both the Pastor and the Worship Leader).

My thanks to all here for helping me find a good way to get it printed out!

[RSLancastr]

Here are a couple of YouTube verions of the song:

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