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from the 24-to-10-is-a-score-that-I-wrote dept.
LinuxLinks has a 12-section article on the various free and open source score writers available for composers and musicians.
Fortunately, there is a wide range of open source scorewriters which are supported in Linux. This article recommends cost-effective alternatives to Sibelius and Finale. The software featured here is released under freely distributable licenses, all are available to download at no charge, and generate music scores which are engraved with traditional layout rules.
This article does not limit itself to software with a graphical user interface. One of the benefits of using software which doesn't depend on a graphical interface is that you can create and edit music on any type of device, even small handheld devices.
Towards the bottom of the first page, there is a table of the score writers reviewed. Each is reviewed on a separate page. Follow the links there to the individual pages describing each one.
Source : 11 Excellent Free Scorewriters – Compose, arrange, print, and publish music
(Score: 4, Informative) by maxwell demon on Saturday February 10 2018, @07:23AM (6 children)
OK, to read it, it must, by definition, be in written form. To understand it, a written form probably helps, but I'd be surprised if a musician could not understand most music when "merely" heard. The statement sounds to me like the claim that you cannot understand a text if spoken, only if written. While there exists texts where it is true, most texts can be quite well understood from hearing. I'd expect the same to be true of music.
And certainly some musicians can play music without scores. Written scores are not necessary to play music, just like written text is not necessary to tell a story. Sure, it helps, because otherwise you either have to memorize everything, or need the ability to fill in the missing parts on the spot. But necessary? I strongly doubt it.
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(Score: 4, Interesting) by requerdanos on Saturday February 10 2018, @03:40PM
I studied music theory, including sight reading from a musical score, but that was 40 years ago.
I play guitar, mostly by ear.
For people who play by ear, a score is interesting visually, perhaps, but not useful nor leading to being able to understand nor play music.
Sure, the tautology "to read [thing] it must be written" tenuously holds, with its exceptions, but the underlying implication that a composition must be written in order to be useful is just mistaken.
(Score: 2) by AthanasiusKircher on Saturday February 10 2018, @04:25PM
I'd note the "and" here. You seem to interpret this sentence as claiming scores are required for any of the three activities. I see this sentence as talking about a set of related activities related by an "and" rather than an "or." That is, a composition that is written down can then be READ, as well as understood and played.
But let's not quibble; I agree the sentence is ambiguous. But the next sentence from TFA makes it clearer:
I'd argue (as you do) with "essential." But written communication certainly makes things easier and can be more efficient in many circumstances. If you are a manager trying to pass along essential information to your employees, and you want to make sure they understand the policies as you intend them, writing them down is probably a lot more effective than just announcing them orally and later trying to fix things when misunderstandings occur or memories fail.
On the other hand, traditional music notation tends to privilege certain elements with a lot of precision (specifically pitches and rhythm), but is much less specific on other elements (dynamics, articulations, timbre shifts, ornamentation, etc.). Often a lot of the "expressiveness" of music falls into those latter elements, so musical scores can only convey so much. For more popular styles, even pitch and rhythm notated in a traditional score is only a vague approximation to the subtle shifts skilled performers will do.
So scores are just a blueprint, but something that can help with efficient communication in many circumstances (assuming musicians who are fluent in reading).
(Score: 2) by Thexalon on Saturday February 10 2018, @05:50PM (2 children)
It's true a lot of musicians can and do play without written scores. When that happens, what you get is a folk tradition as songs and tunes are passed around from musician to musician.
A couple interesting things happen as a result of this:
- The music each generation of musicians likes is remembered. The music that any 60-year period or so doesn't like is not. The upside of this is that it filters away a lot of the bad music. The downside of this is that you can have, as very nearly happened, the entirety of JS Bach's catalogue lost because everybody found it to be too old-school and unfashionable.
- Music evolves as musicians either mis-remember something and fill in the gaps, or intentionally make changes because they think the new version sounds better. This effect can be so strong that like a game of "Telephone" the music, words, and even titles completely change as it moves, say, from one corner of the British Isles to another. The upside of this is that like open-source software the music can improve over time as many minds make contributions. The downside of this is that you get many competing versions of each tune, and that can be a problem when you're trying to play with other people who may have a different version in mind than you do.
As an example of this in action, consider the silly little ditty "Miss Lucy Had a Steamboat", one of those few bits of folk culture still floating around that really behaves like folk music because there's no definitive recordings or written versions of it, just a bunch of different variations that have been passed around for about a century, mostly by children. Indeed, some of you probably think that I got the title of the song wrong, and that it's actually titled "Miss Suzie Had a Steamboat", which isn't surprising because "Miss Lucy" sounds like "Miss Suzie" if the "L" in "Lucy" isn't distinct.
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(Score: 2) by Magic Oddball on Saturday February 10 2018, @11:22PM (1 child)
While I don't think I heard it in school, when I looked it up I found that for most of the song's existence, the girl has been "Miss (or Ms.) Susie [wikipedia.org]." The name 'Lucy' was reportedly used by kids in Alabama during the 80s, though I wouldn't be surprised if it was a wider region & time period.
As it turns out, though, there was/is a "Miss Lucy" song that uses the same melody, but the lyrics are completely different [wikipedia.org], and I suspect people (particularly guys) born after the mid-70s might know it better as "I had a little turtle, his name was Tiny Tim..."
(Score: 2) by Thexalon on Sunday February 11 2018, @05:57PM
I heard the "Miss Lucy" version first in northern New England. The point is, though, these variations happen, and mis-hearing or mis-remembering something is a very common reason why.
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(Score: 2) by HiThere on Saturday February 10 2018, @06:43PM
That really depends on what you mean by understand. And what music you're working with. If you're trying to construct a harmony, then a printed score is a necessity unless you have an eidetic memory. This is the more true when you're working with several lines of play.
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