Scoring Notes

The release of MuseScore 4 is a major update and quite possibly the most significant one in the open-source application’s history since the release of MuseScore 1.0 in 2011. It includes major improvements to the user interface, layout, engraving, and playback features.

Not coincidentally, this is also the first major version of of MuseScore to be released under the product leadership of Martin Keary, Muse Group’s vice president of software. Coming nearly two years after the last MuseScore update (3.6) and nearly four years after the release of MuseScore 3, Martin said, “I’ve worked on a lot of complex creation software and this is the largest release I’ve ever put out,” including the launch of Paint 3D and a variety of PS3 games.

Martin returns to the Scoring Notes podcast along with Simon Smith, Muse Group’s head of engraving, to talk with Philip Rothman and David MacDonald for a thorough discussion about MuseScore 4’s design and engraving improvements. We go behind the scenes to hear about the decisions, roadblocks, and good fortune that happened along the road to the release of this version of the software.

They discuss their philosophies about creating tools for musicians and how they approached the challenges of modernizing an existing application, all the while keeping both existing and new users in mind. We cover the details of engraving, including ties, beams, note spacing and more. Martin and Simon tell us their favorite “under-the-radar” features in MuseScore 4 and highlight some items that users might not be aware of. Finally, we learn what’s missing in MuseScore and what to expect as they continue to develop the product for MuseScore 5 and beyond.

More on Scoring Notes:

• Long-awaited MuseScore 4 release brings major improvements to engraving and audio
• MuseScore 3.6 focuses on engraving upgrades, new fonts
• Daniel Ray “muses” about Audacity and StaffPad
• StaffPad acquired by Muse Group; audio support planned
• Muse Group formed to support MuseScore, Ultimate Guitar; acquires Audacity
• Daniel Ray, Martin Keary, and Musescore

forScore, the sheet music reader, is the no. 1-ranked music app on the Apple Store with good reason. Justin Bianco, its creator and developer, relentlessly refines the vision that he had when the iPad was first introduced: to make a simple yet powerful music reader for Apple’s revolutionary platform.

Used in all music genres, in live performance, score study, and in countless other ways, forScore is one of the first apps that musicians download after getting an iPad, and is often the reason for purchasing the device in the first place. Philip Rothman and David MacDonald talk with Justin about the tech, his philosophy, his background — and why his mom is his target user.

We also learn what the future might hold for forScore in terms of new features, interoperability with other apps, and whether or not it will ever appear on other platforms.

More on Scoring Notes:

The best iPad score reader for most people

Nicholas Buc is a composer, conductor, and arranger whose recent conducting engagements have taken him around the globe conducting live-to-picture concerts featuring the most beloved movie scores of our time. We discuss his career and the many ways that music preparation and technology can provide the score with the Midas touch in those high-stakes performances. Nick helps us avoid the phantom menace of notation pitfalls, giving us all a new hope in our quest for the holy grail of music engraving perfection. Philip Rothman and David MacDonald join Nick as we learn what it’s like to be part of his world.

Read more on Scoring Notes: Preparing David Newman’s Matilda score for live orchestra

Nick’s podcast: Art of the Score

Sam Butler and Joe Plazak join Philip Rothman and David MacDonald on the podcast. Sam is Avid’s director of product management for audio software, and Joe is the product owner and principal software engineer for Sibelius. Together, they led the team that brought Sibelius to the iPad for the first time, and we hear all about their journey that began nearly a decade ago with the goal of making Sibelius available on as many platforms as possible.

We talk about the key concepts, keypads, and key signature tools in Sibelius on iPad — all of which unlocked the doors to making the software work on a tablet device. As you can tell, we have some fun, but also get serious about the technical and design challenges that arose during this project, and we learn how they found solutions that, in time, will benefit the desktop and other devices like touch-enabled Windows computers.

Sam and Joe tell us what we can expect from Sibelius in the near future as its iPad features appear in forthcoming desktop updates. They also give us a glimpse into the years ahead as they ramp up their team and look to improve the user experience across all areas of the program — from licensing and activation, to entering some notes on a staff, all the way to creating full scores that you can share with anyone.

More from Scoring Notes:

• Sibelius arrives on iPad
• Dorico and Sibelius come to the iPad

Newzik started in 2015 as a music reader solution for iPad, and since then it has grown into a complete digital solution that serves musicians, publishers, orchestras and opera companies. CEO Raphaël Schumann discusses its recent developments and its bright future after raising €3 million in private investment.

How do you technologically revolutionize the long-established custom and practice of working with printed music that has been evolving for centuries? Cloud sharing, collaboration, and licensing are just some of the areas that Newzik must navigate as it continually innovates, aiming to make a seamless transition for customers to read, share, rent, purchase, and sell sheet music on digital devices.