[ramZsax]

I want to write some handout articles about basic music theory….

I need to be able incorporate both written text and musical examples. I plan to have a fair amount of written explanations for short musical models/examples, and occasionally some longer ones.

I’ve seen this done countless times before, so I know its nothing new, I just don’t know how it’s done. I would prefer it to look seamless between the text and music…what’s the secret, besides messy screen shots?

Thanks!
Ramsey

 

[thejoyofsax]

Which program are you using?

 

[ramZsax]

Which program are you using?

The only program I have is Finale NotePad, but hopefully that will change soon. Do programs such as (normal) Finale and Sibelius have this capability build in?

 

[kavala]

If you have more text than music, you might find it easier to use
a word processor such as Microsoft Word.

You can imbed images and use different fonts to insert the music examples.

 

[stefank]

I find it easiest to the musical examples in Finale and export them as graphics files (I usually use tiffs) and then import them as I want them into a Word document. If you want to get cute (and online) you can do the same thing into FrontPage, and then link your musical example to a midi file exported from the same Finale. People can then listen as well as look.

 

[DukeCity]

Don't know if it will work with Notepad, but with Finale you can highlight portions of your page and save them as gif images. Then you can paste them into a Word file.

 

[Al Stevens]

Don't know if it will work with Notepad, but with Finale you can highlight portions of your page and save them as gif images. Then you can paste them into a Word file.

Which Finale tool do you use to do that?

 

[stefank]

Which Finale tool do you use to do that?

Go Tools, Advanced Tools then Graphics.

I think it only works out of Page View, and note that you have to double click to start to make the selection you wish to export. I got very frustrated before I found that out...........

 

[DukeCity]

Go Tools, Advanced Tools then Graphics.

I think it only works out of Page View, and note that you have to double click to start to make the selection you wish to export. I got very frustrated before I found that out...........

That's right. Once you have the graphic placed in your Word file, when you click on it, it will have a box around it with "handles" so you can adjust its size and placement. Sometimes takes some trial and error to get the right size and margins

 

[ramZsax]

Thanks for all the replys! very helpful stuff...

Now all I have to do is buy finale....anyone know if this works on sibelius too?

 

[thejoyofsax]

Yes, you can export Sibelius graphics into word. Sounds like it's a little easier on Finale, but doable with both. With Sibelius you just have to shrink your margins and save what is left of your page as a graphics file (gif, tiff, whatever you like best) and pop it in there. I haven't done it in awhile, but there are tutorials online.

And save your money -- surely there is a pirated copy of one or the other somewhere available to you. I'm not that big on theft ... but what student or "young person" on a budget can afford $400 and $500 software?

 

[Al Stevens]

Thanks, guys. I've needed this and never known how to do it.

For those who are following along, here's the rest of it.

After marking a selection, open the Graphics menu, choose Export Selection, and follow the instructions. It results in a file that you can import into any application that accepts graphics files.

You can also export the entire score or selected pages with the Export Pages command on the Graphics menu.

Very handy for putting scored music into documents, on web pages, or to send to someone who doesn't have Finale.

 

[Al Stevens]

And save your money -- surely there is a pirated copy of one or the other somewhere available to you.

Instead of that, I'd encourage you to watch ebay for an older version. I use 2004, and it does everything I need for notation. The newer versions mainly added useless features for enhanced midi playback and other such bells and whistles, and also introduced a lot of bugs. I can afford to upgrade, but I won't.

 

[thejoyofsax]

Instead of that, I'd encourage you to watch ebay for an older version.

An admirable alternative that I did not think of!

 

[timobrien]

....or you can use a notation package that supports text. And supports exporting the pages as .jpegs or other graphic files so that you can import them into other programs.

Harmony Assistant ($80) and Melody Assistant ($20) at http://myriad-online.com
Demos on the website for you to try free...

 

[DukeCity]

And save your money -- surely there is a pirated copy of one or the other somewhere available to you. I'm not that big on theft ... but what student or "young person" on a budget can afford $400 and $500 software?

You can get legal copies of Finale or Sibelius at academic pricing ($240 for Finale, $220 for Sibelius). One of the best things is that, as a registered user, you can have access to Finale's telephone tech support. They're truly amazing, and have helped talk me through many tasks with the software. Worth every penny!

 

[Dog Pants]

There's more than one way to skin this cat. All of the above are viable. The free version of Finale (notepad) is so stripped down as to be useless.

For the "Right Notes at the Right Time" lesson, see top of page, I used BIAB (if you have sibelius or finale, use them) and MS Word and MS Paint.

I copied and pasted the notion from BIAB into MS Paint. I Edited the image, added any text or graphics, then copied and pasted into MS Word. I use this mehod a lot for teaching and it's as good as any.

 

[Straightsax]

One of the great things about Sibelius is that after one creates the graphics file and exports it to a word program -- the graphics file can be resized to exactly the way you want it in the document.

I would imagine that Finale would have something similiar.

You can also create these kinds of documents within the Sibelius program, if one wanted to do it that way.

I agree with all of the above, especially about not paying full price!

 

[Al Stevens]

...you can have access to Finale's telephone tech support. They're truly amazing, and have helped talk me through many tasks with the software. Worth every penny!

I find the Finale yahoo discussion group helpful. They've answered a lot of my questions. Many experts post there.

http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/finale/

 

[Al Stevens]

One of the great things about Sibelius is that after one creates the graphics file and exports it to a word program -- the graphics file can be resized to exactly the way you want it in the document.

I would imagine that Finale would have something similiar.

Yes. Well, kind of. It's a function of how Word handles graphics file imports, not how the contributing applications export them.