choose to write the music with a time signature of 'other'

pick a number that matches the exact number of beats in a measure, e.g., 14/4. (its best to figure out the number before you write the music.)

enter the notes as usual. then use the key command the eliminates the note stems (by golly, i packed up my sibelius manual to move, so i don't know what it is off hand) you can easily find it in your manual.

to get rid of unwanted content such as time signatures or anything else, simply use the 'hide' command.

for strophic hymns, you can literally grab the text with the mouse and move it around like an object on a horizontal axis. if you move the note with the nudge tool, the text will move with it. this allows you to tweak the space between notes to your hearts content.

here is a sample of the veni sancte i did a while back and an example of one of my strophic comps.

ps. you can hear the hymn here:

http://romancatholicsacredmusic.com/seehear/starAbove.html

Ian:

Simply click on the staff you wish to alter. Go to the properties window. You will find about 100 different options in the staff palet from 1, 2, 3 and more lines to tabs for all kinds of instruments.

I have been told that you can simply purchase a font like Meinrad and you are good to go. If you would like to actually have the score perform the chant, you would score it out in modern notation in a staff below the neumes and then simply hide the performing staff. I have not attempted scoring in neumes, so I cannot give you an answer from experience, although I am very close to purchasing the font to try it myself soon. I will let you know how it goes.

Daniel:

I HATE messing with electrical wiring. I make it a rule always to go to confession before messing with electrical stuff!

Francis,

Forgive the illiteracy of someone who's formal music education predated the advent of computer software, but I must ask the most elementary of questions. I notice there are several versions of Sibelius packages on the market . Which one(s) do you recommend as best meeting the parish music director's needs? Is it possible in the space allowed to give a primer of the different versions?

Thanks.

Randolph:

Honestly, here is how I approach software upgrades. Don't unless necessary. Run the version that works best on your computer hardware. Unfortunately, if your computer is five years old, I would not recommend the latest version. It will bog down. I don't know how easy it is to get previous versions.

For the most part, all versions do basically the same thing most of us need for basic composing/arranging. The later versions always look glitzier and have a few more features, but I have never gotten software because the later version had something I absolutely had to have. Upgrading is a racket I never subscribed to in my twenty years of buying software.

You are right, Print Music is a scaled down version of Finale. It operates the same, but doesn't have the ability to do orchestra scores and some of the large scale music forms that Finale can handle. The screen buttons and appearance are basically the same as Finale. I have used Finale and found it and Print Music required a learning curve and frequent use to remember how to operate it. But as I mentioned earlier, I don't find the Finale/Print Music interface to be very intuitive. It seems that every time I use it I have to drag out the instruction manual for something. I can upgrade to Finale for $199. if I buy the academic/church version. I mostly write organ compositions and create organ accompaniments for choir music. Occasionally I will do something in SATB for my choir. I don't have a Mac, but am a PC person.

Thanks. I will look into Sibelius.

Ian:

How long have you owned Sib? What are your primary uses?

Ian:

I totally agree. Organic creative thinking works best for me through pencil and paper (for years and years I have been using the .7mm mechanicals as they stay sharp and don't break easy. Makes reading later much easier. Pencil and paper is good for the germination of works. Sketchbooks have always been the best. However, some composers are more through thinking like Mozart. I tend to compose more like a constructionist. Oh, and the pencil works all the time no matter where you are (without electricity!). ...and boy, they are extremely affordable too. Once the computer came along I started producing my own manuscript and graph paper too. Toys, toys.

hahahahaha! wow... incredible...

this thread came back after 13 years! and i am still using sibelius version 6 even as i type i am creating an entire hymnal in sib... it took about three weeks (for the congregation only version) which inlcludes about 150 selections. i also use gregobase and the killer score editor for the chant... will post samples soon.

i have never purchased any software support in my entire life (beginning with Mac SE in 1990), so that's 31 years... however I always read software manuals from cover to cover and highlight important things to remember. support might be good, but not sure why. if you go under the HELP menu, you have the sib handbook and the sib user manual right there in pdf format. out of curiosity, what else do you suspect you might need?

(you can also see, that in thirteen years, i still haven't learned to use CorRect cApitaliZatiOn. :) but i suspect i have saved about a years worth of minutes not bothering with it.

i was also thinking i should scoop up all of my comments and create a book... that would be interesting, well, at least for my kids anyway.

Serviam... I have been thinking about that, but is it as intuitive as Sib? Is it as fast? I have achieved hyper(Engrave)Drive in Sib. I am afraid of loosing my touch!

I don't know if you have used the Gregobase with the Score Editor... but you can pretty much achieve any format, page size, text size, etc. for all chant pieces with that. If you are trying to compose new chants, that is a different story.

Thank you all for your comments. Sorry for resurrecting this thread, but it was the closest when I searched for past discussions. It is virtually true that nothing posted on the internet ever dies. I don't think it even fades away.

Francis, that’s good advice for sin in general. “Never do anything you don’t want broadcast to the rest of the world (including friend or foe) AT the end of time.”

In that respect, the internet is a glimpse of the final judgement (and will be, no doubt, the cause for many harsh judgements too).