notation programs_
(vs. those ol' hand methods)_
The revolution is over. We have already seen the amazing benefits that notation software have brought to the professional composing world. It is entirely feasible to boast of your very own personal music publishing house at home, or at least professional-looking scores finished and ready for your publisher.
But how does that translate to the work of the composer?
Well the results are excellent—your scribblings are now printed, noone complains anymore of illegible scores or parts—even emailing scores is a cinch. Playing-in the score saves time, you get the benefit of playback, not to mention the in-score parts extractors that accompany the latest versions of Sibelius 4 and Finale. In Logic Pro the results don't look as professional, but to Logic's credit, its main focus is sequencing. But at least in Logic you can synchronise raw music files with printed music, a feature that both Sibelius and Finale lack.
However, for all those high-end computer-score converts, there still are just as many pencil-and-erasor composers getting the job done, and on time.
"The ideas flow better", cries one, "I can experiment more" says another— and it's not just the voice of older composers or the computer illiterate. What some composers want to achieve is virtually impossible with software.
Composer Peter Jacober (Austria) has a perfect example, and he is not the first. Jacober integrates MIDI clicktracks into his works, given on a CD Walkman to each performer. Each CD contains a different metronome speed, requiring the performer to play in an independent rhythm from what is going on around them. It's like a simulated studio session, but each MIDI clicktrack has been nastily picked from the wrong tune.
This is where notation becomes much more difficult, and can only be done by hand. Jacober fixes one stave's bar length at say, mm=100, to a given measurement of 40mm. Using this as a template, the other instruments' bar lengths are constructed via ratios (i.e. mm=120 —> 1:5 —> 32mm). The resulting score is highly effective, especially for the conductor—it takes much of the guessing out of multiple time-signature scores, where the notation is not written.
Unfortunately here is where notation software is not yet up-to-date, and in Jacober's case, impossible.