Course Topics:

Sibelius Basics: Scores and Worksheets

Learn how to get started with Sibelius the right way in this course for beginners. Set up a new score, discover the most effective ways to enter notes (with and without a MIDI keyboard) and learn quick copy and paste methods. We’ll also cover lyrics and guitar chord symbols, repeat signs, dynamics, articulation, copying and pasting methods, basic layout tips and methods for sharing your scores with non-Sibelius users such as students and other teachers.  The latter part of the day will focus on creating worksheets from scratch and using Sibelius’s inbuilt Worksheet Creator. This session is ideal for you if:

• You are a new Sibelius user or you have a small amount of Sibelius experience
• You only use the mouse for note entry
• You feel you may have a few “holes” in your Sibelius knowledge

Sibelius Advanced: Formatting, Drum Notation, Playback Tricks and More

Take your Sibelius skills to the next level with this workshop for advanced users.  Discover the best ways to layout and format your score whilst harnessing Sibelius’s powerful inbuilt formatting features. Learn about house styles, how to create your own manuscript templates and tips for working with instrumental parts. We’ll tackle drum notation from scratch, playback tricks, setting up your own shortcuts, filtering, and time-saving plugins. Participants are also encouraged to bring along a score they are working on. This session is ideal for you if:

• You are comfortable using Sibelius
• You know a minimum of 2 note-entry methods
• You’d like to know how to do things more quickly and effectively
• If you are a new or inexperienced Sibelius user, you should attend the Sibelius Basics workshop

Sibelius in the Classroom: Composing With Notation Software

During this workshop we’ll look at a range of progressive notation-based activities you can use with students. Discover ways to use notation software to listen to music, identify patterns, reconstruct songs, harmonise melodies, identify song form, compose original melodies, and create rhythmic, melodic and harmonic variations on a melody. Through these activities students will learn the elements of music, compose melodies, create accompaniments and arrange songs and gain an understanding of the way notation software works along the way. The workshop will demonstrate activities that suit a wide range of student ages and levels of experience. Notation software skills covered include:

• setting up and navigating around your score
• entering notes
• correcting mistakes
• playback
• tempo and “feel” markings
• adding dynamics and articulation
• entering lyrics
• copying and pasting music
• tranposing all or part of a score
• adding or changing instruments
• repeat barlines
• entering 2 voices on one stave (drum notation)
• Using the Ideas window as a compositional “scrapbook”
• Using Versions to log track compositional process

Music skills covered include:

• repetition in music
• writing lyrics and fitting them to a rhythm
• dynamics and articulation and their effect on playback
• tempo and tempo changes
• timbre: tone colour and instrument choices
• instrument ranges
• balance
• chords and harmony
• creating an accompaniment
• musical form
• variations: rhythmic, melodic, harmonic

Sibelius Scanning and MIDI Files

This session is full of tips and tricks for entering notes into Sibelius via scanning and MIDI files.  Do you have a shelf full of scores that you’d like to arrange for your students to play? With Photoscore Lite (which comes free with Sibelius), you can scan scores directly into Sibelius where you can rearrange them. For instance, take a Bach chorale and rearrange it for brass ensemble, or transform a viola part into a 3rd violin part. Or perhaps you have a MIDI file of a favourite song you’ve downloaded that you would like to use as a basis for band arrangement? Sibelius allows you to open MIDI files directly and will interpret each instrumental part as a separate stave. Scanning music or opening MIDI files are great ways to get notes into Sibelius quickly – once you know a few tricks. This hands-on workshop will cover tips for importing the song, cleaning up the notation, changing instrumentation and transposing parts to create quick arrangements in Sibelius. Although this session is designed for both new and experienced users, a basic knowledge of Sibelius will help you get the most out of the day.

Custom Sibelius Training

Design your own custom Sibelius training course, based on what you need to know.

Online Sibelius Training

Online Sibelius training courses (in the form of a webinar) will be available soon, so that you can learn about Sibelius without leaving the comfort of your home. All you’ll need is a computer with an internet connection! Sign-up for the Midnight Music newsletter to receive information about future webinar course times.

I’m interested in one of these workshops. What’s next?

Contact Katie to arrange a workshop at your school (or other location): Arrange a workshop at your school Check the Upcoming Events page for scheduled public workshops: Upcoming Events calendar Or you could host a Bring Your Own Laptop workshop for teachers in your area, where participants use their own laptop with any version of Sibelius (participants without a copy of Sibelius can download the demo version for the session):
Host BYO Laptop Session