First

User Guide

Edition 5.2.3
January 2009

Sibelius First User Guide written by Daniel Spreadbury.

See the About Sibelius First dialog for a full list of the software development team and other credits.
We would like to thank all those (too numerous to list) who have provided helpful comments and
suggestions for Sibelius First and its documentation.
Please email any suggestions for improvements to this User Guide to [email protected] (but please
do not use this address for suggestions or queries about the Sibelius First program itself see the separate installation instructions for the correct address for your country).

Sibelius First copyright Sibelius Software, a division of Avid Technology, Inc. and its licensors
19872008
Sibelius First User Guide copyright Sibelius Software, a division of Avid Technology, Inc.. 1992
2008
Published by Sibelius Software, The Old Toy Factory, 2023 City North, Fonthill Road, London
N4 3HF, UK
All rights reserved. This User Guide may not be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, recording, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise in whole or in part, without the prior written consent of the publisher. Although every care has been taken
in the preparation of this User Guide, neither the publisher nor the authors can take responsibility for any loss or damage arising from any errors or omissions it may contain.
Sibelius, the Sibelius logo, Scorch, Flexi-time, Espressivo, Rubato, Rhythmic feel, Arrange, ManuScript, Virtual Manuscript Paper, House Style, SoundStage, Opus, Inkpen2, Helsinki, Reprise, magnetic, multicopy, Optical, Dynamic parts, SoundWorld, Panorama, the blue notes and double helix logos,
SibeliusMusic.com, SibeliusEducation.com, The fastest, smartest, easiest way to write music and 99% inspiration, 1% perspiration are all trademarks or
registered trademarks of Sibelius Software, a division of Avid Technology, Inc.. in the USA, UK and other countries. All other trademarks are acknowledged as the property of their respective owners.

Contents
Start here

About this User Guide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

MIDI setup for Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
MIDI setup for Mac . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12

Quick tour

15

Look and feel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17

Playback . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22
Basic editing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .24
Printing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .28
Starting a new score . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .29
Mouse input . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .34
Alphabetic input . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .38
Step-time input . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .47
Flexi-time input . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .48
Basic formatting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .50
Upgrading to the full Sibelius . . . . . . . . . .53

Reference

55

Beams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .57
Breaks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .58
Chord diagrams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .60
Chord symbols . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .61
Clefs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .62
Display settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .64
Document Setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .65
Dynamic parts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .69
Exporting graphics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .73
Exporting audio files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .75
Exporting MIDI files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .76
Exporting Scorch web pages . . . . . . . . . . .77
Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .80
Flexi-time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .82
Grace notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .87

Guitar tab input . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89

Importing graphics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
Instrument names . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Instruments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
Key signatures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
Layout and formatting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
Lines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
Live Playback . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
Lyrics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
Mixer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
Noteheads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
Opening MIDI files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
Percussion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
Performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
Playback Devices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
Plug-ins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
Preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
Printing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
Repeats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
Rehearsal marks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
Scanning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
SibeliusMusic.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
Slurs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
Staves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
Common text styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
Ties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170
Time signatures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
Transposing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
Tremolos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
Triplets and other tuplets . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
Voices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178

Start here

Start here

Start here

About this User Guide

About this User Guide

However much you may dislike manuals, you must read the whole of this Start here section in
order to get started with the program.
You are then very strongly advised to read all of the Quick tour section before embarking on any
serious work with Sibelius First. Sibelius First is easy to learn and mostly self-explanatory, but if
you dont read the Quick tour you will run a risk of never discovering some basic features, particularly if you are used to notation programs that work in different ways. When youve gone through
this section you will be able to input, edit, play back and print out straightforward music, and
youll know how to get going on more complicated music too.
This User Guide assumes a basic understanding of how to use your computer (such as the mouse,
keyboard, menus and files).

Reference
More advanced topics are covered one by one in the Reference section of this User Guide, which
explains every feature in complete detail. The Reference is not meant to be read from start to
finish, because most people only use quite a small proportion of music notation anyway. You can
browse through relevant parts of Reference at your leisure.
Boxes in Reference
Youll find boxes like these
scattered throughout the
Reference, explaining various notation and music
engraving rules.

Typography and cross-references

Names of computer keys, menus and dialogs are written like this.
Items in menus and sub-menus are denoted with >, so choose File >
Open means choose Open from the File menu.
b Accidentals means see the Accidentals topic (within Reference).
p Pearl of wisdom denotes something well worth remembering try
looking up wisdom in the index. (The p is a lovely picture of a pearl.)

Basic terminology
Most of the computer terminology that follows will be understood by almost all readers, but has
been included in case one or two of the terms is unfamiliar:
* Some keys are labeled differently on different keyboards, particularly on Mac. For the purposes

of this User Guide, these are the conventions:

Mac symbol
Mac name
Windows equivalent
X
Command Ctrl (Control)
x
Shift
Shift
z
Option
Alt
R
Return
Return (on main keyboard)
E
Enter
Enter (on numeric keypad)

Start here

Warning!

Start here
* Sibelius First is almost identical on Windows and Mac, but where there are differences, mainly

*
*

*
*

in keyboard shortcuts, the Windows convention is listed first. Keyboard shortcuts are also
shown in menus.
Type Ctrl+A or XA means hold down the Ctrl (Windows) or X (Mac) key and type A. Even
though A is written as a capital letter, dont type Shift unless explicitly told to do so. Similarly,
for standard shortcuts like Ctrl+? or X? where both / and ? exist on the same key, you actually
type Ctrl+/ or X/ without using Shift.
Similarly, Alt+click or z-click means hold down the Alt (Windows) or z (Mac) key and
click.
On Windows, to click something means to move the mouse arrow over it and click the left mouse
button. To right-click something means to point at it with the mouse and click the right mouse
button.
On Mac, to click something means to move the mouse arrow over it and click the left mouse button, if you have one; if you are using one of the older models of mouse that has only one button,
then click the mouses only button. To Control-click means to hold down the Control key on
your keyboard (sometimes labeled Ctrl) and click the left or only mouse button; if, however, you
have a mouse with a right mouse button, you can simply click the right mouse button instead.
To drag something means to point at it with the mouse, and then click and hold the left mouse
button (or the only mouse button on Mac) while moving the mouse. To finish dragging, just let
go of the mouse button.
A dialog is a window with buttons on. Some dialogs are divided into several pages and have a
pop-up combo box (Mac), labeled tabs at the top, or a list box, which you can click to switch
between pages of the dialog.
The numeric keypad is the rectangle of numbers and other characters at the very right-hand side
of your computer keyboard. (Notebook (laptop) computers usually dont have a separate
numeric keypad.)
Return is the large key to the right of the letter keys. On some keyboards it is labeled with
Enter or a special arrow symbol, but we always call it Return.
Enter is the large key at the bottom right of the numeric keypad. On some keyboards it is unlabeled, but it still means Enter.

American and British English

Sibelius First and this User Guide use American English, but for the benefit of readers in other
countries, some non-American terms such as crotchet are included in parentheses.
British readers may be interested to know that in America, both bar and measure are used (so
for universality weve opted for bar), and staff means British stave.

Suggestions
We are always happy to receive reports of errors or misprints, and suggested improvements to this
User Guide. Please email them to [email protected].
We would also like to hear your suggestions for improvements to the Sibelius First program itself;
please post these suggestions to the chat page on the Sibelius web site.

MIDI setup for Windows

MIDI setup for Windows

Connecting MIDI devices to your computer
MIDI stands for Musical Instrument Digital Interface. It is a standard, not a thing the universal
standard for connecting electronic musical instruments together. MIDI keyboards, synthesizers,
sound modules, samplers and other electronic music gadgets can all be plugged into one another
with MIDI cables, and can also be plugged into your computer. Soundcards and software synthesizers are also MIDI compatible, and as theyre already in your computer you dont need to attach
cables at all in order to play music back.
How your MIDI devices connect to your computer depends on a number of factors, including the
model of your computer, the model of your MIDI devices, and which other hardware you already
have connected; but in general there are three kinds of connection:
* Many MIDI devices such as keyboards have USB connections, enabling you to connect your

MIDI keyboard directly to your computer using only one USB cable
* You can connect a separate MIDI interface to a USB port on the back of your computer, and plug
your MIDI controller into the MIDI interface using MIDI cables
* You can connect an external MIDI device directly to the gameport (or joystick port) on your
computers soundcard with a special cable.
Most Windows computers are supplied with a soundcard that is capable both of General MIDI
playback, and also of connecting your computer to external MIDI devices via the gameport. Many
computers have both a gameport and a USB port neither option is more preferable than the
other, however if you want to upgrade your system in the future, you should probably opt for a
MIDI interface or a keyboard that can connect directly to one of your systems USB sockets.

Connecting MIDI devices directly via USB

Most new MIDI keyboards and other devices can connect directly to your computers USB sockets
without the need for a separate MIDI interface. To install one of these devices, simply connect a
USB cable (which may be provided with your device) to your computer, and follow the on-screen
instructions to install the necessary driver software.
Once the drivers are correctly installed, you can set up input and playback in Sibelius First see
Choosing an input device in Sibelius First below.
You should switch on the power on your USB-connected MIDI devices before running Sibelius
First. Failure to do so may result in Sibelius First not correctly detecting your MIDI device when it
loads.

Connecting MIDI devices via a MIDI interface

A MIDI interface is a small box that sits between your computer and your external MIDI devices,
sending MIDI data back and forth. MIDI interfaces usually connect to a USB port on your computer. You might need a separate MIDI interface if:
9

Start here

There are three steps to setting up your MIDI devices: connecting the hardware, installing the
necessary software, and then setting up MIDI in Sibelius First.

Start here
* your external MIDI device doesnt have its own USB connection; or if
* your soundcard doesnt support full duplex operation (e.g. if you find that Sibelius First plays

back through your external MIDI device, but youre unable to play music into Sibelius First
from your external device); or if
* your computer doesnt have a gameport, because its a notebook (laptop).
MIDI interfaces usually require additional driver software, which will be supplied by your devices
manufacturer.
Well assume your MIDI interface connects via USB, and show
you some common MIDI setups. Connections between MIDI
devices all use standard MIDI cables, pictured on the right.
To plug in just a MIDI keyboard, connect its Out socket to the MIDI interfaces In socket. This
means that music played on the keyboard will go out of the keyboard, along the cable and in to the
computer.
To make the computer play back music into the keyboard (e.g. if the keyboard has sounds built
into it), also connect the MIDI interfaces Out to the keyboards In.
If your keyboard has two In or Out sockets, it usually doesnt matter which you use theyre
just convenient duplicates of each other.
So connecting up a keyboard alone looks like this:

If you want to connect just, say, a sound module, rather than a keyboard, simply connect the MIDI
interfaces Out to the sound modules In.
Once youve connected your MIDI devices to your computer, you can set up input in Sibelius First
see Choosing an input device in Sibelius First below.

Connecting MIDI devices via the gameport

In general, you wont need to buy a separate MIDI interface for your computer, provided you have a
soundcard that supports full duplex operation (check with the manufacturer), or if you can use a
direct USB connection instead.
Using your soundcards gameport also has the advantage of not requiring any further driver software you can just plug in your MIDI device, and away you go.

10

MIDI setup for Windows

The gameport is usually found next to the sockets used to connect speakers and microphones to
your computer. Typically, it will be on the soundcard, which looks something like this:

Start here
The gameport is the rectangular-ish connector, shown here at the far left. To connect this to an
external MIDI device, youll need a Y-shaped MIDI-to-gameport cable, which looks something
like this:

Note how the two MIDI plugs are labeled In and Out. To connect this cable to, say, a MIDI keyboard, you should connect the plug labeled In to the socket on the back of the keyboard marked
Out, and the plug labeled Out to the socket on the keyboard marked In.
Thats all there is to it. Provided you have the In and Out plugs in the right sockets on your
MIDI keyboard (or sound module), you can now finish setting things up see below.

Choosing an input device in Sibelius First

Once you have connected and switched on your MIDI input device, run Sibelius First and choose
File > Preferences. You will see a list displaying the detected input devices on the right-hand side:
make sure that the device or devices you want to use for input are selected (i.e. colored blue). You
can use Shift-click to select a continuous range of devices, and Ctrl+click to select multiple
devices.
If your MIDI input device isnt shown, make sure that it is correctly connected and switched on.
Click Find New Devices to see if that makes it appear: if not, try quitting Sibelius First and running it again.

11

Start here

MIDI setup for Mac

To set up MIDI on Mac, simply connect your MIDI devices as described below, use Mac OS Xs
Audio MIDI Setup utility, then see below to find out how to set up MIDI input in Sibelius First.

Connecting MIDI devices to your Mac

MIDI stands for Musical Instrument Digital Interface. It is a standard, not a thing the universal
standard for connecting electronic musical instruments together. MIDI keyboards, synthesizers,
sound modules, samplers and other electronic music gadgets can all be plugged into one another
with MIDI cables, and can also be plugged into your computer. Soundcards and software synthesizers are also MIDI compatible, and as theyre already in your computer you dont need to attach
cables at all in order to play music back.
On Mac, MIDI devices connect via USB or Firewire ports. In both cases, you often have the choice
of connecting a MIDI device either directly (to the computers USB or Firewire ports), or via a
MIDI interface.
For example, to connect a Roland SC-88 Pro sound module to a new iMac or G4 with USB, youll
need to use an external MIDI interface, because its a fairly old model. However, the newer Roland
SC-8820 connects directly via USB connection, so no MIDI interface is required.

Connecting MIDI devices directly

This diagram shows how to connect a sound module (shown) or MIDI keyboard directly.
There is normally a switch on the back of the keyboard or sound module that determines which of
the connections it should send and receive data
through, so ensure that this is set correctly (in this
case, it should be set to USB). You may have to switch your sound module or keyboard off and on
again to make it take notice of changing this setting.
Check your module or keyboards manual for precise connection details. Direct connections often
require additional driver software, which will be supplied by your devices manufacturer.

12

MIDI setup for Mac

Connecting MIDI devices via a MIDI interface

A MIDI interface is a small box that connects MIDI devices to your Mac via its USB port.

Start here

Connect a sound module using a MIDI interface like this:

The MIDI cable is connected from the Out socket on the MIDI interface to the In socket on the
sound module.
To add a MIDI keyboard or other input device, you should connect your devices as shown below:

The second MIDI cable goes from the Out socket on the keyboard to the In socket on the MIDI
interface.
MIDI interfaces often require additional driver software, which will be supplied by your devices
manufacturer.

Audio MIDI Setup

Once you have connected up your external MIDI equipment, you need to use the Mac OS X utility
Audio MIDI Setup to tell the operating system what each of the devices are:
* Run Audio MIDI Setup by double-clicking its icon, which is in the Utilities folder inside the
*
*
*
*
*

Applications folder
Click the MIDI Devices tab
Provided your MIDI device is correctly installed, it should appear in the large white window
If the attached MIDI device is a sound module, you dont need to do anything else just quit
Audio MIDI Setup
If the attached device is a MIDI interface, you should click the Add Device button to add a new
external device
Double-click the new external device icon. In the dialog that appears, change its Name (to
match the name of the device, e.g. Roland JV-1080), then choose the most appropriate avail13

Start here
able options from the Manufacturer and Model lists. (Advanced users with complex MIDI setups may need to click the More Properties button to control additional parameters such as on
which MIDI channels the device can send and receive data.
* Now you need to tell your Mac that your new device is connected to your MIDI interface. Drag
from the arrows on the icon representing each device to draw wires between their inputs and
outputs.
* When youre done, simply quit Audio MIDI Setup, see below for what to do next.
Further information on using the Audio MIDI Setup utility can be found on the Web here:
http://www.sonosphere.com/MusicSoftware/MacOSX/AudioMIDISetup/

Choosing an input device in Sibelius First

Once you have connected and switched on your MIDI input device, run Sibelius First and choose
Sibelius First > Preferences. You will see a list displaying the detected input devices on the righthand side: make sure that the device or devices you want to use for input are selected (i.e. colored
blue). You can use Shift-click to select a continuous range of devices, and X-click to select multiple devices.
If your MIDI input device isnt shown, make sure that it is correctly connected and switched on.
Click Find New Devices to see if that makes it appear: if not, try quitting Sibelius First and running it again.

14

Quick tour
Quick tour

Quick tour

16

Look and feel

Look and feel

Opening a file
To help get you started, we have provided some example scores to demonstrate various aspects of
Sibelius First. You can modify these without fear of retribution, as the originals remain unaltered
on your installation CD-ROM. Lets open one now.

A standard Open dialog appears. On Windows, you should find that you are inside a folder called
Scores, which will contain a shortcut (or alias) to a folder called Example Scores. On Mac, you
will find the Examples Scores folder on your installation CD-ROM. Double-click this, then go
into the Other folder, select the score called Quick tour, and then click Open. This is a singlepage excerpt from a rag by Scott Joplin called Something Doing.
As an aside, you can also open scores when Sibelius First isnt running just find the file
on your computer and double-click it to open it in Sibelius First (which automatically
starts Sibelius First if it isnt already running). Sibelius First scores have icons that look
like the one pictured on the right.
When youve opened the Scott Joplin score, the music appears, looking somewhat like this:
Menus

Toolbar

Playback window

Navigator

Keypad

17

Quick tour

Choose Open another file and click OK on the Quick Start dialog, or click the toolbar
button shown to the left, or choose File > Open (shortcut Ctrl+O or XO).

Quick tour

Moving around the score

At the bottom left-hand corner of the screen is a gray rectangle called
the Navigator. This shows a miniature view of some of the pages. The white
rectangle on the Navigator shows which portion of the music is shown on the
screen.
* If you cant see the Navigator, switch it on by choosing Window > Navigator (shortcut
Ctrl+Alt+N or zXN)
* Click anywhere on the Navigator, and the window will instantaneously jump to that part of the score
* Alternatively, click the white rectangle and drag it around, which pans the window smoothly

around the score. This effect is very striking and enhances the disconcerting impression that you
are moving a video camera around a real score. On a typical computer the screen redraw time is
just 1/10th of a second or less!
* In long scores, if you drag the white rectangle towards the left-hand or right-hand side of the
Navigator, the view of the score will continue to move leftwards or rightwards. The further you
drag, the faster it moves through the score. This allows you to move continuously across any
number of pages.
By moving around the score with the Navigator, you can see that pages are laid side-by-side on a
blue desk. With long scores, pages are joined in pairs as if in a score opened flat, so you can see
where page-turns will occur.
Notice that the paper on the screen is textured, which makes it easier on the eye. As well show you
later on, you can choose between a wide range of different paper and desk colors, textures and
materials even parchment or wood!
If moving around the score is slow, try setting the paper and/or background textures of the full
score and parts to plain colors see Textures below.

Keyboard shortcuts
Sibelius First is full of keyboard shortcuts that let you perform an action by typing a key rather
than using the mouse. Its a good idea to learn keyboard shortcuts at least for the most common
operations.
Some easy shortcuts to learn are for moving around the score:
* Page Up (8 on some Mac keyboards) and Page Down (9 on Mac) move up or down a screenful
* Home (4 on Mac) and End (7 on Mac) move left or right a screenful, or a whole page if the
whole width of the page is in view. Ctrl+Home or X4 and Ctrl+End or X7 go to the first or
last page. (Some Mac keyboards do not have a 7 (End) key, in which case you can use x4
instead to go right a screenful, and xX4 to go to the last page.)
p Pearl of wisdom Avoid using the mouse learn and use as many keyboard shortcuts as you can!

The mouse is only absolutely required for a very limited number of operations. Sibelius First is
endowed with many keyboard shortcuts, some of which work wonders (e.g. creating and positioning
slurs using just the letter S and Space, explained later).

18

Look and feel

Other ways of moving around the score

You can also move the paper without using the Navigator, by clicking a blank part of the paper and
dragging it around.
By default, there are no scroll bars, because the Navigator is a much quicker and easier way of moving around the music; though you can switch on scroll bars if you want them, from the View menu.
If you have a mouse with a wheel button, you can also use the wheel to scroll around the score,
whether or not you have View > Scroll Bars switched on:
* Scroll the wheel up and down to move the page up and down; hold down Alt to move a screenful

The toolbar
At the top of the screen, below the menus, you will see the Sibelius First toolbar. This gives you
quick access to important functions such as saving, printing and playback, as follows:
1

7 8

10

11

12

13 14

16
15

18
17

20
19

1. New start a new score

11. Transposing score on/off

2. Open get existing score

12. List of dynamic parts

3. Scan music using PhotoScore (if installed)

13. Switch Between Full Score and Part

4. Save store score on disk

14. Sibelius First User Guide

5. Export Audio

15. Navigator on/off

6. Print the current score

16. Keypad on/off

7. Undo the last operation

17. Playback window on/off

8. Redo the last thing you undid

18. Mixer on/off

9. Zoom tool

19. Properties window on/off

10. Zoom presets

20. Show/Hide tool windows

When your mouse is over any of the buttons, its name appears. If its not obvious what some of
these buttons actually do, dont worry well explain them all later on.

Zooming
To adjust the magnification of the score, click the Zoom magnifying glass on the toolbar, then click
on the score to zoom in, and right-click (Windows) or z-click (Mac) to zoom out. To zoom in to a
specific area, click and drag on the score to draw a rectangle; when you release the mouse button,
Sibelius First zooms in to the area you dragged around.
To stop zooming, click the Zoom toolbar button again, or just hit Esc (which is generously used in
Sibelius First to stop or deselect things).
19

Quick tour

at a time
* Hold Shift and scroll the wheel to move the page left and right; hold down Alt as well to move a
screenful or pageful at a time
* You can also use the wheel to zoom by holding down Ctrl or X see Zooming below.

Quick tour
Its even quicker to use the keyboard shortcuts
for zooming: type Ctrl++ or X+ to zoom in,
or Ctrl+ or X to zoom out. If you have a
note or other object selected (something well
explain shortly), itll zoom in on that note.
You can also select a particular percentage
zoom factor from the drop-down list on the
toolbar, or type in your own.
If you have a mouse with a wheel button,
holding Ctrl or X and scrolling the wheel up
and down zooms in and out.
Try zooming in very close on a note by selecting it first (notice how Sibelius First zooms in on the
thing you select), or onto the top right-hand corner of the first page notice how you can see a
whole stack of pages.
Try zooming out so that you can see the whole page of music on your screen. Then zoom back in to
100%, which is a convenient size for doing most things in Sibelius First.

The Keypad
The Keypad at the bottom right of the screen is where you choose note values,
accidentals, articulations, ties and other markings for creating and editing
notes. (Articulations are symbols above or below a note such as staccato, tenuto
and accent. Note value means the length of a note.)
The numeric keys at the right of your computer keyboard correspond to the buttons on the Keypad. Typing these keys does exactly the same as clicking the buttons with the mouse, and is quicker.
The five little tabs just below the bar that says Keypad choose between five different layouts of musical symbols on the Keypad, which well call the first layout,
second layout, etc. To change layout, you can either click the tabs with the mouse, hit F8F12, or
click the button (shortcut +) to cycle through the layouts; the button (shortcut F8 on Windows, on Mac) goes back to the first layout.
Have a quick look through to see whats in the other layouts fairly obscure stuff. The first layout is
the one youll be using most of the time.
The row of numbers at the bottom of the Keypad are for setting the voice of the note youre inputting or editing. Well talk about this more later on.
Beware that because the numeric keypad is used for specific functions in Sibelius First, you cant
switch off Num Lock to use the number keys as alternative arrow keys etc. while using Sibelius
First, as you can with other programs.
Well explain more about the Keypad shortly.

20

Look and feel

The menus
At the top of the screen are Sibelius Firsts menus. Take a quick look through them now. The menu
youll be using the most is Create, which is used to obtain any musical marking not on the Keypad,
such as time signatures, clefs, text, etc.

Customizing the screen

When youre proficient with Sibelius First and have learned more keyboard shortcuts, you will be
able to use the program entirely like this if you want, instead of using the mouse to click on buttons. Turn these three options back on again from the Window menus in the same way.

Textures
You can further customize the appearance of your screen by changing the textures used for the virtual paper and desk you work on, in the File > Preferences dialog (in the Sibelius First menu on
Mac).
For further tips on changing Sibelius Firsts display, see Display settings on page 64.

Multiple monitors
You can run Sibelius First with more than one display attached to your computer. This is very useful as you can open a different score on each display, or (say) have your music on one screen and
the Navigator, Keypad, Mixer and Properties windows all on the other.

21

Quick tour

You can easily change how your Sibelius First program looks on screen. Try switching off
Window > Playback, Window > Keypad and Window > Navigator to free up more space on the
screen, or alternatively click the little close icon at the top of each window. (You can hide all these
so-called tool windows by choosing Window > Hide Tool Windows, and show them again by
choosing it again.)

Quick tour

Playback
Now you are familiar with the look and feel of Sibelius First, lets play back some music.
Click the Play button on the Playback window or hit Space to start the music, which should
begin to play back. You can also find this function in the Play menu, but who needs
menus?
If you get no sound at all, choose Play > Playback Devices. Youll see a list of all the available playback devices on your computer. By default, Sibelius First will choose a device called GM Module,
which is a built-in virtual instrument that provides 128 high-quality General MIDI sounds. You
should normally use this device indeed, you must use this device in order to export an audio
track from your score. If this device is chosen but you dont get any sound, click the Audio Engine
Options button in Playback Devices and check that an appropriate audio output is chosen on
your computer. If you still hear no sound, make sure that your computers volume control is not
muted. For more information about playback devices, b Playback Devices.
Sibelius First automatically hides the Keypad (and the Properties window, if its open) and zooms
in to show you a full page width of music. Youll see a vertical green line (called the playback line)
passing through the music to indicate the position as it plays. The score moves around to follow the
music. If there are lots of instruments, Sibelius First tracks those that were on the screen when you
started playback.

Playback window
The Playback window allows you to view and control Sibelius Firsts playback:
Fast-forward

Play
Stop

Rewind

Flexi-time

Move Playback
Line to End

Live Playback
Click (on/off)

Move Playback
Line to Start

Timeline slider
MIDI in & out
indicators

Timecode
readout

Current
tempo

Tempo slider

Click the appropriate buttons to play, stop, fast-forward or rewind. Rewinding plays the music
backwards (or kind of backwards). Alternatively, use the one-key shortcuts Space (play or stop), [
(rewind) and ] (fast-forward). The fast-forward and rewind buttons accelerate in speed if you hold
them down. You can also fast-forward and rewind when not playing, to move the playback line;
next time you play back it will start from that point. To play from a particular point, you can alternatively click on a note to select it, and hit P. (Well explain how to play back other things, such as
particular staves, later on.)
You dont have to have the Playback window open in order to use the keyboard shortcuts.
22

Playback
You can drag the tempo slider to alter the speed, which is displayed at the right-hand side of the
toolbar. When the sliders in the middle, Sibelius First precisely follows any metronome marks
written in the score. Well explain the other things on the playback window later.
Sibelius First multitasks while playing back, so you can drag the paper (directly or with the Navigator or Page Up/Page Down or 8/9) to get a better view while its playing, or zoom in and out with
the Ctrl++/ or X+/ shortcuts. Its often useful to zoom to 50% or 75% when playing back, so
you can see most or all of a page while still being able to read the music.

Interpretation
You may have noticed that Sibelius First takes notice of more than just the notes and accidentals as
it plays back: it follows the metronome marking (q = 80); it plays the written dynamics and hairpins; and it plays the accents and any other articulations too.
Some of the more advanced playback effects Sibelius First knows about are trills, glissando lines,
rit./accel. markings, tempos like Andante, Fast and Poco allargando, and even text like pizz.
to change to a pizzicato string sound, and mute to make, say, a trumpet play with a muted sound.
Theres more about playback later on in this User Guide.

23

Quick tour

When youve had enough of playback, hit Space again to stop. If your computer or playback device
isnt fast enough to cope with rewinding or fast-forwarding at high speed, it may occasionally leave
a note hanging on when you stop. If this happens, you can choose Play > All Notes Off (shortcut
Shift-O).

Quick tour

Basic editing
Before creating any music of your own, lets try out some basic techniques by editing our Quick
tour score.

One-key shortcuts
An aside: Sibelius First makes full use of one-key shortcuts that is, shortcuts that dont require
you to hold Shift or other funny keys. Some examples weve already met are the playback controls
(Space P [ ]), and later in this section well be introduced to more one-key shortcuts used on the
Keypad.
The clear benefit of one-key shortcuts is that you can type them quickly with one hand, without
adopting awkward claw-like hand positions.

Selecting objects
Almost everything that Sibelius First can do can be done using the mouse, so lets try that before
using keys. Click a note in the score (you have to point at the oval notehead itself). It turns dark
blue. If the color doesnt show up clearly, adjust the controls on your monitor.
Anything you can click on like this is called an object, and choosing an object is called selecting it.
Once an object is selected, you can do things to it such as delete it, edit (change) it, copy it or move it.
When you select a note, notice how Sibelius First plays it with the correct pitch and instrumental
sound instant feedback in case you made a mistake.
Try selecting all sorts of different objects in the score selectable objects include notes, rests, text,
barlines, time signatures, slurs and so on. To deselect an object, click an empty part of the paper or
hit Esc. However, you dont have to deselect an object when youve finished doing something to it.
As we mentioned, you can also select objects with the keyboard starting with nothing selected
(Esc), hit Tab to select the first object on the page, then use the 0/1 arrow keys to move around
the score. Alt+3/2 or z3/2 moves up and down through noteheads of a chord (if any) and then
onto the staff above or below; Ctrl+0/1 or X0/1 moves left and right a bar at a time.

Moving objects
Go back to the start of the Quick tour score, and click the notehead of the first note, which looks
like this:

Drag the note up to look like this:

24

Basic editing

Notice how, as you drag, leger lines appear and disappear, the slur leaps about and the stems of the
first two notes change direction always ensuring that the music is correctly notated.

Instead of dragging, you can move notes up and down with 3 and 2, or type Ctrl+3/2 or X3/2
to move by an octave. Try this, too.

Moving staves
Something you may have just discovered by accident is that Sibelius First lets you drag any staff up
and down. This powerful feature is invaluable in helping you to produce clear layout.
Zoom out to 50%, click a staff (away from any notes) and drag it up and down the whole score
will instantly reformat as you drag. This glimpse of Sibelius Firsts hidden power is enough for now
more about formatting later.
Zoom back in to 100%.

Deleting and cutting

Try selecting various objects, then deleting them with the Delete key:
* delete a slur (from the lower half of the page)
* delete a piece of text (from the top of the page)
* delete a note: it turns into a rest, to ensure that the rhythm still adds up.

You can delete a rest, which hides it, and leaves the rest of the rhythm still aligned as if the rest
were still there. When you first delete a rest, its color changes to a lighter shade to show that its
been hidden; when you deselect it, itll disappear altogether. You shouldnt normally hide rests but
it can sometimes be useful for special notations.
You can also use Backspace to delete objects, or choose Edit > Delete.
Edit > Cut (shortcut Ctrl+X or XX) is similar to Delete, but cuts objects to the clipboard so that
you can paste them elsewhere with Edit > Paste (shortcut Ctrl+V or XV). This is not used much in
Sibelius First, so theres no need to try it now.

Undo and Redo

After deleting something, try clicking the left-arrow toolbar button shown here, or
choose Edit > Undo (shortcut Ctrl+Z or XZ). This undoes the last operation you
did, and should make the deleted object miraculously reappear. This is a whole lot
easier than going back and correcting a mistake. Sibelius First supports multi-level undo try typ-

25

Quick tour

Now try dragging other notes up and down at random. If you drag a note up or down a long way
onto lots of leger lines, the note turns red. This warns you that the note is too high or low for the
instrument (here, a piano) to play. Sibelius First knows the ranges of all instruments, and you can
alter them yourself for performers of different abilities if you like.

Quick tour
ing Ctrl+Z or XZ a number of times to see your score rebuild itself. Click the right-arrow toolbar
button or choose Edit > Redo (shortcut Ctrl+Y or XY) to redo whatever you just undid.
Sibelius First even includes an undo history that lists all the operations youve recently done, and
lets you jump back to any earlier point in time.

Copying
You can copy objects in several ways, which you should try:
* Alt+click or z-click: select a note, point at a rest somewhere else on the screen and do Alt+click
or z-click (i.e. hold down Alt or z and then click). The note is copied to where you clicked, and

ends up identical other than the pitch, which is taken from how high up on the staff you clicked.
You can copy any other object with Alt+click or z-click, too this is the recommended method
of copying objects. You can even copy many bars of music at once something well come onto
later.
On Windows, if you have a third (i.e. middle) mouse button or a clickable scroll wheel, you can
use it instead of Alt+click to do a copy and paste in a single action. If you only have a two-button
mouse, turning on this option allows you to perform a chord-click, that is, clicking the left and
right mouse buttons simultaneously, to duplicate the function of the middle mouse button.
Edit > Repeat (shortcut R): select a note or other object and hit R. This repeats any note, chord,
text, passage of music, or various other objects after itself. To repeat an entire bar in one staff,
click on the bar you want to copy, then hit R. To repeat an entire bar in all staves, click on the bar
while holding down Ctrl or X, then hit R.
Edit > Copy (shortcut Ctrl+C or XC): this is the traditional way to copy music to the clipboard,
followed by Edit > Paste (shortcut Ctrl+V or XV) to paste it elsewhere. This method is slower
than the previous ones and so is not particularly recommended, except for copying music
between different scores (because Alt+click or z-click only copies within the same score).
These Edit menu functions are also available on the context-sensitive menu you get by rightclicking (Windows) or Control-clicking (Mac) when one or more objects is selected.

Editing notes with the Keypad

All of the Keypad keys instantly modify the selected note e.g. to add/remove an accidental, articulation or tie. Just select a note, then choose a Keypad button to add one of these objects to the
note, or remove it again.
Lets try it:
* Select the Bb just before the B at the end of the third full bar of Quick tour
* Click the > button on the Keypad, or hit the corresponding key on the numeric keypad. This

adds an accent to the note.

* Drag the note up to E in the staff with the mouse, or use the 3 key notice that the accent moves
with the note, and ends up above it. Move the note back down again.
* Click the natural sign, or hit 7 (on the numeric keypad) to add a natural. Notice how Sibelius
First then removes the redundant accidental from the next note but it will still play back as a B
natural. To test this, re-type 7, which removes the natural from the first note. The second notes

26

Basic editing
natural is now no longer redundant, so it reappears. Hit 7 once more to put the natural back on
the first note.
* Click the tie button or hit Enter (on the numeric keypad). This puts a tie after the first note. Well
show you how to edit the actual note value of a note later.
You should end up with:

Quick tour
If none of this seems to work properly then you probably werent in the first Keypad layout, in
which case just click the first layout tab (or hit F8) and try again.
Beware that keys on the numeric keypad appear to be the same as keys on the main keyboard, but
in fact do different things. For instance, 8 on the numeric keypad produces a sharp, but 8 on the
main keyboard doesnt. From now on, when were talking about the Keypad, assume youll be typing any keys on the numeric keypad unless told otherwise.
p Pearl of wisdom As with other keyboard shortcuts, learn to use the numeric keys to choose
things from the Keypad rather than using the mouse. The best way to learn (which you neednt try
just yet) is to put your mouse in an inconvenient place such as on the floor, then see how long you can
survive without it!

Brief recap
* Youve learned about the Navigator, toolbar and Keypad
* Youve learned how to zoom, play back, and undo
* You can select any object just by clicking it, then move, copy, edit or delete it
* The quickest way to copy objects is with Alt+click or z-click, or R (Edit > Repeat)
* Youve learned how to move notes with the mouse or arrows, and how to edit their accidentals

and articulations with the Keypad.

You should gradually learn to use keyboard shortcuts wherever possible, particularly the numeric
keys and other frequently-used shortcuts.

27

Quick tour

Printing
Before you start to write a score of your own, lets print out the Joplin Quick tour example that
came from the Other folder (inside your Example Scores folder). If its still littered with changes
from the editing youve just been doing, close it (clicking No when asked if you want to save the
changes) and then open it again.

Printing a score
To print, just click the button on the toolbar shown on the left, or choose File > Print
(shortcut Ctrl+P or XP). A fairly standard Print dialog appears. Dont worry about all
the options just click OK on Windows or Print on Mac to print your score.
(As an aside, when dialogs like Print are open you can also just hit Return on the main keyboard
instead of clicking OK, Print, Create or whatever; hitting Esc does the same as clicking the
Cancel button.)
Within a few moments, a high-quality printout of the Quick tour score should emerge from your
printer. Hold on to this printout, because youll be reading music off it when we cover note input
shortly.

28

Starting a new score

Starting a new score

You can get rid of the example score now, so close it by choosing File > Close (shortcut Ctrl+W or
XW), or by clicking the close icon in the top corner of the editing window. If you are asked if you
want to save the changes, click No.
If you want to open this score again quickly, the File > Open Recent File submenu contains a list
of the ten scores youve worked on most recently.

The File > New dialog guides you through the creation of your score in five easy steps:
* Choose the instruments from a list of pre-defined manuscript papers, or create your own
*
*
*
*

instrumentation, and choose the page size and orientation;

Decide the appearance of the score, e.g. whether to use a traditional or handwritten music
design;
Set the initial time signature and tempo;
Set the initial key signature;
Finally, give your score a title, enter the composers name, etc., and create a title page, if you want
one.

You can click Finish after any step, so you dont have to make all of these decisions at the very
beginning if you dont want to.
The dialog is so simple to use that you probably dont need any help getting from one end to the
other, but since we want to set up a particular kind of score, lets work through it together.

Manuscript paper
The first page of the dialog lists many types of instrumentation in alphabetical order. Just like
selecting real manuscript paper in a store, you can choose between different shapes and sizes (at
the bottom), or pick paper that is pre-printed with standard groups of instruments.

If youre writing for a standard ensemble, its a good idea to use one of Sibelius Firsts built-in
manuscript papers rather than defining your own, because the supplied ones have numerous help29

Quick tour

To start a new score, click the icon on the toolbar shown on the left, or choose File > New
(shortcut Ctrl+N or XN). A dialog headed New Score appears.

Quick tour
ful defaults, such as special instrument name formats, suitable staff sizes and so on, already set up
for you. (Later you can learn how to create your own manuscript papers.)
To start a piano score (which is what we want) its quickest to use the Piano manuscript paper, but
for the moment just choose Blank (which is, as the name suggests, completely blank manuscript
paper), because we want to learn how to create instruments.
When you click Next, Sibelius First will ask you if you want to add any instruments to your score.
Click Yes.

Creating instruments
You can create new instruments whenever you like you dont need to decide them all at the start
but you should pick at least one instrument initially otherwise youll have nothing to write music for!

Sibelius First allows you to write for around 90 of the most common instruments (the full Sibelius
allows you to write for more than 600 different instruments). The instruments are listed in the
standard order in which they would appear in a score, but again you can customize the order if you
want to.
Were going to input the Scott Joplin score we printed out earlier, so the only instrument we need
for now is the piano. Choose Keyboards in the Family list, then Piano in the Instruments list,
and click Add to put the two piano staves into the rightmost Staves in Score list. Then click OK.
(You can see this dialog again at any time by choosing Create > Instruments, or typing the single
key shortcut I. Its very useful, as it allows you not only to add and remove instruments from your
score, but also to change their order at any time.)

House style
Youre now returned to the second page of the New Score dialog, which allows you to set the
house style of the score youre about to create. You can think of the house style as the look or
appearance of your score; different publishers have different house styles, and Sibelius First allows
you to tweak the look of your score in just about every imaginable way, from the fonts you use, to
the size of the staves and notes, to the most intricate details, such as the thickness of final double
barlines!
We wont worry ourselves with such minutiae now, though. Take a look at the list of pre-defined
house styles shown on the screen. Choose Keyboard Opus (Times), because this has some useful
30

Starting a new score

options set up for keyboard music (such as putting dynamics halfway between the staves by
default). The name Opus refers to the music font (i.e. the design of the notes and other symbols)
used in the house style, and Times the main text font. Near the bottom of the dialog you can also
change the main text font to use for your score from any installed font on your computer. Just leave
it at the default setting (Unchanged), and click Next.
You may like to experiment in future with different house styles. The ones using the Reprise and
Inkpen2 music fonts look handwritten particularly suitable for jazz. And the Helsinki music font
has a traditional engraved look.
The third page of the dialog allows you to choose a time signature and set the tempo of your score.

Choose 2/4, and because we want a pick-up (upbeat) bar, switch on Start with bar of length. Our
pick-up bar is one eighth note (quaver) long, so choose that from the menu. You can, of course,
change time signature (and just about everything else) at any point while working on your score,
so were just setting the initial time signature here.
You could also add a tempo marking from the Tempo text list, and add a specific Metronome
mark too but for now just click Next.

Key signatures
The fourth page of the dialog allows you to choose a key signature. Choose F major from the righthand list, and click Next.

Score info
The fifth and final page of the dialog allows you to enter some text, such as the title of the score, the
name of the composer/lyricist, and copyright information. The text is automatically added to the
first page of music, and if you switch on Create title page, Sibelius First will add the title and
composer to an extra title page it creates for you, too.
For now, enter Something Doing as the Title, SCOTT JOPLIN as the Composer/Songwriter
(its customary for composer names to be written all in capital letters), and click Finish. (As we
mentioned earlier, you can in fact skip some of the steps when starting a score by clicking Finish at
any earlier point.)
31

Quick tour

Time signatures

Quick tour
A mere blink of an eye later, your score is created, ready for you to start adding notes:

Adding more bars

The five bars plus the pick-up (upbeat) Sibelius First gives you to work in isnt enough for any but
the most modest of musical thoughts, so lets add some more. The easiest way to add bars to your
score is using Ctrl+B or XB (the shortcut for Create > Bar > At End), which adds an extra bar at
the end of the score.
Type Ctrl+B or XB slowly a few times, and watch carefully what happens.
Then tap Ctrl+B or XB lots of times to put in a stream of bars. (If your computer is fairly slow, it
may continue adding bars for a few seconds after you release the keys.)
When you have three or four pages, survey the scene with the zoom tool and Navigator, then zoom
back in to 100%.
In case you werent paying attention, in the course of adding bars Sibelius First was continuously
reformatting the score to produce the best possible result it spread the music onto new systems
(staves joined together that are played simultaneously) when the first system got too full, and created more pages when the first page got too full. Also, Sibelius First juggled the bars around to distribute them evenly through the score, and wrote bar numbers at the start of each system.
The only problem now is filling up all that blank space with notes.
p Pearl of wisdom No need to plan in advance! You can add extra instruments or extra bars at

any time. Its fine to start writing a score with just one instrument and a few bars you dont have to
create lots of bars at the outset. As you add more music later, Sibelius First will instantly reformat it
for you!

32

Starting a new score

Brief recap
* Youve learned how to print scores just choose File > Print (or the toolbar button)
* Youve learned how to start a new score choose File > New (or the toolbar button) and then fol-

low your nose

* Add instruments at any time by choosing Create > Instruments (shortcut I)
* No need to add extra pages just add more bars (Ctrl+B or XB) and Sibelius First automatically
lays out your score over as many pages as necessary.

Quick tour
33

Quick tour

Mouse input
You should be looking at the start of your new piano score. If youre not, zoom to 100% and move
to the first bar of the score.

Creating some notes

Well choose our first note from the Keypad. First, ensure nothing in your score is selected, by hitting Esc. Click the sixteenth note (semiquaver) symbol on the Keypad with the mouse, or type 2 on
the numeric keypad (which does the same thing). The mouse pointer turns dark blue, to show that
it is carrying a note. As you move the mouse pointer over the score, a gray shadow note is drawn,
showing you where the note will be created when you click. Notice how it even draws leger lines
above and below the staff, so you can position high and low notes accurately.
Now click the mouse pointer near the start of the right-hand piano staff, pointing at the F space,
first space up:

If you clicked in the wrong place, you can use 3 and 2 to adjust the pitch of the note after youve
inputted it.
Notice that Sibelius First has helpfully padded out the pick-up (upbeat) bar with a rest, so that the
bar still adds up. Notice also that the note you just added is dark blue, showing that its selected,
and a vertical dark blue line called the caret is just to the right of it.

The caret
The caret means that Sibelius First is ready for you to input more notes.
You should think of the caret like the familiar line you find in word processing software.
The caret is especially useful for alphabetic input, which well come on to a
little later, so well explain exactly what it does then.
You may also see the green playback line, which you can switch off (if it annoys you) by switching
off View > Playback Line.

Adding more notes

The sixteenth note (semiquaver) button on the Keypad stays selected, so you can carry on creating
more notes by clicking with the mouse you dont need to re-choose the sixteenth note button.
Input the first four notes of the right-hand part, shown below (or read off the page you printed earlier); when you need to add the eighth note (quaver), simply click the appropriate button on the

34

Mouse input
Keypad (or hit 3 on the numeric keypad) before you click in the score to add the note. You should
end up with:

Quick tour

The next note is a sixteenth note (semiquaver) tied to a quarter note (crotchet). Add the
sixteenth note as normal (dont forget to choose it from the Keypad first, or youll get
another eighth note). Then click the tie button on the Keypad (shown on the right), or hit
Enter on the numeric keypad, which does the same thing. Now click the quarter note
(crotchet) on the Keypad (or hit 4) and click in the score to input it:

If at any point you make a mistake, you can just click the left-arrow toolbar button or
choose Edit > Undo (shortcut Ctrl+Z or XZ) one or more times to undo what you just
did.

Accidentals
In the second full bar we need to write a C#. To do this with the mouse, simply choose the sharp button from the Keypad (or hit 8 on the numeric keypad) before you click in the score to add the note:

You can also add accidentals to notes after youve inputted them. Lets try this. If you can see the
caret, hit Esc once to stop creating notes (Esc also does things like stop playback, cancels a dialog,
or deselects the selected object). You can now change (edit) the characteristics of notes and other
objects already in your score. Click on one of the other notes in the first couple of bars so that it
turns dark blue, then click the accidental buttons on the Keypad try clicking the flat button
(shortcut 9), then click it again to remove the accidental. You can also add and remove articulations from the keypad, and even change the note value in exactly the same way.
Continue creating the notes in the top staff: first hit Esc to deselect the note youve just been editing, then click the sixteenth note (semiquaver) button on the Keypad, and click in the score to
input more notes from your printout, or the score shown below.

Rests
In the fourth full bar we encounter our first rest. Creating a rest during mouse input is simple:
select the value of the rest as normal using the Keypad, then click the button with the rest symbols
35

Quick tour
on it (shortcut 0) to tell Sibelius First you want to input a rest, and click in the score. However,
Sibelius First always pads out bars with rests to ensure they add up, so youll often find as in this
case that the rest is already there for you, and you wont need to input it.

Articulations
Also in the fourth full bar we need to write a chord, and we also need to add our first articulation.
Remember that if we want to add accidentals or articulations to notes, its best to choose them
before creating the note, rather than going back and adding them afterwards.
Articulations can be found on the first and fourth Keypad layouts. The marcato (or hat if you prefer) articulation we need for the chord in the fourth full bar is on the fourth layout. If youre not
familiar with how the Keypad works, skip back to The Keypad on page 20 for an introduction.
Having chosen the marcato articulation on the fourth Keypad layout (shortcut F11), choose the
eighth note (quaver) button on the first Keypad layout (shortcut F8) if its no longer highlighted,
then use the mouse to input the four notes of the chord one above the other, like this:

When creating notes with accidentals or articulations, it doesnt matter in what order you choose
the accidental, articulation and note value on the Keypad, so long as you choose them all before
you actually input the note by clicking on the staff.

A little copying
It wont have escaped your notice that the music in the first couple of bars of the score is doubled in
octaves between the hands. Rather than input the same music twice, lets copy the right-hand
music onto the left-hand staff.
First, if you can see the caret, hit Esc to get rid of it. Now click on the very first note in the righthand staff (so it goes dark blue), and carefully Shift-click (i.e. hold down the Shift key and click
the left mouse button) on the second of the tied G sixteenth notes (semiquavers) in the third full
bar. You should see a single light blue box surrounding all the intervening notes:

Now z-click or Alt+click onto the rest at the start of the left-hand staff to copy the notes across,
and youll see this:

36

Mouse input
As you can see, Sibelius First always copies music to the same (sounding) pitch, though it rewrites
it if necessary in the appropriate clef. So type Ctrl+2 or X2 to transpose the notes down an octave
to the correct pitch.
Incidentally, this is the first time youve selected a passage of music. A passage is a continuous
chunk of music, maybe running over many pages. It can run along one staff or several. Youll most
often select a passage in order to copy music from one instrument to another, e.g. because theyre
doubling each other.

This is also the first time youve encountered the Ctrl or X key when editing. In Sibelius First, Ctrl
or X with an arrow key generally means move in big steps for example, to change the pitch of a
note by a single step, you use 3/2, and to change the pitch of a note by an octave, you use Ctrl+3/
2 or X3/2. Various operations in Sibelius First use Ctrl or X to do things in big steps, such as
moving other objects (such as text), increasing or decreasing note spacing, and so on.

Finishing creating notes

Finish writing the first four full bars using the mouse, including the left hand (reading off the page
you printed earlier). When youve finished, hit Esc twice: the first time dismisses the caret, which
tells Sibelius First that you dont want to create any more notes, and the second time deselects the
last note you created (you can also achieve this by clicking on a blank part of the paper).
If you forget to do this, then Sibelius First will continue creating notes wherever you click though
you can spot that this will happen because a dark blue mouse pointer always tells you that Sibelius
First is about to create an object.

Brief recap
* To create notes with the mouse, select the note value and any other Keypad markings such as

*
*

*
*

accidentals and articulations before clicking in the score. Only ties need to be added after the
note has been inputted.
You can select any number of note value, articulation, accidental, beam, tremolo, etc. buttons on
any combination of Keypad layouts before creating a note, and all of them will apply to the note
you input. (It doesnt matter if you cant see all the highlighted buttons at once because they
spread across different layouts.)
If you can see the caret, shadow note, or colored mouse pointer, Sibelius First is ready for you to
create notes
When creating notes, the note value and articulation buttons (and most other Keypad buttons)
stay pressed down so you can carry on creating notes of the same kind. To stop putting articulations on notes, choose the appropriate button again to switch it off.
Passages allow you to copy, delete or edit whole stretches of music at once. Often, the quickest
way of creating music is to copy it using Alt+click or z-click.
Ctrl or X with the arrow keys means move in big steps.

37

Quick tour

Passages allow you to edit, copy or delete lots of notes at once. Well come on to them in more detail
a little later.

Quick tour

Alphabetic input
You should now be ready to start writing the music from bar 5 of the Scott Joplin score. But before
you do

Save your work!

You should always save your work regularly, and keep backups, preferably on a CD-R or other
removable media, such as a USB flash memory stick (sometimes called a pen drive).
To save, choose File > Save (shortcut Ctrl+S or XS) or click the toolbar button shown
here, find a suitable location (e.g. your Scores folder or the Desktop), give your score a
name such as Joplin then click OK. On Windows, the Scores folder is inside your My
Documents folder; on Mac, the Scores folder is inside your user Documents folder.
Sibelius First also automatically saves a copy of your score into a special folder every few minutes.
If your computer should suffer a power failure or crash, the next time you start Sibelius First you
will be given the opportunity to restore any lost work.
Furthermore, every time you save your score using File > Save, Sibelius First makes a numbered
backup and puts it into the Backup Scores folder inside your Scores folder. If, say, your score
gets deleted by accident, or if you make a major change that you later decide you dont want, check
inside the Backup Scores folder for a recent version.
For more information on these useful features, see Files on page 80.

Alphabetic input
A second way of creating notes, which is much quicker than mouse input once youre used to it, is
to type pitches using the letters AG directly from the computer keyboard, and make chords using
the numbers 19 on the main keyboard (not the numeric keypad).
Try adding the right-hand music from bar 5:

* Click the little bar rest rectangle in bar 5 of the right hand, so that it goes dark blue this tells
*
*

*
*

38

Sibelius where to begin. From now on, do not touch the mouse however tempted you are!
Hit N (the shortcut for Notes > Input Notes), which makes the caret appear
Hit F8 to see the first keypad layout (if it isnt showing), then type 2 on the numeric keypad to
choose a sixteenth note (semiquaver). You must choose a note value, so that Sibelius knows how
long you want the notes to be.
Type A C F A Enter (on the keypad) A F C A. When you type Enter, Sibelius adds a tie. Notice
that the caret moves after every note you input, showing you where the next note will be added.
Type 3 on the keypad to choose an eighth note (quaver) it wont appear in the score just yet

Alphabetic input
* Type C 3 (use the 3 on the main keyboard, not the numeric keypad). This inputs a C eighth note
*

*
*

Though not touching the mouse is initially disconcerting, you can see how fast this gets once
youre used to the keypresses.
Just as notes are only created by the mouse when you actually click in the score, with alphabetic
input, a note is only actually created in the score when you type the letter AG. Any buttons chosen on the keypad are merely preparing what will happen when you type AG or click the mouse.
So, as with mouse input, you need to type any accidentals, articulations, or other Keypad markings
before typing the letter. (If you forget, you can always go back afterwards and edit the note.)
The are only a few exceptions to this:
* adding ties (by hitting Enter) is done after creating the note (just because it feels more natural as

the tie is after the note);

* changing the octave of the note (by typing Ctrl+3/2 or X3/2); and
* creating a triplet (which well come on to later).

Chords in alphabetic input

Weve just been using two simple ways of building chords in alphabetic input. Input one of the
notes in the chord as normal, then:
* Type a number 19 on the main keyboard (not the numeric keypad) to add a note an interval

above, or type a number Shift-19 to add a note below; e.g. 1 adds a unison note, 3 adds a note
a third above, Shift-6 adds a note a sixth below
* Type Shift-AG to add a note of that pitch above the current note. (There arent shortcuts for
adding notes below by letter-name use Shift-19 instead.)
You can keep adding further notes to a chord in the same way.
Especially useful, you can select passages of notes and add notes above/below all of them at once
using 19 or Shift-19. Try selecting a blank part of bar 5 so that it is enclosed by a single light
blue box, then type 8 to add notes an octave above.

More detail
Now that youve understood the principles of alphabetic input, heres a bit more detail to take in.
Its probably best to try each of these points out in the score:
39

Quick tour

(quaver), then adds a note a third above it to make a two-note chord.

Type D Shift-3 (again, use the 3 key on the main keyboard, this time while holding down Shift).
This inputs a D eighth note, then adds a note a third below it, again to make a two-note chord.
(You could instead have typed B 3 to input the B first and then the D above it; even though the B
is really a Bb, you only need to choose a flat from the Keypad if you want the flat symbol to
appear.)
Type 4 on the keypad to select a quarter note (crotchet)
Type A Shift-C. This inputs an A quarter note and then adds a C above it, once again making a
two-note chord. (These ways of forming chords are explained below.)
Hit Esc twice to stop creating notes and deselect the last note, as weve stopped adding notes for
the moment.

Quick tour
* How does Sibelius know which octave you want? Answer: it writes the note nearest in pitch to the

*
*
*
*

preceding note. So if you type a repeating scale C D E F G A B C D E F G, Sibelius will carry

on up and up. But when necessary, you can alter the octave of a note after creating it by typing
Ctrl+3/2 or X3/2
Dont forget that you can still use Edit > Repeat (shortcut R) to repeat notes, chords, other
objects or even passages if you like
You can edit the pitch of any note youve previously inputted by selecting it and typing AG
As with mouse input, to input a rest during alphabetic input, just hit 0 on the keypad. (The rests
length is as specified on the keypad, as for notes.)
You can switch between alphabetic input and mouse input at any point you dont have to input
all the notes with one method or the other.

If you look at your computers keyboard, youll see that all the letters AG, R, and the numbers 1
9 are easily accessible by your left hand, and your right hand can easily reach all the numeric keypad and arrow keys (as well as Delete, Page Up and so on). So a proficient user can touch-type
notes very, very quickly, with minimal hand movement!

Adding text and lines

With alphabetic input you can add text such as dynamics, and lines such as slurs and hairpins to
your music as you input the notes. But before we get onto this more advanced technique, lets
experiment with adding some text and lines when were not creating notes.

Metronome marks
Sibelius follows metronome marks during playback. If you hit Space to hear the first few bars of
the score, youll notice that it plays back a little too quickly. Try dragging the tempo slider on the
Playback window with the mouse to find a suitable tempo notice how the tempo readout to the
left of the slider changes as you drag the slider, giving you an easy way to find the exact tempo you
want. Drag the slider back to the middle (you can tell when it gets to the middle because itll stick
there) and hit Space to stop playback.
Lets now add a metronome mark to the start of the score:
* Type Ctrl+Home or X4 to go back to the start of the score, and select the first note (this tells
*
*
*
*
*
*

40

Sibelius where to put the metronome mark)

Choose Create > Text > Metronome mark
A small flashing caret appears above the note Sibelius knows that this kind of text should go
above the staff, so it automatically puts it there
Now right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Mac) a menu of useful words appears. This
menu is appropriately called a word menu.
Choose the quarter note (crotchet) from the menu and click it. The menu disappears, and the
quarter note appears in your score.
Hit space, then type = 80 to complete the metronome mark
Finally, hit Esc to stop creating text (another use of Esc to stop things).

Alphabetic input
You should now see:
q = 80

Try playing back the score again make sure the tempo slider is set to its middle position to hear
exactly the right speed.

A word about text

Other than the notes, many instructions for musicians playing from a score take the form of text. A
lot of the text in a Sibelius score is entirely automatic so you dont have to think about adding it, e.g.
page numbers, bar numbers and instrument names. But youll also want to add all kinds of other
text yourself, from dynamics and lyrics to metronome marks and tempo text. Most text instructions play back, so when you create dynamics or tempo markings, Sibelius understands them and
plays back accordingly.
Each type of text you can create in Sibelius has its own so-called text style, which specifies its font,
size, position and other characteristics. Text styles are called obvious things like Title, Lyrics and
Tempo.
Every kind of text is created in the same way:
* Select a note or other object at the position where you want the text to be created
* Choose the text style you want from the Create > Text submenu
* A flashing caret appears
* Now you can either type directly into your score, or right-click (Windows) or Control-click

(Mac) to see a word menu containing a list of useful words to choose from
* When youve finished creating text, hit Esc
* To edit text thats already in your score, double-click it, or select it and hit Return (on the main
keyboard).
As an aside, you can also create text without selecting an object in your score first, although if you
do, Sibelius wont know where to put it, so it waits for you to place the object with the mouse (just
like mouse input of notes). The mouse pointer will change color to show its carrying an object
(as in mouse note input), and you can then click in the score where you want the text to go to make
the caret appear.
With some text styles there are constraints on where you can move them e.g. titles are defined to
be centered on the page, so you can only move them up and down, not left and right. Similarly,
Tempo text (used for writing directions like Allegro) is defined to go only above a system,

41

Quick tour

Incidentally, the concept of selecting a note before creating a new object (such as this metronome
mark) in order to tell Sibelius where it should go is an important one and applies to just about
every object youll ever create in your score, so well come across this much more later.

Quick tour
although in large scores it can also be duplicated lower down. By contrast, Expression text (for
dynamics etc.) can go more or less anywhere in the music.
All text you create is attached to a particular rhythmic point in the music and applies to a particular staff (or to all the staves). For instance, you will find that you can put text in the left-hand margin of the page, but it still attaches to the start of the bar its next to if the bar moves, the text will
move with it instead of staying stuck meaninglessly on the spot.
To find out more about text, see Text on page 163.

Dynamics
Well use the term dynamics to mean both text instructions like mp and hairpins (wedge-shaped
cresc./dim. lines). Text dynamics are written in a text style called Expression. For example, lets create a dynamic at the start of the piece:
* Select the first note in the top staff of the score
* Choose Create > Text > Expression (shortcut Ctrl+E or XE)
* A flashing caret appears below the first note
* Hold down Ctrl or X and type mp holding down Ctrl or X tells Sibelius to write the letters

using the special bold characters which should be used for dynamics. You could instead rightclick (Windows) or Control-click (Mac) to choose the dynamic from the word menu.
* Hit Esc to stop creating text.
You should now see:
q = 80

mp

Now lets add a hairpin in the third full bar:

* Select the first note in the third full bar of the top staff.
* Type H, and a crescendo hairpin appears beneath the note. (You could instead type Shift-H for a

diminuendo hairpin.)
* Hit space to extend the hairpin a note at a time; if you go too far, use Shift-space to retract it

again.
You should now see:

42

Alphabetic input

Slurs and phrase-marks

Along with hairpins, the most common line-like objects in your scores will be slurs and phrasemarks. Sibelius treats these identically, and calls them all slurs, since a phrase-mark is actually
just drawn as a big slur. Lets add a slur in bar 8:
* First input the bar 8 notes, then select the second note of the bar
* Type S and the slur is created, automatically slurring to the next note
* As for the hairpin, type space until the slur extends to the end of the bar; use Shift-space to

retract it if you go too far.

Quick tour

You should now see:

Try selecting the note at either end of the slur and moving it up and down notice how the slur is
magnetic, sticking as neatly as possible to the notes at either end.
Now try selecting the slur itself and choosing Edit > Flip (shortcut X) this flips the slur to the
other side of the notes. This is another one-key shortcut worth remembering: you can use Edit >
Flip to change the stem direction of a note or group of beamed notes, flip the curvature of ties, flip
slurs and triplets to the other side of notes, and so on.

A few lines about lines

There are various musical markings consisting of straight, curved, wiggly or dashed lines, including hairpins, slurs, trills, pedal marks, first and second endings (1st/2nd-time bars), and octave
lines (such as 8va). In Sibelius First, these kinds of object are called lines. All lines can be created
in the same way:
* Select a note or other object in your score to tell Sibelius First where you want the line to start
* Choose Create > Line (shortcut L)
* The dialog is divided into two panels: Staff lines and System lines. Staff lines apply only to a

single staff, and include things like slurs, trills and hairpins; system lines apply to all staves in the
score, and include things like rit./accel. lines and 1st- and 2nd-endings.
* Select the line you want and click OK (or hit Return)
* The line appears in the score; hit space to extend it rightwards a note at a time, and Shift-space
to retract it leftwards again.
The most common lines have direct shortcuts, namely hairpins (H for a crescendo, Shift-H for a
diminuendo), and slurs (the single-key shortcut S, or Shift-S for a flipped slur).
Usefully, you can also select a bar or other passage before creating a line, in which case Sibelius
automatically creates the line to the length of the selected passage, on the top selected staff.
Should you want to, you can also place lines with the mouse. Make sure nothing is selected (hit Esc
to do this) before you choose Create > Line; once youve chosen your line, your mouse pointer will
change color, telling you that its carrying an object, so that you can click in the score to place the
43

Quick tour
line. Then click and drag rightwards to extend the line as far as you want it to go, before releasing
the mouse button. (However, you shouldnt normally create slurs with the mouse, as doing so creates a less intelligently positioned (non-magnetic) slur which is only used in special circumstances.)
You can always adjust the length of lines after creating them by selecting either end and using
space/Shift-space, the 0/1 arrow keys (with Ctrl or X for big steps), or dragging with the
mouse.
For more information about lines, see Lines on page 100.

Adding objects as you go along

As we mentioned earlier, you can add text, lines, and other objects while youre inputting notes.
Lets add a dynamic at the beginning of bar 9 using just the keyboard:
* Select the little bar rest rectangle in bar 9 of the top staff, type N to make the caret appear, then
*
*
*
*

type 2 (on the numeric keypad) A

Type Ctrl+E or XE; a flashing caret appears below the staff
Hold down Ctrl or X and type p, which inserts a p dynamic
Hit Esc to stop creating text
Type C F A Enter (on the keypad) A F C A to input the notes in the rest of the bar

You can add any object during note input in this way. Try some of these:
* Type K (or choose Create > Key Signature) and create a key signature change. Sibelius automat-

ically places the new key signature after the note you last inputted.
* Type T (or choose Create > Time Signature) and create a time signature change. Sibelius automatically places the new time signature at the start of the next bar.
* Type Q (or choose Create > Clef) and create a clef change. Sibelius automatically places the new
clef after the note you last inputted, and will add a cautionary clef at the end of the previous system if you create a clef at the very start of a system.
* Type Ctrl+R or XR (or choose Create > Rehearsal Mark). Sibelius adds a rehearsal mark at the
beginning of the next bar.
As you will see, being able to create objects from the keyboard can greatly reduce the amount of
time it takes to input music.
Another useful trick to know involves making a passage selection (remember A little copying
on page 36?) before you create a clef, time signature, key signature and so on. This tells Sibelius
that you want the new object to take effect only up to the end of the selection. Sibelius then automatically rewrites the original clef, key signature or time signature at the end of the selection for
you, which can be very useful.
p Pearl of wisdom Right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Mac) any blank part of the paper to get

the Create menu much quicker than moving your mouse to the menu at the top of the screen. (But
using the keyboard shortcuts to create objects is quicker still.)

44

Alphabetic input

Voices
Sibelius can write up to four independent voices, or lines of notes and chords, on a single staff.
Although you dont need to write anything in the extra voices to copy out the Scott Joplin score
were working on, you should learn how to use them. The voices are color-coded: voice 1 is dark
blue, voice 2 is green, voice 3 is orange, and voice 4 is pink. Youll rarely need to use more than two
voices. Heres an example of music in two voices; the voice 1 notes have stems pointing up, and
voice 2 has stems down.

Quick tour

To start an extra voice:

* Select a note or other object in the score where you want the new voice to start
* Hit N; the caret appears
* The shortcuts for the four voices are Alt+1/2/3/4 or z1/2/3/4; well assume we want voice 2,
so type Alt+2 or z2. Alternatively you can use the buttons at the bottom of the Keypad.
* Now choose the note value, any articulations, accidentals and so on required, then simply type

the name of the note on the keyboard. Note that voice 2 is color-coded green.
* Now you can continue to input notes in voice 2 with the mouse, keyboard or step-time input.
There are lots of voice-related operations which we wont cover here, but just to whet your appetite:
* You can select particular notes from chords, then separate them into another voice simply by
typing, say, Alt+2 or z2.
* Merge a passage of music in multiple voices into a single voice by selecting it and typing Alt+1
or z1.

For lots more detail about voices, see Voices on page 178.

Triplets and other tuplets

Tuplets are rhythms which are played at some fraction of their normal speed most commonly
they are triplets, which you create like this:
* Find (for example) a blank bar in a staff in your score
* Input an eighth note (quaver)
* Now type Ctrl+3 or X3; a triplet bracket and number appear:

45

Quick tour
Input two more notes to complete the triplet; notice how the bracket disappears automatically
(which is the conventional notation for this case):

You can type Ctrl or X with any number, e.g. 5 or 6 for a quintuplet or sextuplet.
For more information, see Triplets and other tuplets on page 177.

Editing notes
You should recall that you can edit an existing notes articulations, accidentals and other attributes
just by selecting the note and choosing the appropriate button on the Keypad. Lets try this again to
remind you:
* Select a note somewhere in the top staff of our Scott Joplin score
* If the Keypad isnt showing the first layout, click the first Keypad layout tab (or hit F8)
* Click the button or hit the corresponding key on the keypad to add a tenuto to the note
* Click the natural button or hit 7 to add a natural.

Remember, you can remove or replace the natural or tenuto just by re-typing the key try this.
You can also add any number of articulations to the same note Sibelius First will stack them up
in the correct order.
Changing the pitch of a note is just as simple: select the note and type the new pitch using the letters AG. Now try changing the note value of the selected note. Just click the quarter note
(crotchet) button, or hit 4 and the note becomes a quarter. Notice, incidentally, that when you
change the length of a note, Sibelius First either deletes subsequent notes or creates rests to keep
the bar length correct.

Brief recap
* R repeats a note/chord, and the numbers 19 above the letter keys add a notehead the specified

*
*
*
*
*

46

interval above the selected note to make a chord (Shift-19 for notes below); Shift-AG adds a
notehead of that pitch above the selected note
Create text, lines, etc. from the Create menu, but use S, H, Shift-H and space for slurs and hairpins
Its best to select a note or other object in your score first, so that Sibelius knows where the new
object should go
You can create text, lines and other objects as you create notes, making it very quick to go from a
blank manuscript to a finished score
You can have up to four independent voices on each staff
Triplets and other tuplets are easily created by typing, say, Ctrl+3 or X3.

Step-time input

Step-time input
If you dont have a MIDI keyboard, skip on to Basic formatting on page 50.
Step-time input is like alphabetic input using a MIDI input device, and is faster still. All you do is:
* Select a rest to start creating notes from, and type N to make the caret appear
* Choose a note value on the Keypad (you must remember to do this)
* Start playing notes on the MIDI keyboard. As with alphabetic input, choose any articulations or

The only differences from alphabetic input are:

* You dont need to input accidentals, as Sibelius First can of course tell when youre playing a

black note. Sibelius First makes an intelligent guess as to how you want black notes spelled
e.g. as F# or Gb on the basis of the key signature and the musical context. However, you can
ask Sibelius First to respell a note after creating it just by hitting Return (on the main keyboard).
* You can input chords instantly just by playing them (you dont have to input one note and then
add further notes to it).
These differences make step-time input somewhat faster than alphabetic input.
Try writing the left hand of the piano part from bar 5, which is all in eighth notes (quavers), using
step-time input:
* First select the bar rest in bar 5 in the left-hand staff (so it goes dark blue)
* Then choose eighth notes (quavers) from the Keypad
* Then play in the notes.

You can always go back with the arrow keys if you made a mistake, or want to change something.
As with alphabetic input, to correct a note or chords pitch you can just select it and re-play it on
your MIDI keyboard. Or theres always Undo!
You should end up with:

When the left-hand part is perfect, hit Esc to deselect everything, click the Move Playback Line
to Start button on the Playback window (shortcut Ctrl+[ or X[), and hit Space to play the whole
lot back. (Youll need to stop playback with Space after the last note otherwise Sibelius First will
carry on through the score for ages, playing the rests!)
47

Quick tour

other markings on the Keypad before creating a note. These Keypad keys remain on until you rechoose them.
* To change note value, choose a new note value from the Keypad before creating the note
* To input a rest, hit 0 on the keypad, which inputs a rest of the value selected on the Keypad.

Quick tour

Flexi-time input
Weve seen how using mouse, alphabetic and step-time input gives you a whole range of options for
note entry. Do try them all and see which one feels most comfortable for you or mix and match.
Many people compose large works on Sibelius First using just these methods, but you should also
look at Sibelius Firsts unique real-time note input system, which is called Flexi-time.
Real-time input simply means that you can play into a computer program and it will write down
both the pitches and the rhythm you play. Thats the theory, anyway. In practice, it is very difficult
for any program to understand what rhythm you are playing without either analyzing the music
after your performance, or being given a lot of help. This usually means you have to play along as
exactly as possible with a metronome click, and then quantize the music afterwards in an
attempt to clean up any inaccuracies in your rhythm.
However, Sibelius First takes a unique approach that enables you to play in a rather freer style,
and still get good results.

Trying it out
The easiest thing to do is to try playing in a single melodic line. Lets do this first you should still
be looking at the Scott Joplin score weve been working on. Well start playing in notes using Flexitime from bar 13:
* Select bar 13 in the right-hand piano staff so that it is enclosed in a single light blue box (or

*
*

select the little bar rest rectangle itself); this tells Sibelius First where to start recording from.
Now brace yourself, because as soon as you choose Notes > Flexi-time Input (shortcut Ctrl+Shift+F or xXF) or click the circular record button on the
Playback window, Sibelius First will give you one bar count-in, then start recording
what you play. Try it now:
Flexi-time gives you a single bars count-in by default so in this case you should hear two
clicks count-in. (If you do not hear a metronome click, check your playback device is switched
on, then see Flexi-time on page 82.)
At the end of the count-in, try playing the next few bars smoothly, following the speed of the
clicks
Keep going for as long as you like, and notice how Sibelius First displays the notes on the screen
(it will usually be several notes behind you). It may be easiest not to watch the screen
while recording!
Once youre used to following the clicks, try gently slowing down and speeding up the clicks
should follow you. This feels quite strange at first, so make your tempo fluctuations gradual
before testing the limits!
When you want to stop recording, click the square stop button on the Playback window or hit
Space.

Use the Navigator to have a look at what Sibelius First has transcribed. If there are any mistakes,
you can use the editing techniques you have already learned to correct the note values and pitches.

48

Flexi-time input
Flexi-time on page 82 describes how to input onto two staves simultaneously. You can also
change other options such as rubato (the flexibility of your tempo), the speed, sound and count-in
of the metronome click, and the way in which triplets and other tuplets are recognized.

Deleting unwanted bars

Playing the keyboard without creating notes

If you have a master (silent) keyboard, its often useful to be able to play on it and hear what youre
playing without creating notes in your score.
To do this, click on an empty part of a staff so that a bar is enclosed in a light blue box, then hit Esc
to cancel the selection. Now play on your keyboard. No notes will be inputted, but the sound of the
staff you selected will be used as you play.

49

Quick tour

Flexi-time usually adds empty bars to your score to ensure you have enough to record into. So if
after using Flexi-time, you find you have a lot of unwanted bars at the end of your score, you can
easily delete them: click in a blank part of the first bar that you dont need so that its surrounded by
a blue box, then go to the final bar of your score (make sure you dont click on any actual music
while youre doing this) and Shift-click inside the final bar. Now choose Edit > Delete Bars, or use
the shortcut Ctrl+Delete or X-Delete. Youre asked if youre sure you want to delete these bars
from the score: click Yes. (If you dont want Sibelius First to ask you for confirmation again in
future, switch on Dont say this again before you click Yes.)

Quick tour

Basic formatting
Sibelius First continually rearranges the bars and staves of your music as you input it. To anyone
who has used a word processor this idea should be familiar its just that in music the results are
much more dramatic. This process of laying out music onto pages is called formatting.

Reformatting
Whether youre composing, arranging or just copying out music, you will always want to go back
and change things, such as adding bars in the middle of music youve already written. Sibelius
First has to react properly by reformatting the music that follows which it does instantly.
One advantage of this instant reformatting is that theres no command to add a new system or page
this just happens as you go along. Another advantage is that you can make massive changes to
music youve already inputted such as changing the page shape and Sibelius First will instantly
update the layout of the whole score accordingly.
To show an extreme example of the kind of formatting that happens the whole time, open the
Quick tour score again, which is on Letter-sized paper. It looks like this:

Now lets change the orientation of the paper from portrait (upright) to landscape (sideways) format. Choose Layout > Document Setup (shortcut Ctrl+D or XD) to see this dialog:

50

Basic formatting

Quick tour
Switch the orientation from Portrait to Landscape, see how it changes in the score preview on the
right of the dialog, and click OK. The score now looks like this:

The score, which previously fitted on a single page, now runs onto a second page. Notice how the
number of bars on each system is different from the original score, with the exception of the first
system, because it ends with a system break, explained below.
If you like, open the Layout > Document Setup dialog again and try changing the Page size
option on the left-hand side. Watch what happens in the preview on the right. Try increasing and
decreasing the Staff size option and notice how Sibelius First reformats the music.
(For full details about this dialog, see Document Setup on page 65.)

Controlling the layout

As well as changing the page and staff size, there are various other ways you can control the way
your score is formatted, including creating breaks, changing the note spacing, and changing the
staff spacing.

51

Quick tour

Breaks
Sometimes you need a system or a page to end at a particular point for example, in our Quick
tour score the first system ends at the double barline, because a system break has been added
there.
To add a system break, select a barline and choose Layout > Break > System Break, or use the
shortcut Return (on the main keyboard).

Note spacing
Occasionally you will want to adjust the horizontal note spacing of a note or passage. Give this a
try: click in a blank part of any bar in your score so that it is surrounded by a single light blue box,
then type Shift+Alt+0/1 or xz0/1 to expand and condense the note spacing within that bar
(with Ctrl or X for big steps). To reset the bar back to its default spacing, select it and choose
Layout > Reset Note Spacing (shortcut Ctrl+Shift+N or xXN).

Staff spacing
Sometimes it is necessary to be able to increase the distance between staves within a single system
in order to avoid collisions involving very high or low notes. Try this out: select a bar in the lefthand piano staff by clicking on a blank bit of staff and drag it up and down or use the shortcuts
Alt+3/2 or z3/2. Notice how Sibelius First reformats the music as you move the staff.

Hiding empty staves

In music for larger ensembles, it is common to hide the staves of instruments that are not playing.
This saves space and can make the score easier for the conductor to follow. For more details, see
Staves on page 161.

Brief recap
Trust Sibelius First to format your music attractively without your having to intervene, but if you
need to alter the layout
* You can change the page and staff size of your score at any time, and Sibelius First will automat-

ically reformat your score instantly to reflect the changes

* Use page and system breaks if you need to force particular bars onto a page or system (but dont
do this routinely)
* Increase or decrease the note spacing with Shift+Alt+0/1 or xz0/1
* Move staves to increase or decrease the space between staves and systems only move individual
staves to make small adjustments, and use keyboard shortcuts for greater control and precision.

52

Upgrading to the full Sibelius

Upgrading to the full Sibelius

You may find after a while that there are some things you cant do in Sibelius First. No problem
you can upgrade to the full Sibelius product yourself at a special discount price choose Help >
Upgrade to Full Sibelius for more details.
If you do decide to upgrade to the full Sibelius, here are some of the many extra things youll be
able to do:

*
*

*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*

or effect
Unlimited staves (Sibelius First is limited to 12)
Much greater control over the layout of scores and instrumental parts, including the ability to
copy the layout of one part to another, have multiple instruments in the same part, make several
parts for different instruments and transpositions from the same staff, etc.
Paste as Cue, instrument changes, and many other features for orchestral/band music
Panorama view, which allows you to input music as if laid out on a single, infinitely wide page, so
you dont need to worry about page layout until youre ready to print
Focus on Staves, which allows you to view only some of the staves in your score, useful for
music minus one arrangements, and when working in scores for larger ensembles
Arrange feature does instant arranging and orchestration
Over 110 plug-ins - extra features which do useful things to your music
More than 1700 built-in worksheets and other teaching and learning resources, including projects, posters, games, flashcards, and hundreds of pieces of repertoire
Many more notations such as very long & short notes, more advanced tuplets, guitar chord diagrams, special symbols, unusual instruments
Export graphics in EPS, TIFF and PNG format, for professional publishing
Copy and paste graphics to other programs, e.g. Microsoft Word, at much higher resolutions
Support for specialist music notations, such as accordion, handbells, lute tablature, early music,
microtones, harp pedal diagrams, etc.
Many advanced features to let you control the design and position of everything in your score,
for perfect publishing-quality results.

For a full list of all the differences, see www.sibelius.com/first

53

Quick tour

* Use the high-quality Sibelius Sounds Essentials sample library, and any other virtual instrument

Quick tour

54

Reference

Reference
55

Reference

56

Beams

Beams
Beams are the thick lines used to join short notes into groups. Sibelius First beams notes together
into groups for you automatically, though you may sometimes want to adjust beaming yourself.

Beam groups
Exactly how notes should be beamed together is determined by the time signature you are working
in. For example, in 4/4, eighth notes (quavers) are normally beamed in groups of four; in 6/8,
eighth notes are normally beamed in groups of three; and so on.

Editing beams
To adjust beaming in individual places, rather than setting them throughout the score or in a passage, you can use the buttons on the third Keypad layout (shortcut F10). Simply select the note(s)
or grace note(s) you want to adjust, then choose the appropriate button.
Breaks the beam from the previous note

Reference

Joins to the previous and next notes

Ends the current beam (i.e. breaks the beam from the next note)
Separates the note from those on either side
Joins to the previous note with just a single (primary) beam.

Beam angles
Occasionally you may want to adjust a beams angle or position, particularly when preparing notation using two or more voices, as is common in classical guitar music.
To move a beam, zoom in close on it so you can see what youre doing, and simply drag either end
up or down with the mouse. When you drag the left-hand end, you alter the height of both ends of
the beam, and when you drag the right-hand end, you alter the angle. Instead of dragging with the
mouse, you can type 3 or 2. Ctrl+3/2 or X3/2 moves the beam by 0.25 spaces. You can also
make quick adjustments to the angle of a beam by selecting the beam itself and dragging up and
down; this does the same as dragging the left-hand end of the beam.

57

Reference

Breaks
Breaks are points in the music where you force a system or a page to end, such as at the end of a
section. Think of them like starting a new paragraph or a new page in a word processor: generally,
a word processor takes care of flowing the words and sentences in paragraphs automatically, and
you only need to hit Return when you want to start a new paragraph; more rarely, you need to hit
Ctrl+Return or X-Return to insert a page break and start a new page.
Its much the same in Sibelius First: it takes care of flowing bars and systems into pages for you
automatically, and you only need to insert a break when you need a particular bar to occur at the
start of a new system or page, except in special cases like for title pages. To emphasize the analogy
with word processors, Sibelius First even uses the same shortcuts for breaks as most word processors.
For general advice on the layout of your score, b Layout and formatting.

Adding or removing manual system or page breaks

To add a manual system or page break at any point in the score or part:
* Select the barline at which you want to break
* In the Layout > Break submenu, choose System Break (shortcut Return, on the main keyboard) or Page Break (shortcut Ctrl+Return or X-Return).

The music will spread out so it ends at the specified point more specifically, Sibelius First spreads
out the two systems leading up to the break. Thereafter, the bar ending with the break will always
go at the end of a system or page.
To remove a break that you previously created, just do exactly the same as above, or select the layout mark symbol that appears above the barline and hit Delete.

Where to put system breaks

You may wish to force system breaks:
* at the end of sections of music (e.g. at a repeat barline)
* at the end of sections in parts, especially when the next section has a new title at the start. In

parts, its usually better to use system breaks instead of page breaks so you dont get huge gaps in
the part.
* where instruments divide onto two staves or rejoin onto one, so you dont get sequences of bar
rests that arent performed by anyone.
Do not routinely put system breaks at the end of normal systems as this will cause formatting
problems if you change the music. If in doubt, dont use a system break.

Where to put page breaks

You may wish to force page breaks:
* at a convenient point on right-hand pages in parts, so that the performer doesnt have to turn the

page while playing

* at the end of sections, especially when the next section has a new title at the start.
58

Breaks
Do not routinely put manual page breaks at the end of every page, as this will be likely to impair
the formatting if you change the music in any way. If you really must use a break, normally you can
use a system break (because a system break on the last system on a page is effectively the same as a
page break, but will have less impact on layout if you reformat the score); if in doubt, dont use a
page break.

Creating a title page

You can create a title page when you first create your score by switching on the Create title page
option on the final page of the File > New dialog. If you want to create a title page later, simply
choose Create > Title Page. Sibelius First will add title and composer text for you.

Creating text and graphics on title pages

Note that you cant create normal staff text, lyrics or system text on a title page because all those
kinds of text attach to bars or notes, which dont exist on title pages. (As a consequence, its also
impossible to copy and paste staff or system text from a page with music on to a title page.)
But instead, you can add text to title pages using the text styles listed in the Create > Text > Title
Page Text submenu.

Viewing breaks
Sibelius First shows you where breaks occur in your music via little blue symbols that appear above
the appropriate barlines, like this:

Page break

System break

These symbols only ever appear on the screen they wont be printed when you print your score.

59

Reference

You can also add graphics to blank pages using Create > Graphic. Unlike text, you can copy and
paste graphics between pages of music and blank pages if you want to. For more information on
importing graphics, b Importing graphics.

Reference

Chord diagrams
Chord diagrams (sometimes known as chord boxes, fretboard grids, guitar frames, and so on) illustrate how to play a particular chord on a guitar or other fretted instrument, by showing which fingers need to be on which fret on each string. They are usually accompanied by text chord symbols,
which Sibelius can include for you.

Creating chord diagrams

To create a chord diagram above the selected note,
choose Create > Chord Diagram (shortcut Shift-K)
to see the dialog shown on the right, with options as
follows:
* The Choose a Chord Diagram options allow you

to set the following:

% Chord is the key of the chord you want to use
% The middle list determines the kind of chord, e.g.
%

%
%

major, minor, augmented, diminished, etc.

Bass is the bass note of the chord. By default, its
set to the same pitch as Chord, but you can
change it if you are writing, say, a G chord with a
B as the bottom note.
The large white rectangle shows you the available chords based on the settings chosen in the
dialog
Show fingering text displays the fingerings required to play a particular chord below each
string in the chord diagram. The option will not be available if no fingering has been specified.
Show chord symbol adds a text chord symbol above the chord diagram.

When you select one of the chord diagrams at the left-hand side and click OK, the diagram will be
created above the selected note. If you didnt have a note selected before you opened the dialog,
the mouse pointer will change color to show that its loaded with a chord diagram just click on
the page where you want it to go.

Copying, editing and deleting chord diagrams

Chord diagrams can of course be copied, moved and deleted in the usual ways. Once created in
your score, you can edit a chord diagram simply by double-clicking it.

60

Chord symbols

Chord symbols
Chord symbols are text objects that go below or (more typically) above the staff and describe the
harmony at that point in the music.

Typing chord symbols

To type chord symbols directly into Sibelius First:
* Input the notes first, then select the first note above which you want a chord symbol to appear
* Choose Create > Text > Chord symbol (shortcut Ctrl+K or XK for kord)
* You can either type the chord symbol as ordinary text, or right-click (Windows) or Control-

click (Mac) to choose from a word menu of standard chord symbol bits, such as B and m7
* Hit space to advance to the next note or beat.
If you want to write a space within a chord symbol, type Ctrl+space or z-space (as an ordinary
space would advance to the next note or beat instead).

Diminished symbol (

Ctrl+O or zB

Half-diminished (flat 5th) symbol (

Ctrl+Shift+O or xXO

Augmented symbol (&)

Shift-7 (&)

Major alteration (^) for e.g. major 7ths

Shift-6 (^)

% for chords with added 6ths and 9ths

Shift-5 (%)

Other symbols on the word menu include N.C. for no chord, ' to specify an added alteration,
; to specify that a particular note should be omitted, and so on.

Transposing chord symbols

Chord symbols are automatically transposed when you transpose music or switch a score between
concert and transposing pitch. (They dont transpose if you just change the pitch of the note
under the chord symbol.)

61

Reference

The word menu lists keyboard shortcuts for all the available bits of chord symbol. For example, to
add a flat sign, type a lowercase b; to add a sharp sign, type #; to add superscript numbers, just
type 19; and so on. Here are some other useful keyboard shortcuts:

Reference

Clefs
The clefs at the start of every system are drawn automatically by Sibelius First. It puts in the standard clefs for you when you create instruments. You only need to think about clefs if you want to
change them.

Creating clef changes

* If you want the clef to change mid-bar, input the music for

the bar where the clef change is to go, so you can create it
between the right notes
Select the note or rest before the place where you want the
clef to go, choose Create > Clef (shortcut Q for qlef ), and
click the clef you want from the bewildering list provided.
(The most common clefs are at the top.)
You can tell Sibelius First to use a different clef when Notes >
Transposing Score is switched on, which is useful for some
transposing instruments (e.g. low brass and wind instruments); to do this, switch on the Transposed clef option
and choose the clef to use
The Draw on subsequent staves option, as its name suggests, draws the new clef on all subsequent systems; switching this off is useful for special kinds of music such as lead sheets, but normally you should leave
it switched on
Click OK and the clef is created in your score. All the music after the clef will shift up or down to
ensure that it sounds the same as before.

You can also input a clef change with the mouse. Make sure that nothing is selected in your score
(hit Esc), choose the clef you want from the Create > Clef dialog, then point where you want the
clef to go and click. For instance, to change the clef of an entire instrument, put the clef youve
chosen on top of the existing clef at the very start of the score.
You can copy clef changes (e.g. with Alt+click or z-click), though you cant copy the full-size clefs
at the start of staves.

Moving clefs
If you drag a clef change around, youll see that Sibelius First automatically shifts the music up or
down as the clef passes over it to keep the notes sounding the same.
Try this out create a clef change somewhere, then drag it left and right along the staff, or up and
down onto other staves, and watch the music instantly leap around. When you have nothing better to do, this can provide hours of harmless (if rather limited) enjoyment.

Deleting clefs
Clef changes can be removed with Delete. If the clef you want to delete changes at the start of a
system, delete the clef change that appears at the end of the previous system. (Thats because if
62

Clefs
you think about it the small clef on the end of the previous system is the actual change point; the
big clef on the next system is really no more than the standard indication of what the current clef
is.)
For unpitched percussion instruments you may want to use the blank clef (the one that consists
of a bit of empty staff). Although this just makes the staff start with a gap instead of a clef, you
position the blank clef just like any other clef instead of trying to delete the clef thats already
there.
Once you have put a blank clef change somewhere, you cant select it and delete it theres nothing there to select. Instead, put a different clef on top and hit Delete.
Available clefs

Clefs

Octave clefs

Therefore in Sibelius First

clefs with or without 8s (or
15s) on them are all precisely equivalent. The fact that
a piccolo sounds an octave
higher than a flute playing the
same notes is an attribute of the instrument, not of the clef (after all, they could both be playing
from a plain treble clef). This is indicated in Sibelius First by the fact that a piccolo has a transposition change by default, namely it transposes up an octave both in a non-transposing score and in
a transposing score.
A tenor voice instrument in Sibelius First is similar it has a transposition change to make it
transpose down an octave both in a non-transposing score and in a transposing score. The treble
8 clef for a tenor is again just a hint to the reader its an alternative to a plain treble clef and has
no direct effect on the sounding pitch of the notes.

63

Reference

Some people write (say) piccolo with a normal treble clef,

some with an 8 above (particularly in avant garde
scores) this is a matter of
taste. A real-life piccolo playing music with a treble 8 clef
would not sound an octave
higher than a piccolo playing
the same music with a plain
treble clef they sound at
exactly the same pitch. In
other words, the 8 is just a
hint or reminder to the reader
that this is a transposing
instrument.

Reference

Display settings
Its worth spending a few moments setting Sibelius Firsts display to suit your preferences and to
make sure it runs as quickly and smoothly as possible on your computer.

Screen resolution
Sibelius First requires a minimum screen resolution of 1024 x 768 pixels, and we recommend a
higher resolution where possible. To change your screen resolution:
* On Windows:
% Minimize any open programs, then right-click on the desktop, and choose Properties from

the context menu

% Click the Settings tab
% Drag the Screen Resolution slider right to increase the screen resolution, and click Apply to
try out your changes. If your computer is more than a couple of years old, you may need to
reduce the Color Quality value in order to display higher resolutions but see Number of
colors below.
* On Mac:
% From the dock, launch System Preferences, and click the Displays icon
% Choose a new screen resolution from the available list; your Mac is automatically set to use
the new resolution.
Depending on your computers graphics card, higher resolutions may cause screen redraw to slow
down a bit; if you find this to be the case, try reducing the number of colors used in your display,
as this reduces the work that your graphics card has to do.

Number of colors
On Mac, Sibelius First should look good at any color depth (number of colors), from 256 colors
right up to millions of colors. You should only have to change the number of colors used by your
display if you find redraw particularly slow at a certain color depth.
On Windows, however, we recommend that you set your display to a color depth of at least 16-bit
color. This is because some of the buttons on the Keypad may display incorrectly on displays
using 256 (or fewer) colors.
To change the color depth used by your display, follow the same procedure described in Screen
resolution above.

Textures
Both the virtual paper and desk use high-quality textures to make them easier on the eye. You can
easily change the textures using the File > Preferences (in the Sibelius First menu on Mac).

Multiple monitors
You can run Sibelius First across multiple monitors, which is very useful as you can, say, have a
different score open on each monitor, or even view two pages of the same score across both displays.
64

Document Setup

Document Setup

Since this affects the amount of music per page and the number of pages in the score, you can use
Layout > Document Setup to fit your score onto any number of pages you want. b Layout and
formatting for general advice on layout.

Changing the page settings

Choose Layout > Document Setup (shortcut Ctrl+D or XD). You can then adjust the page size,
page shape and staff size, as detailed below.
The preview shows how the first page will look with the settings youve chosen; click the arrows to
look through subsequent pages.
When you click OK, the score will be instantly reformatted using the new measurements. (If you
dont like how it ends up, just choose Edit > Undo!)

65

Reference

The Layout > Document Setup dialog (shortcut Ctrl+D or XD) allows you to set up the page size,
staff size and margins of your score. Sibelius First will reformat your score instantly for the new
settings, so you can try out different sizes or shapes of paper, or different staff sizes, to see what
looks best.

Reference

Paper sizes
The Paper size list includes the following US and European paper sizes (although you can specify
any width or height you like):
Letter

8.5 x 11

216 x 279mm

Tabloid

11 x 17

279 x 432mm (sometimes known as B size)

A5

5.9 x 8.3

149 x 210mm (A4 folded in half)

B5

6.9 x 9.8

177 x 250mm

A4

8.3 x 11.7

210 x 297mm

B4

9.8 x 13.9

250 x 354mm

A3

11.7 x 16.5

297 x 420mm (twice as big as A4)

Band

5 x 7

127 x 178mm (usually landscape format)

Statement

5.5 x 8.5

140 x 216mm

Hymn

5.75 x 8.25

146 x 205mm

Octavo

6.75 x 10.5

171 x 267mm

Executive

7.25 x 10.5

184 x 266mm

Quarto

8.5 x 10.8

215 x 275mm

Concert

9 x 12

229 x 305mm

Folio

8.5 x 13

216 x 330mm

Legal

8.5 x 14

216 x 356mm

Part

9.5 x 12.5

241 x 317mm

Part

10 x 13

254 x 330mm

(The terms Octavo and Quarto refer to various other paper sizes too.)
You can switch between inches, millimeters and points using the buttons provided. 1 inch =
25.4mm (absolutely exactly), 1mm = 0.0397 inches (almost exactly), and 1 point = exactly 1/72
inch = 0.353mm (approximately).
Here are some recommended paper and staff sizes:
* Keyboard, songs, solo instrument: Letter/A4, 0.250.3/67mm staves
* Orchestral/band scores: Letter/Tabloid/A4/A3, 0.10.2/35mm staves
* Parts: Letter/Concert/A4/B4, 0.250.3/67mm staves
* Choral music: Letter/A4 or smaller, 0.2/5mm staves
* Books for beginners: Letter/A4, 0.30.4/810mm staves

All these page sizes are portrait format; landscape format is seldom used, except for organ, marching band and brass band music. Youll find that published music often doesnt correspond exactly
to any standard paper size.

66

Document Setup

Staff size
The staff size is the distance from the center of the top staff line to the center of the bottom staff
line. Everything in a score is scaled to be in proportion to the staff size notes, clefs, text, etc.
You can either type in a staff size or click the little arrows to change it in small steps. Click and
hold the little arrows and watch the preview to see the effect of the staves growing and shrinking.
Although staff sizes vary considerably, you should take care to set one appropriate to the kind of
music you are writing. In general, if you set the staff size too small the performers will feel uncomfortable without necessarily knowing quite why. See above for recommended paper and staff sizes.
Sibelius First wont change the staff size without your permission, so with lots of instruments on a
small page the staves may have to squash very close together (or even overlap!). To alleviate this,
simply pick a smaller staff size (or a larger page size).

Page margins
You can also set the page margins on the Layout > Document Setup dialog. Music can go right
up to the page margins, but not outside.
Your score can have the Same margins on left- and right-facing pages (recommended for singlesided printing), Mirrored margins (sometimes called inside and outside margins), or Different margins on left- and right-facing pages. The top and bottom margins are always identical on
left- and right-facing pages.
Specifically, the margins are defined as follows (if Same is chosen):
* Top margin: where the top of the page number normally goes, if its at the top of the page
* Bottom margin: where the bottom of the page number normally goes, if its at the bottom of the

page
* Left margin: the left-hand side of the leftmost instrument name
* Right margin: the right-hand end of the staves.

Staff margins
Staff margins control the distance between the top and bottom staves on a page and the top and
bottom page margins, and also the distance between the left-hand page margin and the left-hand
side of the system. This allows you to set the default position of the staves on the page.
It is common to require different top and bottom staff margins on the first page of a score, to
accommodate things like the title and the name of the composer at the top, and copyright or publisher details at the bottom. Fortunately this is easily done:

67

Reference

To make these margins visible in the score (as dashed blue lines), choose View > Page Margins.

Reference
Type the staff margins you want to use for the first page of music in the score into the boxes on the
left, then switch on After first page and type the values you want to use for subsequent pages into
the boxes underneath the checkbox.
For the left-hand margin there are three different values, depending on whether the staves have
full instrument names, short instrument names (e.g. after the first page) or no instrument names.
These values update automatically if you change the staff size or change the length of the instrument names themselves (e.g. by editing an existing name, adding new instruments, or creating an
instrument change). You cant specify these separately for different pages in the score, as they
update based on the width of the longest instrument name used in the entire score.

68

Dynamic parts

Dynamic parts
Music for several instruments is normally produced both in a full score and in separate parts
that each contain the music of just one instrument (or sometimes several). Parts are rather different than full scores: they only contain notation relevant to the instrument; parts for transposing
instruments can be in a different key; and the music is laid out differently, often on paper of a different size.
Fortunately, Sibelius First takes care of all of this for you, automatically formatting, transposing
and laying out parts.

What are dynamic parts?

Other notation programs require you to extract parts for each instrument as separate files, which
means that if you need to make changes to the full score (after a first rehearsal, for example), you
either have to make the same changes in the parts, or even extract them again, wasting hours.

You can edit dynamic parts in exactly the same way as you would a score. You can move, add and
delete notes, add slurs, expression markings etc. just as you would normally. But whenever you
change something in the score, the parts are instantly updated, and vice versa.
You dont need to extract dynamic parts, and in fact, theyre all kept in the same file as the full
score so theyre easier to organize, too.

Viewing dynamic parts

After creating or opening a Sibelius First file, the full score will be displayed. Switching to and
from parts is most simply done using the drop-down list marked Full score on the toolbar. When
clicked, a list will appear, starting with the full score followed by the names of all the parts. Click
the name of the part you wish to view and Sibelius First will open it in a new window.
You can also switch quickly between the score and the most recently viewed part by clicking the
Switch Between Full Score and Part button on the toolbar
(shortcut W). If you select a note
or other staff object before using Switch Between Full Score and Part, Sibelius First will show
you the part containing it. If there is nothing selected, Sibelius First will show you the most
recently viewed part.
It is also possible to cycle through the parts using Window > Next Part and Previous Part (shortcuts Ctrl+Alt+Tab or zX~ and Shift+Ctrl+Alt+Tab or xzX~). Once you get to the last part
and advance to the next, Sibelius First will show the full score.

Distinguishing the score from a part

Sibelius First uses different paper textures for scores and parts so that you can instantly differentiate between the two. By default, Sibelius First shows parts with a cream-colored paper and the
score with white paper. To change the appearance of these textures, use File > Preferences (in the
Sibelius First menu on Mac) b Display settings.

69

Reference

However, Sibelius First uses a revolutionary approach by which any change made in the score is
automatically made in the part, and vice versa: allow us to introduce dynamic parts.

Reference

Printing parts
To print all the parts, choose File > Print All Parts. You can alternatively print a single part in the
normal way using File > Print. If you are printing more than one part, you will not be able to
adjust the page range or number of copies settings in the Print dialog.
You can print your parts directly to PDF files, which is handy if you need to send them via email.
On Windows, you need to install a PDF printer driver to use this feature (see Creating PDF files
on page 74). On Mac, simply click Save As PDF in the Print dialog. On both Windows and Mac,
Sibelius First will automatically save each part to a separate PDF file, choosing an appropriate filename each one.

Editing parts
Editing a part works in exactly the same way as editing a score; in fact, almost anything you can do
in a score will work in the same way in a part. Creating and deleting objects in a part automatically
does the same to the score, and vice versa.

Moving objects in parts

However, moving objects (other than changing the pitch of notes) is another matter. You can
position things slightly differently in the score and part, for layout reasons and to avoid collisions
that may arise in one but not the other. The way it works is this:
* If you move an object in the score, it also moves in the relevant part(s) (as youd expect)
* But if you move an object in a part, it doesnt move in the score. The same applies to changing

the design of an object if you drag the middle of a slur to change its shape in the part, it wont
change in the score. This is so you can make final adjustments to parts without affecting the
score. The object goes orange in the part to show that its different than the score (see Differences in parts below).
* Having moved an object in a part like this, moving it in the score wont subsequently move it in
the part again (because that would mess up the part when youd just got it looking right)
unless, that is, you move it so far in the score that it attaches to a different note (otherwise the
score and part wouldnt match at all), or unless you reset the object to be the same in the part
and score again (see Resetting objects in parts below).
* You shouldnt move an object very far in a part (e.g. to a different note), because it wont move
in the score and so wont match the score. If you try to, the gray attachment line will go red, to
warn you that the object is too far away from where it is in the score.
So in general, the way you should work is to input music into the score, rather than the parts; and
then tweak the position and design of things in the parts in the course of making final adjustments.
Note though, that you can make layout changes such as moving staves, adjusting system and page
breaks and changing note spacing quite freely in parts this doesnt count as moving objects
around, because it doesnt matter that the score and part end up with a quite different layout.

70

Dynamic parts

Differences in parts
When you edit or move an object in a part, Sibelius First helpfully shows you that it is now different than the score by coloring it orange. (If this bothers you, switch off View > Differences in
Parts.)
For example:
* Staff objects (e.g. Expression text, hairpins, accidentals, etc.) appear orange if they have been

moved in parts
* Notes that have been flipped or made cue-sized in parts appear orange
* Objects that are shown in the part but hidden (or absent) in the score, or vice versa, appear
orange.
You can also switch on View > Differences in Parts in the full score and Sibelius First will color
any object that has been moved or edited in one or more of the parts. This makes it easy, for
example, to see which objects you may want to use Layout > Reset to Score Position on (see
below).

If you need to reset the position of an object in a part, you can either reset it to its default position,
or to the same position as in the score.
* To reset to the default position, choose Layout > Reset Position (shortcut Ctrl+Shift+P or
xXP).
* To restore an objects position back to the score, choose Layout > Reset to Score Position
(shortcut Ctrl+Shift+Alt+P or xzXP). If View > Differences in Parts is switched on, the

object will no longer be drawn in orange.

When editing the full score, you can use Layout > Reset to Score Position to reset an object to
the scores position in all the parts in which it appears.
You can also reset the appearance of an object in a part (such as a slur) either to its default design,
or to the design of the same object in the score:
* To restore one or more objects back to using its default design, choose Layout > Reset Design
(shortcut Ctrl+Shift+D or xXD)
* To reset back to the design of the same object in the score, choose Layout > Reset to Score
Design (shortcut Ctrl+Shift+Alt+D or xzXD). Again, the object will no longer be orange

(unless you had also changed its position).

As with restoring the scores position, choose Layout > Reset to Score Design while editing the
full score will reset the design of the selected object back to the scores appearance in all the parts
in which it appears.

Hide and show in parts and score

Apart from in a few cases (such as clef changes and cue passages), every object in your score will,
by default, be visible in both the score and any parts which should contain it. If you wish to hide
an object in a score so that it only appears in a part, select the appropriate object (in the score or

71

Reference

Resetting objects in parts

Reference
part) and choose Edit > Hide or Show > Show in Parts. Similarly, if you want an object to appear
only in the full score and not in the parts, choose Edit > Hide or Show > Show in Score.
When viewing the full score, choosing Edit > Hide or Show > Hide hides the object in the score
and all the parts. When viewing a part, choosing Edit > Hide or Show > Hide hides the object in
that part only, leaving the score unaffected.

Clef changes in parts

Sibelius First allows you to create clef changes in parts that do not appear in the full score; such
clefs appear colored orange (if View > Differences in Parts is switched on).
If a clef change exists in the full score and is visible in the part, if you drag the clef in the part, it
will also move in the score too. If you need to move the clef in the part without moving the clef in
the score, create a new clef in the part directly on top of the existing clef; this new clef will be independent for that specific part, and can then be moved independently of the clef in the full score.

72

Exporting graphics

Exporting graphics
To easily include music in other documents, e.g. articles, worksheets, essays, music books, cover
designs, posters and program notes, you can simply copy and paste graphics from Sibelius First
directly into another application such as Microsoft Word.

Copying graphics to the clipboard

Sibelius First allows you to copy an area of a score to the clipboard, which you can then paste
directly into another application as a graphic.
* If you want to export a specific bar or passage, select it first
* Choose Edit > Select > Select Graphic (shortcut Alt+G or zG)
* If you made a selection, a dashed box appears around the selection. If you didnt make a selec-

Sibelius First limits the resolution at which you can export graphics into another application. The
resolution is fine for printing on a home printer, for applications like hymn sheets, test papers, and
so on, but if you need publication-quality results, you will need the full Sibelius product see
Upgrading to the full Sibelius on page 53. When you use copy and paste graphics export,
Sibelius First produces a bitmap graphic. If you want to export a vector graphic format (e.g. EPS),
you will also need full Sibelius.

Adjusting the marquee

To adjust the marquee, you can:
* Click and drag a handle to extend the marquee in that direction
* Hold down Ctrl or X and drag either left- or right-hand handles to snap the ends of the mar-

quee to barlines
* Hold down Shift and drag any handles to enlarge the marquee proportionally in both directions, e.g. to make the marquee taller both above and below the staff, grab one of the top handles and hold down Shift as you drag to extend the marquee both upwards and downwards.
If you have a passage or system selection in the score prior to carrying out the above steps, Sibelius
will automatically draw a box around that area when you choose Edit > Select > Select Graphic.
The box will snap to the top and bottom of staves and so you will probably find it necessary to
extend the selection both up and down. To do this, hold down Shift and drag the top handle of the
box up.

Inserting graphics into Microsoft Word

To place a graphic created in Sibelius that you have copied to the clipboard using the steps above
into a Word document:
73

Reference

tion, the cursor will turn into a crosshair and you can click and drag around the area of the score
you wish to export.
* Adjust the size of the marquee (see below) so that it encloses exactly what you want to copy
* Choose Edit > Copy (shortcut Ctrl+C or XC)
* Switch to the destination application, and choose Edit > Paste (shortcut normally Ctrl+V or
XV) or Edit > Paste Special.

Reference
* Position the caret in your Word document where you want the graphic to go
* Choose Edit > Paste, shortcut Ctrl+V or XV. The graphic will appear in your document.
* Now, increase or decrease the size of the music by dragging any corner of the box. Do not drag
an edge, otherwise the music will stretch and lose the correct aspect ratio. (Type Ctrl+Z or XZ

to undo if you do this by accident.)

In some versions of Microsoft Word, you may find that attempting to paste a graphic from
another application does not work correctly. If you find this to be the case, choose Edit > Paste
Special and, from the list of available formats, choose Bitmap.
Beware of editing the graphic within Word its graphics editor does not handle music well and
might produce unexpected results. Use a dedicated graphics program instead.

Creating PDF files

Portable Document Format (PDF) files allow documents generated by programs such as word
processors and desktop publishers to be published electronically, preserving their original appearance, for viewing and printing on any system.
On Mac, no additional software is required. To save a PDF of your score, choose File > Print, and
click the Save as PDF button.
On Windows, Sibelius First supports the creation of PDF files provided you have a suitable PDF
creator installed on your computer. The official PDF creator is Adobe Acrobat, which is a commercial product available from www.adobe.com for both Mac and Windows, but there are several free alternatives available, including PDFCreator, which you can download from:
http://pdfcreator.sourceforge.net
PDF files are generated by software that installs and behaves like a printer driver. This means that
creating a PDF is as simple as printing a file from Sibelius First, choosing the PDF printer as you
do so. For further instructions, consult the documentation that accompanies your PDF creation
software.
To view PDF files, you need to have the free Adobe Reader installed on your computer (on Mac
you can use the built-in Preview application instead). You can download the latest version of
Adobe Reader from:
http://www.acrobat.com

74

Exporting audio files

Exporting audio files

Sibelius First can save a digital audio file of your score, ready to burn straight onto CD or turn into
an MP3 file to post on the Internet. You must be using the provided GM Module playback device
in order to save audio files from Sibelius First.

Export Audio
To create a digital audio file of your score in WAV (on Windows) or AIFF (Mac) format:
* Choose File > Export > Audio or click the toolbar button shown.
* A simple dialog appears, allowing you to set where the audio file should be saved and

Burning audio files to CD

If you have a CD-R/RW drive (or CD burner as they are often known) in your computer, it
should have come supplied with some software for creating data and audio CDs. The exact process for burning audio files saved from Sibelius First onto an audio CD will vary according to the
program supplied with your CD burner; see its manual for details.

Creating MP3 files

MP3 (or MPEG Audio Layer 3 to give it its full name) is the most widely-used format for sharing
music on the Internet or via email, as it is much smaller than a WAV or AIFF file. Once you have
saved an audio file from Sibelius First, you can easily convert it into an MP3 file using freely-available software. For example:
* Mac: mAC3dec (http://sourceforge.net/projects/mac3dec/) converts between AIFF and

MP3 with a simple, drag-and-drop interface

* Windows: dbPowerAmp Music Converter (http://www.dbpoweramp.com/dmc.htm) converts between many different audio formats, simply by right-clicking on the file in Windows
Explorer.
Many other programs can convert to and from MP3, including the audio editor Audacity (http://
audacity.sourceforge.net/), and QuickTime Pro (http://www.apple.com/quicktime/pro/).

75

Reference

what it should be called. Sibelius First tells you how long the audio file will be, and
approximately how much hard disk space it will occupy.
* When you are happy with these settings, click Save and export will begin. Sibelius First exports
the audio file off-line, meaning that it does not play the score back audibly while it works;
instead, it streams the audio data direct to your hard disk. Depending on the complexity of the
score and the speed of your computer, export may be faster or slower than real time. This has
the advantage that if the score is too complex for your computer to be able to play back in real
time without glitching or stuttering, you will still be able to export a glitch-free audio track: it
will just take longer to export than it would take to play the score back directly.
* If you want to stop the recording at any point, click Cancel in the progress window that
appears. The partial audio file will be saved in the specified location. You can use this to record
e.g. the opening of a larger score.

Reference

Exporting MIDI files

You can export a score as a MIDI file, so you can easily transfer music into virtually any other
music program. You do not need a MIDI interface or any MIDI devices in order to export a MIDI
file.

Exporting a MIDI file

Choose File > Export > MIDI File. You are prompted to provide a name for your MIDI file, and
choose where to save it: do so, and click Save.
When exporting MIDI files, Sibelius First includes all of the playback options such as Espressivo,
Rubato and Rhythmic feel. So you can even use Sibelius First as an ingenious MIDI file
improver just open a MIDI file, switch on some interesting playback settings and save an
improved version as a MIDI file in a moment!

Rubato
If Rubato is switched on in the Play > Performance dialog, and the score is saved as a MIDI file,
the timing changes made by Rubato will appear in the file, and consequently the notes will be out
of alignment when the file is opened in a MIDI sequencer.
This is because Rubato manipulates note start times directly, rather than creating tempo changes.
So if you want to save a MIDI file for use in other programs, and you want it to be correctly quantized, set Rubato to Meccanico before you save the MIDI file.

Repeats
By default, MIDI files saved from Sibelius First will include any repeats present in the original
score. If, for some reason, you would prefer repeats not to be included, switch off Play repeats in
the Play > Performance dialog before saving the MIDI file.

76

Exporting Scorch web pages

Exporting Scorch web pages

The Internet is the ideal way to reach a worldwide audience for your music. Sibelius First lets anyone view, play back, transpose, and print scores from your own web site, using the free Scorch
plug-in.

Recommended settings
b SibeliusMusic.com for various settings you should make to your scores to ensure other peo-

ple can view, play and print them whatever equipment they may have.
When preparing scores for publishing on your own web site, you might also consider changing
the page and staff size of your score to ensure it is as legible as possible on the screen. For portrait
format scores for small ensembles, try setting your page size so that only one system fits on each
page; this means that visitors to your web site wont have to scroll up and down the page to see
each system of your music. There are web templates provided which are set to show just one system at a time see Web page templates below.

* First, choose File > Score Info, click the Composer/Title tab, and enter some information

*
*

*
*

about your piece (if you didnt do so on the New Score dialog when you created the score originally) the web page you are about to generate assumes youve filled in the Title and Composer fields so that it can include them in the web page
Choose File > Export > Scorch web page
Enter a filename. Sibelius First removes any spaces from the filenames of both the Sibelius First
(.sib) and HTML (.htm) files and shortens the name to 27 characters plus a 3 character extension to make them safe for all web servers.
If you havent entered anything in the File > Score Info dialog, you will be warned, for example,
that the Title and Composer fields are blank
You are asked to choose a template web page to insert the score into see Web page templates below. You can also adjust the width and height of the score as it will appear within the
web page. If you dont feel ambitious, just choose the Classic web template, leaving the other
settings alone, and click OK.

Setting a larger Width makes the page and hence the music bigger; theres no need to enter a
Height value if you want the page to be the same shape, which is advisable.
The Snap Zoom Level option (switched on by default) automatically adjusts the size of the
score to ensure that the staff lines always appear equidistant. Leave this option switched on.

77

Reference

Exporting

Reference
Allow printing and saving, as the name suggests, allows you to choose whether visitors to
your web site can print and save your music, or simply play it back see Printing and saving
from Scorch below.
* Sibelius First then saves two files in the chosen location: an HTML file (with the file extension
.htm), and a Sibelius First score (with the extension .sib).
Youre now ready to upload these two files to your web site. Depending on how your web site is
hosted, you may need to use an FTP client or upload them via your web browser.
You must include both the actual Sibelius First score file and the web page in the same folder on
your web site, and dont rename the Sibelius First file the HTML in the web page refers to the
Sibelius First file.

Printing and saving from Scorch

If you switch on the Allow printing and saving option when saving your score as a Scorch web
page, visitors to your site will be allowed to print your score to their computers printer, and also
save the score as a Sibelius First file to their hard disk so that they can open it in Sibelius First
themselves.
This makes it easy to share your music with others: teachers can put worksheets on their school
web site, and students can print them out directly from their web browser, or, if they have Sibelius
First themselves, download the music to their computer and complete the worksheet in Sibelius
First.
The Allow printing and saving option does not have some of the benefits of publishing your
music on SibeliusMusic.com:
* You are not permitted to put Scorch to commercial use on your own web site without a special

license from us i.e. you may not charge money for allowing visitors to your site to print and
save your music
* Music on your own web site is not securely encrypted, so any visitors who use Sibelius First
themselves can download your music to their computers simply by clicking the Save button in
Scorch, and they will then be able to edit it in Sibelius First.
Beware that even if you dont allow printing and saving, your scores are still downloaded to the
visitors computer in unencrypted form. Whenever you view something in your web browser
whether it is text, an image, or even a Sibelius First score using the Scorch plug-in it has been
downloaded to the temporary Internet files folder on your computers hard disk. This means that
anybody who views your music on your personal web page will potentially be able to edit the original file (if they have Sibelius First).
In other words, if you publish your music on your own web site, you will be doing so in an insecure way. However, if you publish your music on SibeliusMusic.com, your music is secure.
SibeliusMusic.com uses an encrypted file format understood only by the Scorch plug-in this
means that even if somebody were to find the file on their hard disk, they couldnt open it with
any program apart from Scorch (not even Sibelius). This also ensures that even if somebody looks
at an encrypted Sibelius First file in Scorch, they cant print it out, because printing these files
relies on communication between Scorch and the SibeliusMusic.com server.
78

Exporting Scorch web pages

If you want to publish securely on your own web site, contact Sibelius Software about licensing
Sibelius Internet Edition, a special version of Sibelius for commercial Internet publishing.

Web page templates

A number of web page templates are provided for you, in a variety of styles and color combinations. Some templates use one of Scorchs most useful features: split playback. Split playback is
designed to allow you to play along with Scorch without having to worry about turning pages its
like having an intelligent page turner at your beck and call.
As Scorch reaches the end of one system during playback, it automatically replaces the system its
just played back with a system from further down the page. Your eye naturally follows the music
down the page, and when you reach the bottom of the page, youll find that the next few systems
are already visible at the top of the Scorch window.
Split playback works best with music for solo instruments, or small ensembles (such as solo
instrument and keyboard). Choose from the 2 system split playback, 3 system split playback
or 4 system split playback templates to try out this feature.

If you have enabled printing and saving from Scorch, your scores will save and print exactly the
way they appear in Sibelius First in other words, split playback has no effect on the actual scores
themselves; it is simply an alternative way of viewing the scores in Scorch.

Using email and CD-ROM

If you want to send someone a Sibelius file via email to view in Scorch, see Sharing files with
other Sibelius users on page 81.
You can equally well use Sibeliuss Internet publishing facility to promote your music via CDROM. Simply save your web site to a CD other people can then access it from the CD in exactly
the same way as over the Internet.
Note, however, that people will still need to download Scorch from the Internet, which they can do
just by following the link in any Scorch web page on the disk. You are not allowed to distribute
Scorch yourself (see Legal notice below).

Legal notice
It is illegal to place copyright music on the Internet without permission from the copyright owner.
This is the case even if you have made your own arrangement of a copyright piece of music.
Sibeliuss Internet publishing facility is licensed to you for non-commercial use only. (See the
Sibelius license agreement for details.)
You are not allowed to distribute Scorch, e.g. to put it on your own web site people visiting your
site must follow the link supplied in order to download Scorch. Licensing conditions for the plugin are shown when you install it.

79

Reference

The 1 system playback and 1 system view templates only keep one system in view: this is useful if you want visitors to your web site to be able to follow your music without having to scroll
their web browser window up and down. (1 system playback shows a full page when Scorch
isnt playing back, but just one system during playback.)

Reference

Files
This topic explains saving files in Sibelius format and sharing them with other people.

File size
Sibelius First files typically occupy around 20K plus 1K per page (excluding any imported graphics), even for band or orchestral music. This means you can fit literally millions of pages on your
hard disk, and even huge scores can easily be sent by email. So even if your name is J.S. Bach, disk
space is unlikely ever to present a problem when using Sibelius First.

Saving
Saving works just like in any other program, using File > Save As (shortcut Ctrl+Shift+S or
xXS) and File > Save (shortcut Ctrl+S or XS). In addition to being able to save Sibelius First
scores, you can also export MIDI files, Scorch web pages, and files that can be opened in Sibelius 4.
A convenient place to save is the Scores folder that Sibelius First has helpfully created for you. On
Windows, the Scores folder is created inside your My Documents folder; on Mac, it is inside
your user Documents folder.

Auto-save
Sibelius First can automatically save your score at timed intervals so that, should your computer
crash, the most work you can lose is a few minutes worth. Rather than saving your actual file,
Sibelius First makes a copy of your score and saves it into a folder called AutoSave within the
Backup Scores folder (see below).
If Sibelius First doesnt shut down correctly (for example, if your computer crashes or there is an
interruption in power), the next time you start the program, it checks the AutoSave folder, and if
it finds any scores in that folder, you will be asked if you want to restore them.
When you close Sibelius First normally, it deletes all the files in the AutoSave folder so its
essential that you dont save any files in there yourself!
Auto-save is switched on by default, but if for some reason you want to switch it off, do so from
the Files page of the File > Preferences dialog (in the Sibelius First menu on Mac). You can also
specify in this dialog how often Sibelius First automatically saves your score; the default is 10 minutes.

Backups
Each time you save, the score (with a version number added to the name) is also saved in Backup
Scores in your Scores folder. If you ever accidentally delete or mess up a score, look in this
backup folder to get the latest version you saved, or earlier versions too. This folder stores the last
40 scores you saved; older copies are progressively deleted to stop your disk from filling up, so
dont use this folder to store your own backups!
Backup scores are created when you save manually, not each time Sibelius First auto-saves; but
unlike auto-saved scores, backup scores are not deleted when you close Sibelius First.

80

Files

Sharing files with other Sibelius users

If the person to whom you want to send your music also has Sibelius First, the full Sibelius, or
even just the free demo of full Sibelius (which they can download from www.sibelius.com), then
simply send the file by email (see below), or on removable media such as a CD-R.

Sharing files with people who do not have Sibelius

If the person youre sending to doesnt have Sibelius First, there are a number of other means of
sharing files with them:
* Publish the music on SibeliusMusic.com or on your own web site b Exporting Scorch web

pages.
* Save the music as a MIDI file and send it to them b Exporting MIDI files.

Sharing files with Sibelius users

Additionally, Sibelius First files can be opened by Sibelius 5 and later (and Sibelius First can open
Sibelius 5 files).

Score Info
The File > Score Info dialog can be used to enter catalog information about your score, such as its
title, composer, arranger, copyright, and so on, which is automatically used when you export a
score as a web page (b Exporting Scorch web pages). The File tab of the dialog shows you
useful details about your score, such as the date it was created, when it was last saved, how many
pages, staves and bars it contains, and so on. Note that this tab only appears after you have saved
your score at least once.

81

Reference

Sibelius First can also open files saved from all existing versions of Sibelius for Mac and Windows
(at the time of writing, the latest version of Sibelius is 5.2). Scores from the full Sibelius program
that have more than 12 staves can be opened in a special read-only mode, allowing you to view,
play back and print them, but you cannot edit them at all. Scores that have 12 or fewer staves can
be edited and saved in Sibelius First as normal.

Reference

Flexi-time
Flexi-time is Sibelius Firsts unique intelligent real-time MIDI input system.

Real-time input
Real-time input on other computer programs is when the program tries to work out both the pitch
and the rhythm of music played on a MIDI keyboard, and turn it into clean notation.
The big problem is rhythm: people never play rhythms quite as notated because of unconscious
rubato (variation in speed), so real-time input can easily end up with notes tied to extra 64thnotes (hemidemisemiquavers) and other ridiculous things.
A standard improvement is produced by quantization: this is where you tell a program to round
all note values to the nearest sixteenth-note (semiquaver), or whatever unit you specify. The trouble is that this only improves the situation for relatively simple music and if you speed up or
slow down as you play, the computer will get out of time with you in any case and produce garbage.
With Flexi-time, however, Sibelius First detects if youre doing rubato and compensates accordingly. It quantizes automatically theres no need to specify a quantization unit and uses a
smart algorithm that varies the quantization according to context. For instance, when you play
short notes, Sibelius First will quantize with a shorter unit than when you play long notes.

Recording with Flexi-time

* Although you can change the time signature after inputting music, we recommend

*
*
*

82

that you put the correct time signature in first, so that the metronome click indicates
beats correctly
Click a bar, note or rest from which to start recording, or:
% If you want to record into two adjacent staves (e.g. a piano), select both staves using click
then Shift-click
% If youre just recording from the start of a score for one instrument, you dont need to select
anything first as its obvious where youre recording from
Click the red record button on the Playback window, or choose Notes > Flexi-time (shortcut
Ctrl+Shift+F or xXF)
Sibelius First will start ticking a metronome to count you in. It gives you one full bar of clicks
(by default) wait for this before you start playing!
You can adjust the recording speed by dragging the tempo slider; the tempo readout on the
toolbar changes as you drag the slider. (If you want to record more slowly, start recording,
adjust the tempo slider to the desired point, then hit Space to stop, and start recording again
Sibelius First will remember the tempo you set.)
Start playing at the keyboard, following the click (at least approximately). As you play, the
music youre playing will appear in notation on the screen.
If you speed up or slow down, the metronome speeds up or slows down to follow you, as long as
youre not too violent with the tempo.

Flexi-time
* When youve finished recording, hit Space to stop.

If you add more music with Flexi-time on a different staff or staves, Sibelius First plays back the
existing music as you record (overdubbing).
If you want to add another melody to the same staff, you can record into one of the other voices
see Voices below.

Click settings
The settings for the metronome click you hear during Flexi-time recording are controlled via the
Window > Mixer window (shortcut Ctrl+Alt+M or M on Mac), or you can access some of them
from the Click button on the Notes > Flexi-time Options dialog (shortcut Ctrl+Shift+O or
xXO).
By default, the click marks the first beat of the bar with a high woodblock sound, and then subsequent beats with a low woodblock. In compound time signatures such as 6/8, it also subdivides
the beat into eighth notes (quavers). For complex time signatures such as 7/8, the default behavior
is to emphasize the beginning of each beat group.

Hints
* Listen to Sibelius Firsts countdown beats, and start in time with them! If you start too soon, or
*
*
*

at a different tempo from the countdown, Sibelius First will not understand what youre up to.
If you have difficulty recording two staves of music at once, try recording them one at a time.
Play legato (smoothly).
If you want music to be notated with staccatos, make sure the Staccato option is switched on
in Notes > Flexi-Time Options. If this option is switched off then playing staccato will produce
short note values with rests.
People are often sloppy about placing notes simultaneously when playing a chord. If you spread
chords significantly, Sibelius First will write out what you played literally rather than (say) adding a vertical wiggly line.
Sibelius First can pick up changes of tempo extremely quickly one beat faster than a human
can, in fact! However, if you make too violent a change of tempo Sibelius First wont understand
what you mean. So avoid making sudden tempo changes during recording.
If Sibelius Firsts beat gets out with you as youre playing, stop and go back to the point where it
got out. If you just blunder on regardless, Sibelius First may well get back in time again, but correcting the rhythm will take far longer than just playing it in again.

Recording other MIDI data

When recording via Flexi-time, Sibelius First records MIDI controller data along with the notes.
For example, if you use a sustain pedal when inputting via Flexi-time, Sibelius First will notate the
appropriate MIDI messages and automatically hide them in the score. Other MIDI controller data
that can be recorded include pitch bend, modulation, volume, etc.

83

Reference

For more information on these settings, b Mixer.

Reference
If you would prefer these MIDI messages not to be recorded when using Flexi-time input, switch
off the appropriate options on the Notation page of the Notes > Flexi-time Options dialog see
Flexi-time options below.

Flexi-time options
To change the various Flexi-time options, choose Notes > Flexi-time Options (shortcut
Ctrl+Shift+O or xXO):

On the Flexi-time tab are the following options:

* Flexibility of tempo: controls how Sibelius First follows your speed. If youre used to playing

*
*
*
*

84

to a click, set this to None (non rubato), and Sibelius First will keep a fixed tempo. The higher
you set the flexibility, the more Sibelius First is inclined to follow your tempo. If you find Sibelius First seems to be changing tempo oddly, its finding you hard to follow, so reduce the flexibility or set it to None (non rubato).
Introduction ... bars: determines how many bars introduction will be played when you start
recording
Record up to ... bars: if there arent many bars left in the score for you to record into, this automatically adds enough bars when you start recording
The Click button takes you directly to the dialog that determines the behavior of the metronome click during recording b Mixer.
Voices options:
% Record into one voice allows you to specify a single voice to use for your Flexi-time recording
% Record into multiple voices is an alternative to specifying a single voice: when switched on,
Sibelius First will automatically split the music into two voices where appropriate; see Voices
below.
Replace and Overdub control what Sibelius First does if you record over a passage that already
contains music: if set to Replace, Sibelius First will clear the existing music before notating the
new music you play; if set to Overdub, Sibelius First will add the new music you record to the
existing music to make chords.

Flexi-time
* Internal MIDI time stamps: if you have a computer with dual processors or a hyper-threading

processor, you may find that the rhythm of the notated music becomes increasingly inaccurate
as recording continues. If you encounter this problem, switch on this option (Windows only).
On the Notation tab are these options:
* Note Values options:
% Adjust rhythms makes Sibelius First clean up what youre playing. Leave this on!
% Minimum note value: this sets the shortest note value Sibelius First will write. This is not a

Our recommended Flexi-time options are the default values, as follows: Adjust rhythms on,
Minimum note value sixteenth-note (semiquaver), Flexibility of tempo set to Low, Staccato
and Tenuto on with thresholds of 35% and 110% respectively. For tuplets, set 3 to Simple or
Moderate, maybe 6 as well, and the others to None unless youre into playing things like septuplets.

85

Reference

quantization unit Sibelius First quantizes using a complex algorithm that varies with context. As a consequence, this value isnt enforced rigidly; it acts as a guide. If you set this to
(say) quarter note (crotchet) but then play 16th notes (semiquavers), Sibelius First has to
notate notes shorter than quarter notes, or youll end up with junk.
% Notate: these are options to notate staccato and tenuto; if you are confident of playing the
articulation exactly as you want it to be notated, switch these on. If you find lots of spurious
staccato or tenuto articulations in your score after inputting with Flexi-time, switch them off,
or adjust the When shorter/longer than thresholds (representing the percentage of the
notated note value) beyond which these articulations are notated.
% Remove rests between notes on drum staves: switched on by default. this option joins
up shorter notes to remove superfluous rests in drum parts.
* Keyboard Staves: when inputting onto two staves, the split point determines which notes go
into each staff (notes on or above the split point go into the top staff, and notes below go into
the bottom staff). If you choose Automatic, Sibelius First will guess where your hands are on
the keyboard at any time and assign notes to staves accordingly. Alternatively, you can specify
your own Fixed split point. (Note that in Sibelius First, middle C is called C4 which may be
different from how it is described in other music programs.)
* Tuplets: for each of the tuplets listed, you can set Sibelius First to detect None/Simple/Moderate/Complex ones. A simple triplet (say) means one with three equal notes. For tuplets such
as a quarter note (crotchet) followed by an eighth note (quaver), use Moderate, and for tuplets
with rests or dotted rhythms, use Complex.
* MIDI Messages options:
% Keep program/bank messages adds any program and bank changes to the score using
Sibelius Firsts MIDI message text format. These messages are automatically hidden.
% Keep controller messages similarly adds all controller messages (such as pitch bend, sustain pedal, channel volume, etc.) and hides them in the score.
% Keep other messages similarly adds any other MIDI messages to the score.

Reference

Spelling of accidentals
As with step-time input, Sibelius First guesses how you want to spell black notes (e.g. as F# or
Gb), but you can alter the spelling of any note or selection of notes afterwards just by hitting
Return (on the main keyboard).

Voices
As you record, by default Sibelius First splits the notes into two voices if necessary (e.g. if you play
polyphonic music such as a fugue). In most cases this is desirable, but if you are inputting onto a
single staff or monophonic instrument you may prefer to force Sibelius First to notate the music
in a single voice or a specified voice. You can change this setting in the Notes > Flexi-time
Options dialog (see above).

86

Grace notes

Grace notes
Grace notes are smaller than normal notes, and are drawn in between them. Unlike cue notes,
grace notes dont count towards the total duration of the bar. This is because the performer is
meant to fit them in between the main notes himself. Grace notes with a diagonal line through the
stem are acciaccaturas, and ones without are appoggiaturas (this is the terminology Sibelius First
uses, anyway).
Grace notes

Creating grace notes...

Grace notes are always attached to the following normal
note in a bar (so you cannot automatically create grace
notes at the very end of a bar see below). You can create
grace notes in two ways, detailed below.

Acciaccaturas (with a line through the

stem) are normally used only for single
grace notes. Single grace notes, particularly
acciaccaturas, are almost always written as
an eighth note (quaver) regardless of how
long they actually last. Pairs of grace notes
are usually written as sixteenth notes (semiquavers), with 32nd-notes (demisemiquavers) being used for groups of about four or
more grace notes.

The quick way is to input the grace notes as you go along

during step-time or alphabetic input; the slow way is to
input the normal notes first, then add the grace notes
afterwards.

Grace notes are usually slurred from the

first grace note to the following main note.
The slur normally goes above if the main
note is higher than the grace note, or if the
grace note or main note has leger lines
above the staff; otherwise the slur is below.

...the quick way

To input grace notes as you go along:
* Start creating notes
* When you want to create a grace note, switch to the sec-

ond Keypad layout (shortcut F9) and switch on the appropriate Keypad button:

Acciaccatura

Appoggiatura

* Then create notes as normal, choosing note values from the first Keypad layout (shortcut F8)
* To stop creating grace notes, switch off the grace note button on the second Keypad layout.

...the slow way

To add grace notes to an existing passage of music:
* With nothing selected (hit Esc), choose the note value and the kind of grace note from the first

and second Keypad layouts

* The mouse arrow changes color to show which voice youre going to create the grace note into;

click where the grace note is to go

* If you didnt specify a note value before creating it, the grace note will appear as an eighth note
(quaver). You can modify the note value afterwards in the same way as normal notes.
* Type AG or use your MIDI keyboard to produce more grace notes after it.
* Type 19 (or Shift-19 for notes below) to produce grace note chords, or play the chords on
your MIDI keyboard.
87

Reference

Grace notes are normally drawn with stems

up, regardless of their pitch. They are only
drawn with stems down to avoid colliding
with other objects, e.g. in the second of two
voices, and in bagpipe music.

Reference

Editing grace notes

Most editing operations work for grace notes in exactly the same way as normal notes, including
dragging, copying, deleting, adding/removing accidentals and articulations, beaming, and changing their note value or notehead.

88

Guitar tab input

Guitar tab input

This topic explains how to input tab directly using your computers keyboard, or by converting
existing notation into tab.
Sibelius First automatically writes music as notation or as tab. It doesnt have to do anything to
convert between them it treats tab just as a different way of displaying the underlying music.
This means that with Sibelius First you can do pretty much anything with tab that you can do with
notation you can play it back, transpose it, copy it (onto tab or notation staves) and so on.
This also means you can input music in tab and turn it into notation, or input it into notation and
turn it into tab.

Creating a tab instrument

Guitar and other fret instruments are available from the Create > Instruments dialog (shortcut I)
with a tab staff created automatically. On the dialog they are called e.g. Guitar [tab].

Often you will want to have two staves a notation staff and a tab staff, both showing the same
music or you may want to turn notation into tab or vice versa. This is done simply by copying the
music between the staves.
* Create two guitars, one with notation and one with tab, or just use the Guitar + Tab manuscript

paper
* Input all of the music onto (say) the notation staff
* Select all of this music as a passage by triple-clicking the notation staff
* Copy it onto the tab staff by Alt+clicking or z-clicking onto the first bar. It will all turn magically into tab:

* You can then edit the tab staff to, for example, move some of the notes onto different strings.

You can also do this the other way around input the tab, then copy it to the notation staff. Then if
you dont need both staves (and just wanted to convert between notation and tab) you can delete
the original one.
On a notation staff, a guitar is written one octave higher than it sounds; this means that if you copy
music from another staff (e.g. for a non-transposing instrument like a piano), it will appear an
octave higher on the guitar staff, but it will play back at the same pitch.

Inputting tab
Inputting tab using your computers keyboard is very simple, and the basics can be summed up in
just a few points:
89

Reference

Turning notation into tab or tab into notation

Reference
* Select the bar in which you want to start inputting, then choose Notes > Input Notes (shortcut
*
*
*
*
*

N)
The caret (a small vertical line) appears, showing you which string youre on
Choose the length of the note you want to input using the Keypad window, or by typing the corresponding key on your keyboards numeric keypad
Use the 3 and 2 keys to move up and down the strings, and 0 and 1 to move back and forth in
the bar
To input a note, type the fret number using the number keys on the main keyboard (not the
numeric keypad).
To create quarter-tones on a tab staff, create the note as normal and then (with the note selected)
type =. A quarter-tone appears on a tab staff as a fret number followed by .5. To create quartertones on a notation staff, use the appropriate accidental from the fifth Keypad layout.

You can change the default note value used when moving around the bar using the 0 and 1 keys
in the File > Preferences dialog (in the Sibelius First menu on Mac); change Rhythmic positions to snap to to whatever note value you prefer.

Notes out of range

When copying music between staves e.g. from a 6-string guitar tab staff to a 4-string bass guitar
tab staff, or from a notation staff to a guitar tab staff some notes may be unplayable. In this case
a red question mark (?) will appear on the tab staff, to show you that youll need to correct this
chord yourself.

Tips for successful MIDI guitar input

You can input tab directly from your MIDI guitar make sure you have told Sibelius First that
your MIDI input device is a MIDI guitar in File > Preferences (in the Sibelius First menu on
Mac) b Preferences.
Sibelius First accurately transcribes anything you play, exactly as you play it. However, a few factors can contribute to imprecise transcription. While Sibelius itself can filter out notes with a low
velocity, its also a good idea to ensure that your MIDI converter sensitivity settings are set fairly
low when using a MIDI guitar; incidental string scrapes, ghost notes and other anomalies appear
when the sensitivity settings are too high.
String buzz against tall frets or a poorly adjusted setup will confuse the MIDI converter and produce errant notes, so make sure to have your guitar adjusted by an experienced technician if your
guitar exhibits symptoms of bad fret buzz.
On your MIDI guitar interface, experiment with the different picking modes. Both Roland and
Axon support the option for pick-style (plectrum) and finger-style input via an internal setting.
Make sure to experiment with these settings, as some players find that finger-style input is more
accurate even when using a pick, and vice-versa.
Sibelius First does not notate pitch bend information, slides or string bends on input. You
can create them in your score later, but when you enter notes, play cleanly, without vibrato, slides
or bends, to ensure accurate notation.
One last note: flatwound strings consistently produce the cleanest notation into Sibelius First.
90

Importing graphics

Importing graphics
This topic explains how you can add graphics to your scores by importing bitmap images in TIFF
format into Sibelius First.

Importing a graphic
To import a TIFF file:
* Select a note, rest, bar or other object in your score where you want the graphic to appear
* Choose Create > Graphic. A dialog appears prompting you to find the TIFF file you want to

import. Once youve found the file, click Open.

* The graphic is created in the score and you can move it, copy it, and so on
* If you want to place the graphic with the mouse or put a graphic on the title page at the start of
your score, ensure nothing is selected in your score before you choose Create > Graphic; the

mouse pointer will then change color to show that it is loaded with an object: click in the score
to place the graphic.

Weve provided a lot of useful ready-made graphics files that you can use if you cant be bothered to
create your own. They are found in the Graphics files folder inside your Example Scores folder,
and include things like pictures of instruments, handwritten colored rings for circling important
text, and so on.

File formats
Sibelius First can import graphics files in TIFF format, at any color depth (in other words, it can
be black and white, grayscale, or full color using any number of colors).
If your graphic is not in TIFF format, you can convert it into a TIFF file using a graphics program
such as Graphic Converter for Mac (available for download from www.lemkesoft.com), Paint
Shop Pro for Windows (available for download from www.jasc.com), or Imaging for Windows
(included on many PCs in the Start > Programs > Accessories menu).

Copying, editing and deleting graphics

Once the graphic appears in your score, you can manipulate it in much the same way as any other
object:
* copy it with Alt+click or z-click
* move it by clicking on the graphic so that it is shaded blue, then drag it with the mouse or use the
arrow keys (with Ctrl or X for larger steps)
* scale it, while keeping its proportions, by clicking on the small handle at the bottom right-hand
corner, so that it is surrounded by a light blue box, then drag the mouse or use 3/2 (with Ctrl
or X for larger steps)

91

Reference

Imported graphics often look best on the screen with the paper texture set to plain white, so that
the white background around non-rectangular shapes blends in. However, graphics will print fine
whatever the screen texture is.

Reference
* scale it, while altering its proportions, by holding Ctrl or X before clicking on the bottom righthand corner of the graphic (where the handle appears); release Ctrl or X, then drag the mouse
or use 3/2 (with Ctrl or X for larger steps)
* delete it with Delete.

To reset a graphic after manipulating it, choose Layout > Reset Design (shortcut Ctrl+Shift+D
or xXD), which puts the graphic back to its original size and proportions.

File size
Importing a graphic into your score will increase its file size considerably. To keep the file size as
small as possible, Sibelius First compresses the TIFF file when it imports it, and if you use the
same graphic multiple times in your score, you can and should just copy it instead of importing it
again.

92

Instrument names

Instrument names
b Instruments.

Each instrument has two names the full name that is normally before the first system, and the
short name (abbreviation) that is normally before subsequent systems. If you change one you
should also adjust the other. The names will change throughout the score, not just on the system
where you make the modification.

Editing instrument names

You can edit the name of any instrument in your score to use a foreign language, for instance, or
to name a singing character such as Wozzeck instead of Baritone. Just click the name at the left of
one of the systems, and edit it like any other text.
Editing an instruments name doesnt change an instrument from one kind to another, so changing Violin to Flute doesnt make it a flute. Similarly, changing Horn in F to Horn in Eb
doesnt change the transposition and make it an Eb instrument.

If you want to remove the instrument name just for a single instrument, select the name and hit
Delete if you subsequently want to restore the instrument name, you need to double-click
where the name should be, and the caret will reappear to allow you to type the name back in.

Moving instrument names

You can move an instrument name with the mouse, which will move all instances of the name.

93

Reference

Hiding instrument names

Reference

Instruments
b Staves, Instrument names.

Instruments or staves?
In the slightly technical meaning of instrument used in Sibelius First, an instrument is one or
more staves with a single name appearing at the left. So a piano with two staves counts as one
instrument because its name only appears once, between the staves. This also means that Violin 1
counts as one instrument, even though there will typically be many violinists. Even if the Violin 1s
divide onto two staves, the name Violin 1 still only appears once between them, so its still only
one instrument as far as Sibelius First is concerned. Singers are also instruments. If there is a single percussion staff, it counts as just one instrument, even though it may be used for snare drum,
cymbals, tom-toms, etc. simultaneously.

Creating instruments
At any time you can create an instrument that isnt already in your score just choose Create >
Instruments (shortcut I).

This is the same as the dialog you get if you click Change Instruments in the File > New dialog
when creating a new score.
The dialog is split into two halves: the left half is for choosing new instruments to add to the score,
and the right half shows you the staves already in the score and allows you to delete them, reorder
them, and add extra staves to existing instruments.
To add a new instrument:
* Choose the instrumental family from the Family list, e.g. woodwind, brass, strings, etc.
* Select the instrument you want to add from the Instrument list; click Add to add it to the

Staves in Score list, where it will appear with a + before its name, to indicate its new. It is listed
in the position in which it will appear in the score when you click OK. You can add several adjacent instruments quickly by dragging down the Instruments list with the mouse before clicking
Add.

94

Instruments
* If you change your mind, you can select a staff in the Staves in Score list and click Delete from

Score to remove it
* You can also select a staff and use the Up and Down buttons to move it in the vertical order. All
staves of a single instrument (e.g. both staves of a piano or harp, or all Violin I staves) always
move together.
* If you want to make one or more of the staves small, e.g. for a solo instrument, select it in the
Staves in Score list and switch on the Small staff checkbox.
* When you click OK, Sibelius First makes all the necessary changes to the score, adding, removing, and/or reordering staves.

Deleting instruments
To delete instruments, choose Create > Instruments, select the staff or staves you want to delete
from the Staves in Score list, and click Delete from Score; or alternatively, select them throughout the score as a passage by triple-clicking in the score, and hit Delete.
In either case, you will be prompted that this will also delete all music on them; if you want to proceed, click Yes, then click OK to close the dialog.

Sibelius First draws notes in shades of red if theyre too high or low for an instruments range.
Each instrument has two ranges: the professional range, and the comfortable range.
The professional range, generally speaking, defines the absolute highest and lowest notes playable
on a particular instrument; notes outside this range are colored bright red. The comfortable range
defines the highest and lowest notes that a typical non-professional player routinely uses; notes
outside this range but within the professional range are colored dark red.
Of course, most instruments do not have a clearly-defined range (think of singers, for example).
Commonly used optional adaptations to instruments, such as the double bass low C string, the
flute low B and piano high C (as opposed to A) tend to be included in the professional range but
not the comfortable one.

Transposing instruments
Sibelius First takes care of all the complications surrounding transposing instruments for you:
* You can input music either at transposed pitch or at sounding (concert) pitch. To switch
instantly between the two representations at any time, simply choose Notes > Transposing
Score (shortcut Ctrl+Shift+T or xXT) or click the appropriate toolbar button.
* When copying music between transposing instruments, Sibelius First automatically transposes

the music as necessary so that it always sounds the same. This saves big headaches when copying (say) from Clarinet in A to Horn in F.
* When you look at a part for a transposing instrument from a sounding pitch score, you dont
even need to think about transposing the part Sibelius First does it for you automatically.

95

Reference

Instrument ranges

Reference

Key signatures
b Transposing.

The key signatures that appear at the start of each system are automatic. They are adjusted to suit
the current clef, transposed for transposing instruments and omitted from those instruments that
dont usually have them (e.g. most percussion).
The only key signatures you have to specify are the one at the start plus any key changes that occur
in the music.

Creating key signatures

Choose Create > Key Signature (shortcut K) and click the
key signature you want. Switch between major and minor
keys using the radio buttons to the left of the dialog. (The
distinction between major and minor keys is primarily so
Sibelius First knows how best to spell accidentals inputted
from MIDI for instance, in A minor it prefers writing D#
to Eb, whereas in C major it prefers Eb to D#.)
If you select, say, a note or rest and then create a key signature, Sibelius First automatically places it after the selected
object.
If you create a key signature change in the middle of a
piece, Sibelius First automatically precedes the change with a double barline, which you can delete
if you feel particularly strongly about that kind of thing.
If you want to change key signature for a number of bars and then return to the original key, simply select the bars in which you want the new key to take effect before you create it. Sibelius First
will create your new key signature at the start of the selection, and restore the original key signature at the end of the selection.
If you want to transpose your music as well as change the key signature, use Notes > Transpose
instead b Transposing.
To create a key signature at the beginning of your score, make sure nothing is selected, then choose
Create > Key Signature, choose the key signature and click at the start of the score. You can also
use this method to create a key change with the mouse anywhere in the score.
If your score is a transposing score, choose a key signature in sounding pitch it will automatically
be transposed for transposing instruments.

Moving and deleting key signature changes

You can move key changes with the mouse or arrow keys.
To delete the key signature at the start of a score, either choose it in the File > New dialog when
creating the score, or else create an Open key/Atonal, C major, or A minor key signature and put
it on top of the existing one.
96

Key signatures
To delete a key signature elsewhere (i.e. a key change), select the key change and hit Delete. To
delete a change of key signature that happens at the start of a system, delete the cautionary key
change at the end of the previous system.

Cautionary key signatures

If a new section, song or movement in a score starts in a new key, you often want to omit the cautionary key signature that would otherwise appear at the end of the preceding system. Its easiest
to do this when you create the key signature at the start of the new movement: just switch on Hide
in the Create > Key Signature dialog.

Multiple key signatures

In some contemporary scores, different key signatures are used in different instruments (not to be
confused with the more common case of transposing instruments having different key signatures). To create a key signature that only applies to one staff, switch on One staff only in the
Create > Key Signature dialog when creating it. This option can also be useful when writing in
keys with many accidentals (e.g. F# major), where some of the instruments in your score may idiomatically benefit from being written in the enharmonic equivalent using flats (e.g. Gb major).

97

Reference

The note spacing of other staves in the system may be affected by the insertion of a key signature
on a single staff; to correct this, select the bar and choose Layout > Reset Note Spacing (shortcut
Ctrl+Shift+N or xXN).

Reference

Layout and formatting

Layout means how music looks on the page. Formatting is the process of creating a good layout.
Sibelius First knows so much about music engraving that it automatically formats music to produce an instant, excellent layout. In most other music notation programs, formatting is largely left
up to the user, which can waste hours of time.
But Sibelius First also lets you adjust the layout manually, and because it reformats the score in a
fraction of a second, you can instantly adjust the layout at any stage, even when the music is finished, which eliminates the need to plan layout in advance.
The three main weapons in your formatting armory are to adjust the page and staff size, the vertical spacing, and the horizontal spacing.

Page and staff size

The bluntest tools are changing the staff, margin and/or page sizes in the Layout > Document
Setup dialog (shortcut Ctrl+D or XD). Altering these is one way to increase or reduce the number of pages in a score, or to free up some space between the staves.
Adjusting the staff size (the distance between the top and bottom staff lines of a 5-line staff) is generally the most effective. You will find that a tiny adjustment often has a dramatic effect on the
amount of music that can fit on a page, without affecting the legibility of the notes. For instance, in
an orchestral score this might tip the balance between fitting one system per page and fitting two,
thus halving the length of the score.
Equally, a small adjustment to the margins or even the page size can have a large effect on the layout. Of course, for practical reasons altering these may not be options open to you.
For detailed instructions on these options, b Document Setup.

Vertical spacing
Changing the vertical spacing means, in effect, moving the staves. The various options open to you
are:
* Moving staves up and down to change the gap between them
* Moving systems up and down, by dragging the top staff of the system
* Creating a page break; this is an easy way to reduce the number of staves on a page, particularly

in parts. The remaining staves will be spaced out proportionally without you having to drag
them b Breaks.
The two ways of moving staves are:
* Normal move select a staff or staves and drag with the mouse (shortcut Alt+3/2 or z3/2,
with Ctrl or X for larger steps): changes the distance between the selected staff/staves and the

staff above (or the top page margin if the top staff is selected) and retains the spacing between
all other staves. Sibelius First may have to squash up other staves to allow room if the page is
full.
* Independent move select a staff or staves and use Shift-drag (shortcut xz3/2 or
Shift+Alt+3/2, with Ctrl or X for larger steps): moves only the selected staff/staves, leaving all
98

Layout and formatting

other staves in the same place on the page. Although you can use this to move staves almost on
top of one another, you cannot move one staff beyond another staff in either direction and, so
doing, change the order of the staves in your score.

Horizontal spacing
Changing horizontal spacing means changing the distance between notes, rests and barlines. You
can drag individual notes, rests and barlines left or right with the mouse. You can also decrease or
increase the spacing either for a selected passage or a single note by typing Shift+Alt+0/1 or
xz0/1 (hold down Ctrl or X to change the spacing in larger steps).
If the horizontal spacing gets very distorted, you can reset it to the default settings by choosing the
affected passage and choosing Layout > Reset Note Spacing (shortcut Ctrl+Shift+N or xXN).

System and page breaks

If you need to change Sibelius Firsts default formatting, you can insert manual system and page
breaks at any barline b Breaks.

Indenting staves
Reference

You can drag the left-hand and right-hand ends of systems to indent them b Staves.

99

Reference

Lines
b Slurs.

The Create > Line dialog (shortcut L) contains special lines used in music such as trills, slurs, hairpins, glissandi and so on for entry in your score.

Creating lines
All lines are created in the same way:
* Lines are either created automatically at the position of the selected note/rest, or can be placed

with the mouse:

% If you want the line to be automatically positioned, either select the note/rest where you want
the line to start, or select a passage of notes over which you want the line to last
% If you want to place the line with the mouse, make sure nothing is selected hit Esc
Choose Create > Line (shortcut L). The dialog is split into two halves: staff lines (which apply
only to a single staff) on the left, and system lines (which apply to all staves and appear in all
parts) on the right.
Select the line you want to create and click OK. The line will either be placed automatically in
the score at the selected object/passage, or the mouse pointer will change color to show that it is
loaded with an object click in the score to create the line.
To extend the line rightwards a note at a time, hit space; to retract the line leftwards again, type
Shift-space. You can also drag either end of a line with the mouse. System lines cannot be
extended and retracted using the keyboard.
When either end of a line is selected (shown by a small blue box), you can also make small
adjustments to its position using the arrow keys (with Ctrl or X for larger steps).

Slurs
Slurs are a special kind of line b Slurs.

Hairpins
Hairpins are created quickly by selecting the note under which you want the hairpin to begin and then typing H for a crescendo or Shift-H for a diminuendo. As
with slurs and other lines, you can rapidly move either end of a hairpin right/left
between notes using space / Shift-space.

Rit. and accel.

Various kinds of rit. and accel. lines are available in the System lines pane of the Create > Line
dialog. To create them in your score, simply click and drag.
Because they are system lines, rit. and accel. lines are repeated in your score in the same way as
other system objects, e.g. Tempo text.

100

Lines

Trills
To create a trill, select it from the Create > Line dialog, then click and drag in your score to extend
the trill line rightwards from the tr symbol. If you want a trill without a wiggly line, click and drag
the trills handle in the score as far as it will go to the left.

Pedaling
In addition to a standard pedal line, the Create >
Line dialog includes various other lines to allow
you to write the notch repedaling notation. You
can also create pedal marks with no lines where
the pedal up is denoted by an asterisk from the
dialog.
Pedaling plays back, as long as its written using lines (not symbols or text).

1st, 2nd and 3rd endings (1st/2nd/3rd-time bars)

The 1st, 2nd and 3rd endings (1st/2nd/3rd-time bars) within the System Line pane of the
Create > Line dialog appear at the top of the system and apply to all instruments.

These lines are predominantly used to avoid multiple leger lines on a staff. While frequently used
in keyboard music, these lines seldom occur in music for other instruments. 8va and 15va (for one
and two octaves upwards, respectively) and 8vb and 15vb (for one and two octaves downwards,
respectively) are included in the Staff lines pane of the Create > Line dialog.

Gliss. and port.

Usually a gliss. line is straight and includes the word gliss. at an angle along its length (although
Sibelius First automatically omits the word if the line isnt long enough), or sometimes the line is
wiggly instead. Portamento (port.) is similar but is usually only represented by a straight line.

Arpeggio lines
In keyboard, harp and guitar music, its common to see a vertical wiggly line denoting that the
notes of the adjacent chord should be spread from bottom to top (or in the direction implied by
an arrowhead on the line). A variety of arpeggio lines is available from the Create > Line dialog.

Dashed lines
These are for showing the extent of a marking such as cresc. Use these lines instead of typing a row
of hyphens, since the lines will automatically stretch or contract if the spacing of the score changes,
whereas a row of hyphens will stay a fixed length.

Guitar lines
Lines for all the common guitar techniques on both tab and notation staves can be found at the
bottom of the Staff lines pane of the Create > Line dialog, plus a complete set of string indicator
lines (a circled numeral followed by a horizontal line with a hook at the right-hand end), suitable
for positioning both above and below the staff.

101

Reference

Octave (8/15) lines

Reference

Live Playback
b Flexi-time, Playback, Performance, Opening MIDI files.

In real life, a musical performance never precisely matches what is notated in the score; there are
all manner of nuances of tempo, dynamic and rhythmic flexibility that cannot easily be reproduced even by smart features like Espressivo, Rubato and Rhythmic feel (b Performance).
So if you provide Sibelius with an actual, human performance either from a real-time recording
using Flexi-time (b Flexi-time) or by importing a MIDI file (b Opening MIDI files) it
can preserve it for you using Live Playback.
Live Playback stores exactly how you play each note (even individual notes in chords), right down
to the tiniest variations in velocity (how loud a note is), duration (how long you played it for), and
start position (how much it deviates from precisely where the beat is).

Hearing Live Playback

Live Playback is switched on by default in all new scores. To switch it on or off, choose
Play > Live Playback (shortcut Shift-L), or click the button in the Playback window
(shown on the left), which lights up when Live Playback is on, and is black when its off. When you
save and re-open your score, Sibelius remembers whether you had it switched on or off.
Live Playback is totally separate from Sibeliuss own interpretation of your score. For example,
when Play > Live Playback is switched on (and when Live Playback data is stored in your score),
Sibelius plays back the score exactly as it was originally performed. Items added to the score that
would usually affect dynamics or timing such as dynamics, hairpins, other text directions (such
as MIDI messages), and options such as Espressivo, Rubato and Rhythmic Feel are not played
back, unless they apply to notes with no Live Playback data.
So if you, say, import a MIDI file and then add a dynamic to one of the staves using Expression text
(b Text), it wont be played back unless you switch off Play > Live Playback (shortcut Shift-L).
Conversely, if you input a score using step-time or alphabetic input and then play it back, youll
hear no difference between playback with Live Playback switched on or off, because no Live Playback data is stored in your score.
Tempo instructions such as Tempo text, metronome marks, and rit./accel. lines and repeats are
always observed, whether or not Live Playback is switched on.

102

Lyrics

Lyrics
Lyrics are words written under notes to be sung by a singer. There are two ways of creating lyrics:
* typing them in directly; or
* copying lyrics syllable by syllable into Sibelius First from a word processor or other program.

Lyrics in a block, for extra verses at the end of a song or hymn, are created differently because
they dont align with the notes see Blocks of lyrics below.

Typing lyrics
To type lyrics directly into Sibelius First:

* Input the notes for which you want to write lyrics

* Start typing lyrics

* Hit (hyphen) at the end of each syllable within a word
* Hit space at the end of each word
* If a syllable lasts for two or more notes, hit space or once for each note
* If a word is followed by a comma, period or other punctuation, type it before hitting space.

If you need more than one word per note or an elision, see Several words per note and elisions below.

Editing lyrics
You can edit lyrics much like other text. You can alter them, move them, copy them and delete
them.
To edit a lyric, double-click it, or select it and hit Return (on the main keyboard). You can use the
arrow keys and Backspace to move between words and syllables.
If you delete a syllable, this also deletes any lyric line or hyphens to the right of it (which are
attached to the syllable).
You can move a syllable left or right by one note by selecting it (so it goes dark blue, not so the caret
appears) and hitting space or Shift-space. Similarly you can extend or retract a lyric line or row
of lyric hyphens by selecting the right-hand end and hitting Space or Shift-space.

Copying lyrics into Sibelius First

You can copy and paste lyrics between other programs (such as word processors) and Sibelius
First, from one part of a score to another in Sibelius First, or from one score to a different one.
The text you are copying should already have hyphens between syllables, e.g.:

103

Reference

* Select the note where you want the lyrics to start and choose Create > Text > Lyrics > Lyrics line
1 (shortcut Ctrl+L or XL)

Reference
Ma-ry had a lit-tle lamb,
its fleece was white as snow.

To copy lyrics text into Sibelius First:

* Select the text you want to copy:
% If you are copying within Sibelius First, select the lyrics you want to copy, then choose Edit >
Copy (shortcut Ctrl+C or XC)
% If you are copying from another program, select the text you want to copy and in that programs menus choose Edit > Copy (shortcut normally Ctrl+C or XC) to copy it to the clip-

board
* Select the note where you want to start pasting lyrics, then choose Create > Text > Lyrics > Lyrics
line 1 (shortcut Ctrl+L or XL); a flashing caret appears
* To paste a syllable, type Ctrl+V or XV, which pastes text up to the next space or hyphen (i.e. one

notes worth)
* You can then edit the pasted text as if you typed it in yourself, or hit space or (hyphen) to
extend the word or syllable over more than one note
* When you want to input the next word or syllable, type Ctrl+V or XV again
* If you make a mistake, you can choose Edit > Undo (shortcut Ctrl+Z or XZ), which will remove
the last pasted word or syllable from the score and put it back on the clipboard so that you can
paste it again.
If the text you had copied had extra hyphens or spaces between words or syllables, or had syllables
lasting more than one note, this is ignored when pasting. This is useful if, say, youre copying lyrics
from one staff to another in Sibelius First and the rhythms are different.
Tip: When pasting lyrics like this, you can just type Space every syllable, even in the middle of a
word Sibelius First will still write a hyphen where required.

Copying lyrics from Sibelius First

It can be useful to copy and paste lyrics from Sibelius First, either into a different program (e.g. a
word processor) or into, say, a block of lyrics at the end of the score in Sibelius First (see Blocks of
lyrics below). To do this:
* Select the lyrics you want to copy (e.g. select a passage or the whole score and then choose Edit >
Filter > Lyrics) and choose Edit > Copy (shortcut Ctrl+C or XC) to copy them to the clipboard
* Now paste the lyrics to the desired location:
% To paste the lyrics in Sibelius First, create a suitable text caret, e.g. for a block of lyrics, choose
Create > Text > Other Staff Text > Plain Text and click in the score, then choose Edit > Paste
(shortcut Ctrl+V or XV) to paste the lyrics
% To paste the lyrics into another program, switch to it and choose Edit > Paste (shortcut normally Ctrl+V or XV).

The pasted text will contain hyphens between syllables, so you should remove these.

104

Lyrics

Splitting words into syllables

When you split a word of lyrics with hyphens its important to split between the correct letters, otherwise the syllables can be hard to read. A rule of thumb (though there are exceptions) is as follows:
* Put standard prefixes and suffixes (e.g. un-, -ing, -ed, -ly) as separate syllables
* If there is a single consonant between two syllables (e.g. labor), split before it (la-bor)
* If there are two consonants between two syllables (e.g. better, Batman), split between them (bet-

ter, Bat-man).
As there are exceptions, if in doubt, ensure that each syllable can be read and pronounced correctly
on its own; for example, laughter should be split laugh-ter rather than laug-hter because
laug doesnt produce the right sound when read on its own.
Of course, when all else fails you can always look it up in a dictionary!
Punctuation in lyrics

If you repeat part of a sentence that isnt repeated in the

original text, put a comma
before the repetition, e.g. My
sister, my sister, my sister is a
thistle-sifter.

In sung dialog (such as recitative) you often find several words sung to
one long note. But if you type a space or hyphen after the first syllable,
the caret would immediately move onto the next note.
So instead use the special keypresses Ctrl+space or z-space and
Ctrl+ (hyphen) or z, which produce non-breaking spaces and
hyphens (i.e. without moving onto the next note). These keypresses are
also occasionally useful when creating other kinds of text, such as
chord symbols.
Similarly, in Italian and some other languages, two elided syllables are
often written on the same note with an elision character in between,
e.g. Ky ri e_e lei son. To achieve this, simply type _ (underscore)
while creating lyrics to get an elision character.

You can also use the elision character as a slur in block lyrics; for example, at the end of a line of a
hymn.

Blocks of lyrics
Extra verses of a song or hymn can be written as blocks of words at the end of the score. These
arent the same as normal lyrics because they dont align with notes.
To type a block of lyrics, use Create > Text > Other System Text > Block lyrics. Simply type the
lyrics, and hit Return (on the main keyboard) at the end of each line, or copy the lyrics from elsewhere in the score if you can (see Copying lyrics from Sibelius First above). Its convenient if
you type each verse as a separate text object, so that you can move them around separately.

105

Reference

When using a poem for lyrics,

include capitals (at the start
of lines) and punctuation (at
the end of lines and elsewhere) exactly as in the original text. Punctuation at the
end of words goes before the
lyric line.

Several words per note and elisions

Reference

Mixer
Sibelius Firsts Mixer window allows you to modify sounds for playback, including volume and pan,
and adjust settings in the virtual instruments and effects used in your current playback configuration.
To show or hide the Mixer, choose Window > Mixer, or use shortcut Ctrl+Alt+M (Windows)
or M (Mac), or click the toolbar button shown on the right. Though the Mixers width is fixed,
you can change its height by dragging its bottom edge (Windows) or bottom right-hand corner
(Mac).

Staff strips
Each staff in your score has its own staff strip:
Click arrow to
open or close strip

Staff name

Volume fader and level meter

Solo/mute

Closed staff strip

Open staff strip

Initial program
name used by staff

Pan slider

Device playing
this staff

Show/hide virtual
instrument window
(only in full Sibelius)

MIDI
channel

Test sound

You can open or close each staff strip by clicking the arrow at the left-hand side of the strip. The
controls in each staff strip work as follows:
* The staff name read-out shows you the name of the staff, as it appears in Create > Instruments;
this isnt editable. If you want to edit the instrument name, b Instrument names.
* To adjust the volume, simply drag the fader left (to reduce it) or right (to increase it). The fader

has a sticky position at the default volume (100, out of 127). During playback, the fader background lights up to show you the level of playback on that staff. This allows you to correct the
relative balance of staves without having to write louder dynamics for loud instruments and
softer ones for soft instruments. Most devices play all instruments at roughly the same volume
by default, so you should give (say) a complete Violin I section a volume somewhat higher than a
solo flute.
* To hear just one staff, click the solo button (

). The mute buttons for all staves are then disabled

(so they look like this: ). You can solo other staves simultaneously by clicking their solo buttons. When you switch all the solo buttons off again, the mute buttons are re-enabled. See Mute
and solo on page 108.

* To mute a staff, click the mute button (

). Click once to set the staff to be half-muted ( ) and

click twice to set it to be fully muted ( ). A third click makes it unmuted again. See Mute and
solo on page 108.

106

Mixer
* To adjust the pan position of the staff that is, its stereo position from left to right first open

the strip by clicking the disclosure arrow, then simply drag the pan slider left or right. The slider
has a sticky position in the middle. It sounds best if you dont position staves too far to the left
or right.
* The device menu allows you to change the device used to play the initial sound on a given staff,
but it is recommended that you dont change this, If you do decide to change the device used to
play back a staff, notice that the menu contains a list of all the devices in your playback configuration, and an extra entry (Auto) at the top of the list. If you want to tell Sibelius First to choose
the device automatically again, choose (Auto).
Once you explicitly choose a device for a given staff, the name of the device no longer appears in
parentheses, and the menu of sound IDs or program names below will only show you those
sounds provided by the specific device you have chosen.
* The button to the right of the device menu (

* The button to the right of the sound menu (

) allows you to test the current sound choice for

that staff.
During playback, you can only adjust the volume (including solo and mute) and pan for each staff;
in order to change any of the other settings the score must not be playing back.

107

Reference

) is never enabled in Sibelius First. In full Sibelius,

it is used to show the virtual instruments window if the device currently being used for this staff
is a virtual instrument.
* The MIDI channel or slot control displays the MIDI channel currently being used by the staff,
but does not allow you to change it: Sibelius First intelligently works out which channel or slot to
use for each staff.
* The sound read-out shows you the program name used by the staff at the start of the score.
Notice that, by default, the sound name is displayed in parentheses: this denotes that the choice
of sound is automatically determined by Sibelius First. Once you choose a specific program
name from the menu, the sound name is displayed without parentheses.
To change the initial sound of a staff, click the arrow to open the sound menu: the first level of
the menu shows General MIDI, which is the only sound set included in Sibelius First, and the
second level then displays the names of the groups into which the program names are divided;
finally, the third level shows the program names themselves.
As with the device menu, you can reset a staff to automatically choose sounds once more by
choosing (Auto) from the menu.

Reference

Click track strip

The click track strip is always found at the bottom of the staff strips:
Volume fader and level meter

Solo/mute

Click Settings
dialog
Device playing
this staff

Show/hide virtual
instrument window

MIDI
channel

Pan slider

The click track strip is very similar to the other staff strips,
except that instead of choosing an initial sound ID, you can
click Settings to show the Click Settings dialog, as shown
on the right.
* Subdivide beats is useful in some time signatures such

as 6/8, where it will click lightly on every eighth note

(quaver)
* Stress irregular beat groups accents beats in the bar depending on the beat groups defined for
irregular time signatures such as 7/8 (b Time signatures).
* You can also choose the percussion sounds used by the click track on the first beat of the bar and
subsequent beats.
In addition to the solo and mute button on the click track strip itself, you can also mute and
unmute the click track staff by clicking the Click When Playing button in the Playback window.

Mute and solo

For the purposes of trying out individual instruments or groups of instruments, any staff can play
back at full volume, at half volume or be completely muted (silent). Simply click the mute button
( ) for the staff in question to cycle through the different mute settings.
A good use of this is to produce music minus one recordings: putting one instrument into the
background helps people learn their part from memory. Making a solo instrument totally silent is
useful for practicing your own part while Sibelius First plays the accompaniment, or for playing
back music written for bagpipe or accordion.
You can solo a particular staff (muting all the other staves) by clicking the solo button ( ). You
can add further staves by clicking their solo buttons.
To play back just some of the instruments in the score, you can alternatively select the required
instruments as a passage before you play. If you play back a selection of staves in your score, the
mute setting of those staves is ignored so if youre working on a string quartet score and mute the
violin staff, but then select, say, that violin staff and a cello staff to play them both back, they will
both sound. Sibelius First assumes that if you specifically select a staff to play it back, you actually
want to hear it, even if its muted.

108

Mixer

Master volume strip

At the very bottom of the Mixer window is the master volume strip, which allows you to adjust the
volume of the included General MIDI module from a single fader:
Volume fader and level meter

During playback, the fader background lights up to show you the output level. Note that this fader
only affects the included General MIDI module, so if your score is playing back through your
soundcards built-in synthesizer or an external MIDI device, this fader will have no effect on the
volume.

Reference
109

Reference

Noteheads
b Beams, Percussion.

Sibelius First includes numerous special notehead shapes such as diamond, cross and slash. Noteheads are distinct from note values a cross notehead can be applied equally to an eighth note
(quaver), a half note (minim) or a double whole note (breve), and will slightly change its appearance accordingly.

Choosing a notehead
To change the notehead type of existing music, select a note or passage and use the drop-down
menu in the Properties window. You can also choose the notehead by holding down Shift+Alt or
xz and typing numbers from the row along the top of the main keyboard (not the numeric keypad); see below for the notehead numbers. If the notehead you want is numbered higher than 9
(say, notehead type 13), type both digits quickly one after another. If youre not sure what youre
looking for, type Shift-+/ to cycle forward and back through the complete choice of noteheads.

Common noteheads
Cross noteheads (shortcut Shift+Alt+1 or xz1) indicate notes of uncertain pitch, usually for
unpitched percussion. A cross half note (minim) can be written as a normal half note with a cross
through it in avant garde notation, or as a diamond in drum set (kit) notation (shortcut
Shift+Alt+5 or xz5).
Diamond noteheads (shortcut Shift+Alt+2 or xz2) usually indicate notes that are fingered but
not played, such as a string harmonic, or (in avant garde music) piano keys depressed silently. For
guitar harmonics, quarter notes (crotchets) and shorter notes are written with a black filled-in diamond (shortcut Shift+Alt+6 or xz6).
Slashes indicate the rhythm of chords improvised to chord symbols in jazz, rock and commercial
music. Two types of slash are provided, one with a stem (shortcut Shift+Alt+4 or xz4) and one
without (shortcut Shift+Alt+3 or xz3). These noteheads dont play back, and dont transpose.
They are usually written only on the middle line of the staff.
Headless notes (shortcut Shift+Alt+7 or xz7) indicate pure rhythms in contemporary music,
either because a previous note or chord is being repeated, or because (like the cross notehead) the
pitch is indefinite or is improvised. Headless whole-notes (semibreves) are hard to see.
Stemless notes (shortcut Shift+Alt+8 or xz8) are useful for arhythmic music such as plainchant.
Silent notes (shortcut Shift+Alt+9 or xz9) look exactly like normal noteheads, but they dont
play back, which can be useful in certain situations.
Cue-size noteheads (shortcut Shift+Alt+10 or xz10) are used to mix normal- and cue-sized
noteheads within the same chord (for normal cue notes, see below). Beware that using this notehead type doesnt make associated objects such as accidentals small too.

110

Noteheads
0 - normal

8 - stemless

4 - beat

12 - back slashed

1623 - shape notes

24 - cross with small circle

28 - large slash with stem

5 - cross or diamond

9 - silent

13 - arrow down

2 - diamond

6 - black & white diamond

10 - small

15 - inverted triangle

29 - cross (bold)

11 - slashed

7 - headless

25 - stick notation

14 - arrow up

3 - beat without stem

26 - large cross

30 - ping

Reference

1 - cross

23 is 19 for use with stem down

27 - large stemless slash

Noteheads with slashes through them (shortcuts Shift+Alt+11/12 or xz11/12) are used for
things like rim-shots in percussion notation.
The arrow down (shortcut Shift+Alt+13 or xz13) and arrow up (shortcut Shift+Alt+14 or
xz14) noteheads, which are only suitable for notes with stems pointing up and down respectively, are used to denote unspecified extremely low or high notes. These noteheads are drawn
without leger lines.
Noteheads 1623 are used for shape note music, also known as sacred harp music, formulated
in an American song book by B.F. White and E.J. King in 1844. The technique is called fasola (i.e.
fa so la, a kind of solmization), whereby differently-shaped noteheads are used for different
degrees of the scale.

111

Reference
Notehead 24 is an alternative cross notehead with a smaller half note (minim) notehead, occasionally used instead of notehead 1. Notehead 29 is another alternative cross notehead, with a
bolder cross.
Notehead 25 is used for Kodly stick notation.
Notehead 26 is used in marching percussion, generally meaning all drums playing in unison.
Noteheads 27 and 28 are alternative slash noteheads, sometimes used instead of noteheads 3 and
4. Unlike noteheads 3 and 4, these noteheads are set to play back and transpose by default,
because they are also occasionally used in marching percussion.
Notehead 30 is sometimes used in percussion notation to represent a ping, a specific kind of
rimshot.

Different sizes of noteheads

You should only create small noteheads with notehead type 10 if normal and small noteheads are
needed in the same chord. To make a single note or whole chord cue-sized, use the cue button
(shortcut Enter) on the second Keypad layout (shortcut F9) instead, as this will also make the
stem and any accents and articulations small b Grace notes.

Notes in parentheses
You can add parentheses (round brackets) to any notehead (including grace notes) using
the button on the second Keypad layout (shortcut F9). The parentheses will automatically
adjust to enclose accidentals, etc.

112

Opening MIDI files

Opening MIDI files

Importing a MIDI file
Open a MIDI file just like a normal Sibelius First file: simply choose File > Open (shortcut Ctrl+O
or XO), locate the file (on Windows, MIDI files usually have the file extension .mid), and click
Open.
A dialog appears with importing options you can set (detailed below). Normally, you should just
click OK, and then wait a few seconds for the MIDI file to open.
Some MIDI files contain no program changes (even though they contain instrument names),
which means that the instruments have to be guessed. If so, Sibelius First warns you that the
instrument names, sounds, clefs, and other details may be wrong. You should either adjust the
instruments clef etc. by hand, or (preferably) make or obtain a copy of the MIDI file that does contain the necessary program change information, and import that MIDI file instead.

Once the MIDI file is imported you can play back, edit, save, and print it just as if youd inputted
the music yourself.

Import options

The options on the MIDI File tab of the Open MIDI File dialog are as follows:
* MIDI file uses this sound set allows you to specify whether the program and bank numbers

use General MIDI or not. This helps Sibelius First guess what the instruments are. Normally you
can leave this option at General MIDI, or switch it off altogether if you simply want to import
the MIDI file as is.
* Only one staff per track is useful if you open a MIDI file which notates a piano (say) as two
separate piano tracks, one for the left hand and another for the right hand. Switch on this option
and each hand will be written as one staff, not two; you can then clean it up by creating a new
piano and copying the two hands into it. Finally, delete the original two pianos.
113

Reference

If you find that the imported MIDI file doesnt look as good as you had hoped, try changing some
of the import settings see Import options below.

Reference
* Keep track order is switched off by default; this makes Sibelius First choose the order of the

*
*

*
*

instruments. Switch it on to keep the instruments in the same order as the tracks in the MIDI
file.
Keep track names makes Sibelius First use the name of each track as the instrument name;
switch it off to use the default instrument names for the instruments Sibelius First guesses
Hide empty staves is switched on by default; this makes Sibelius First hide empty staves
throughout the resulting score, which is often useful because many MIDI files have tracks that
are empty except for short passages; as a result, hiding empty staves can make the score easier to
read
Import markers as hit points makes Sibelius First convert all markers in the MIDI file into hit
points in the score it creates. When switched off, Sibelius First will import the markers as standard text objects.
Use tab for guitars specifies whether Sibelius First should import any guitar tracks in the
MIDI file onto tab staves; if the option is switched off, guitars will be imported onto notation
staves
Use multiple voices determines whether Sibelius First should use two voices where appropriate to produce cleaner notation; normally this option should be switched on
Show metronome marks makes all metronome marks visible. If there are lots of changes of
tempo (e.g. rits. and accels.) then you may want to switch this option off, which will hide the
metronome marks in the score, making it look cleaner but still playing back the same.
The Document Setup options allow you to choose the Page size, House style and orientation
(Portrait or Landscape) of the resulting score.

For details of the options on the Notation tab, see Flexi-time options on page 84.

Recommended import options

The precise combination of options you should choose in the Open MIDI file dialog will depend
on a number of different factors, for example:
* If you are importing a MIDI file to create clean notation, you should switch off the Notation tab

options to notate staccatos and tenutos, and try a number of different Minimum note value
settings until you get the cleanest result
* If you are importing a MIDI file for playback only, it doesnt matter which options you choose,
as Sibelius First will always play back the MIDI file exactly as it sounds, using Live Playback
* If you are importing a file created by someone else, probably on a different device (e.g. a MIDI
file you have downloaded from the Internet), you should set MIDI file uses this sound set to
the device it was created for
* If you are importing a file that you know uses the General MIDI sound set, make sure you have
chosen General MIDI under MIDI file uses this sound set.
The default Notation tab settings work well in most cases, as follows: Adjust rhythms on, Minimum note value sixteenth note (semiquaver), Staccato and Tenuto on. If you are reading a
MIDI file in which the rhythms are completely exact (if its already quantized, say), switch Adjust
rhythms off.
114

Opening MIDI files

If you set Minimum note value unrealistically long e.g. if its set to eighth notes (quavers)
when the MIDI file contains long runs of sixteenth notes (semiquavers) Sibelius First obviously
cant render the runs properly using eighth notes and may be forced to produce junk. (Sibelius
First will have to approximate the runs of sixteenth notes using tuplets of eighth notes or by joining some pairs of sixteenth notes together to form eighth note chords.)
The tuplet options are up to you:
* Simple means tuplets are notated only if they contain equal note values
* Moderate and Complex for more irregular rhythms.

Remember that if a particular tuplet (say a triplet) is used in a MIDI file, you must set this option
to at least Simple, or it wont be read correctly! Beware however that if, say, you set all the tuplets
to Complex, Sibelius First may discover elaborate tuplet rhythms where you werent expecting
them, so be cautious.

Downloading MIDI files

* www.prs.net: more than 16,000 or so classical music files, all public domain
* www.musicrobot.com: a search engine for locating pop music MIDI files on the web
* www.cpdl.org: an excellent choral music public domain site with thousands of files
* www.cyberhymnal.org: every major hymn tune, with downloadable lyrics too.

Not all the files on these sites are in MIDI format some may be in Finale, PDF or another format.
Some may even be in an audio format, like MP3, which cannot be opened by Sibelius First. So
look carefully to see what the actual format of the file is, before you try and download it. (Sibelius
First can, however, open files in various formats check the other topics in this chapter for
details.)
Once youve found the MIDI file youre looking for in your web browser, identify the link to download it; links are normally underlined. Do not click on the link directly, as that will simply make the
MIDI file play inside your web browser: we want to download it, not play it. Instead:
* Right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Mac) the link, and a menu will appear.
* Choose Save Link As, Save Target As or Download Link (the exact wording depends on which

web browser you are using)

* Depending on your web browser, you may be prompted to choose where to save the file, in
which case choose somewhere easy to remember, like your Desktop
* Now the file will be downloaded. MIDI files are normally very small, so this will probably take
only a second or two.
Congratulations! Youve now downloaded a MIDI file and in fact the above steps can be used to
download any type of file from the web.

115

Reference

There are many online resources for MIDI files. If you are looking for a particular piece, you can
try a search using www.google.com, e.g. typing the name of the piece followed by the words
MIDI file. Or you could try visiting one of the following sites:

Reference
Make sure you know what the MIDI file is called and where you saved it (normally to your Desktop), then open Sibelius First, and follow the steps in Importing a MIDI file at the start of this
topic.
You should be aware that if you download or publish MIDI files of someone elses music without
permission you are likely to infringe copyright. Copyright infringement is illegal, and in any case
is forbidden by the Sibelius First license agreement.
Most music states if it is copyright and who the copyright owner is. If you have are unsure of the
copyright status of a MIDI file you have downloaded, please contact the musics publisher, composer or arranger.

116

Percussion

Percussion
This topic only covers writing for unpitched percussion instruments. Writing for pitched percussion instruments is very much like writing for other pitched instruments, so doesnt require any
special knowledge.
Unpitched percussion can be notated in a variety of ways, depending on the nature of the music
and ensemble being written for. For example, in rock, jazz and commercial music, different pitches
and noteheads are used to notate different unpitched instruments on the same staff; this is usually
called a drum set (or drum kit).
Sibelius First has many of the more common pitched and unpitched percussion instruments
built-in, including drum sets and orchestral percussion.

Unpitched percussion instruments

For most unpitched percussion instruments, this drum map is very simple. For example, the percussion instruments that use 1-line staves are typically set up to produce the desired sound when
you put a normal, cross or diamond notehead on the staff line itself.
Some percussion instruments, however, are more complex, and have more staff lines, and more
noteheads. For example, drum set, marching snare drum, bass drum and cymbal instruments use
five-line staves, and different noteheads at different positions on the staff produce different
sounds.

Drum set notation

To create a drum set staff in Sibelius First, choose Create > Instruments (shortcut I), and select
either Drum Set or Drum Kit (which are identical other than the name).
The Drum Set and Drum Kit instruments use a notational system based on the recommendations
of the Percussive Arts Society (in Norman Weinbergs book, Guide To Standardized Drumset Notation), as follows:

Pedal
hi-hat

Bass
drum 1

Acoustic
bass drum

High
Side stick Low-mid
tom-tom wood block

Low floor
tom-tom

High floor Low Tambourine

tom-tom tom-tom

High-mid Cowbel l High

tom-tom
tom-tom

Acoustic
snare

Ride Closed
cymbal 1 hi-hat

Low
Electri c
snare wood block

Open Crash
hi-hat cymbal 1

Open
triangle

117

Reference

Each unpitched percussion instrument built into Sibelius First has its own drum map, meaning a
list of correspondences between each percussion sound it uses (e.g. cowbell, bass drum) and the
position on the staff and type of notehead (e.g. normal, cross, diamond) uses to notate it.

Reference

Note input for unpitched percussion

When inputting into percussion staves, you can use any of Sibelius Firsts input methods, but if
the percussion instrument uses different types of noteheads, it is quicker to use step-time or Flexitime input than to use mouse or alphabetic input.
Consider the following simple example, for kick and snare drums with open and closed hi-hats on
a regular drum kit:

The quarter notes (crotchets) are in voice 2 and use the default notehead, and the eighth notes
(quavers) and sixteenth notes (semiquavers) are in voice 1, and use the cross notehead. (If you
dont use the cross notehead, the notes wont play back as hi-hats.)
If you input this music using a MIDI keyboard in step-time or Flexi-time, Sibelius First automatically maps the pitch of the notes you play on your MIDI keyboard onto the appropriate pitch, and
also chooses the correct notehead (and articulation, if specified). If you play a pitch for which
there is more than one notehead mapped in the staff type, Sibelius First will choose the first notehead listed in the drum map.
Sibelius First expects you to play the pitches as they appear on the staff: a l-line staff is treated as
the middle line of a 5-line staff (i.e. pitch B4), a 2-line staff is the 2nd and 4th lines (i.e. pitches G4
and D5), a 3-line staff is the 1st, 3rd and 5th lines (i.e. pitches E4, B4, and F5), and a 4-line staff is
the spaces (F4, A4, C5, and E5). Hence a note on the line of a 1-line staff can be inputted by playing the B above middle C.

Buzz rolls (Z on stem)

Used to indicate multiple stroke rolls in percussion writing, Sibelius First allows you to add a buzz
roll symbol to any note or chord. Choose the third Keypad layout (shortcut F10) and hit 6. For
more detailed information on buzz rolls, b Tremolos.

118

Performance

Performance
Sibelius First contains such advanced features to improve the playback of your scores that we prefer to think that it doesnt just play back it performs!
Options controlling the style of performance are all available from the Play > Performance dialog,
and are described below. These also affect the results you get when exporting a MIDI file
(b Exporting MIDI files).

Espressivo
Espressivo (Italian for expressively) is a unique feature that enables Sibelius First to play back
scores adding its own expression, like a human performer. Sibelius First still obeys the dynamics
and articulations you write in the score, but adds a whole lot of further phrasing and interpretation
over and above these.
If you play back a score that uses several instruments or even a full orchestra Espressivo produces independent expression for every single instrument.

* Meccanico (mechanically) plays the score absolutely literally, with no dynamics or articula*

*
*
*

tions except where marked

Senza espress. (without expression) adds only tiny fluctuations of volume and slight accents
at the start of bars and note-groups as a human performer will naturally do even when trying to
play with no expression
Poco espress. (slightly expressively) has slight dynamics following the contour of the music,
suitable for a fast, fairly mechanical style (such as Baroque music)
Espressivo is the default option, with more dynamics added
Molto espress. (very expressively) produces lots of expression, which can be too over the top
for some kinds of music. It works well for large groups of instruments, as it helps to separate the
different lines.

Rubato
Rubato is the rhythmic counterpart to Espressivo. Sibelius First can subtly vary the tempo of your
score to add greater expression, in much the same way as a human performer would.
In the Play > Performance dialog, you can choose six different degrees of Rubato from the dropdown list, which are suitable for different styles of music:
* Meccanico: the default option, this plays the score absolutely literally, with no gradations of

tempo except where marked by Tempo text, metronome marks, or rit./accel. lines
* Senza Rubato: plays the score like a real performer trying to keep the tempo absolutely strict,
so there are some barely perceptible tempo fluctuations
* Poco Rubato: adds a small amount of Rubato, so the tempo of your score will vary a little over
the course of a phrase
* Rubato: produces moderate gradations of tempo
119

Reference

In the Play > Performance dialog, the Espressivo drop-down menu gives five different degrees of
expression for different styles of music:

Reference
* Pi Rubato: adds quite a lot of Rubato
* Molto Rubato: adds the maximum amount of Rubato, so Sibelius First will exaggerate the

rhythmic phrasing. This can sound over the top for some kinds of music.
The recommended setting for rubato in your score is Rubato (the middle setting). Higher settings
than this can produce an extreme effect in which playback may lurch in particularly busy passages.
Rubato may only be slight in music that is repetitive or uniform, as Sibelius First bases it on the
shapes of phrases. The effect of rubato is also lessened the greater the number of instruments in
your score, as heavy rubato is less appropriate (and unlikely to be conductable!) for large ensembles.

Rhythmic feel
Sibelius First can play back with a wide range of rhythmic feels suitable for different styles of
music, from jazz to Viennese waltz. Some rhythmic feels involve adjusting the notated rhythm,
some adjust the beat stresses, and some do both.
The Rhythmic Feel options in the Play > Performance dialog are as follows:
* Straight the default setting
* Light / Regular / Heavy swing a jazz convention in which two notated eighths (quavers) are
*
*
*
*
*

*
*
*
*
*

performed approximately as a triplet quarter note plus eighth note (triplet crotchet plus quaver)
Triplet swing swings two eighth notes (quavers) as an exact triplet quarter note plus eighth
note (crotchet plus quaver)
Shuffle a light sixteenth note (semiquaver) swing
Swung sixteenths as for Regular swing but swings sixteenth notes (semiquavers) rather
than eighth notes (quavers)
Dotted eighths (quavers) effectively a very extreme swing; were not quite sure why youd
want this, but here it is anyway
Notes Ingales triplet quarter note plus eighth note (crotchet plus quaver), similar to Triplet
swing, for an effect used in some early music (although the conventions required for really
authentic notes ingales are more complex than this)
Light / Viennese waltz shortens the first beat of the bar (to a lesser and greater degree respectively), for a characteristic waltz feel
Samba a sixteenth note (semiquaver) feel, stressing the first and fourth beats
Rock / Pop stresses the first and third beats of a 4/4 bar, lightens the stress on the second and
fourth, and lightens further still on off-beats, Rock more so than Pop
Reggae a sixteenth note (semiquaver) pattern with a strong emphasis on the 3rd and 4th sixteenths
Funk similar to Pop, but makes the second beat of the bar (in 4/4) slightly early.

You can switch rhythmic feel on or off, or even change from one rhythmic feel to another, for different parts of your score by adding text indications such as Swing or Straight in Tempo text.

120

Performance

Reverb
Reverb means echo strictly speaking, the spread-out echo you hear in a room, rather than the
delayed one you hear in the Swiss Alps. Most soundcards and sound modules and some MIDI keyboards can add reverb. Adding reverb can have a dramatic effect on making your scores sound lifelike, as the human ear is almost as sensitive to the acoustics of a room as it is to the sound within it.
Sibelius Firsts Play > Performance dialog gives six preset degrees of Reverb from Dry to Cathedral. You can also type an exact percentage into the box at the bottom.
Music for small ensembles may benefit from a small amount of reverb, characteristic of playing in
a medium-sized room, whereas large orchestral works can be given extra depth by greater reverb
settings.
Different devices may react differently to the reverb settings 100% produces an eternal reverb on
some equipment but not on others. Experiment a bit. Some MIDI devices can do a range of other
reverb effects, such as plate reverb, hall reverb and so on; see your MIDI devices manual for
details.

Dynamics between keyboard staves

Repeats
The Play repeats option determines whether Sibelius First will play back any of the repeat markings in your score; it is switched on by default, and this is usually the most useful setting.
b Repeats.
The Gap after final barlines option determines how long Sibelius First should pause after each
final double barline in a score that contains multiple songs, pieces or movements.

121

Reference

Sibelius First automatically plays back dynamics between the two staves of keyboard instruments
(or other instruments with multiple staves, e.g. a flute with two staves).

Reference

Playback Devices
The Play > Playback Devices dialog allows you to choose which of the available playback devices
Sibelius First should use to play back your score.

Changing playback devices

By default, Sibelius First will use its own built-in General MIDI module device, which provides a
complete, high-quality set of General MIDI sounds. You can only export an audio file of your score
when using this playback device, so you are recommended to use it. On Windows, the General
MIDI module appears in Playback Devices as GM-MODULE; on Mac, it appears as General MIDI
Module.
To choose another playback device, simply select it from the list, and click OK. Sibelius First is
designed to work with General MIDI-compatible playback devices only.

Audio Engine Options

The Audio Engine Options button in Playback Devices allows you to change the settings on
your soundcard to produce the best playback using the built-in General MIDI module:

* Choose the device you want to use for playback from the Interface drop-down. On Windows, you

may see the same device listed several times, with different acronyms in parentheses at the end:
% If you see a device with (ASIO) at the end of its name, use this one. ASIO (which stands for
Audio Stream Input Output) provides a low latency interface, and so is ideal when you are
using virtual instruments and effects for playback and input.
% Devices with (DS) at the end of their name use Microsofts DirectSound technology. DirectSound doesnt provide such low latency as ASIO, but is recommended if no ASIO device is
122

Playback Devices

*
*

123

Reference

available. Depending on the specific hardware, a DirectSound device may or may not provide
low enough latency for use when inputting via Flexi-time.
% Devices with (MME) at the end of their name use Microsofts MultiMedia Extension technology, a predecessor of DirectSound and ASIO. Some inexpensive soundcards or built-in sound
hardware (in laptops or low-end desktop computers) only support MME, which will generally
work adequately for playback, but will definitely not provide low enough latency for use when
inputting via Flexi-time.
On Windows, Sibelius will automatically choose an ASIO device if one is available; it will otherwise choose a DirectSound device, or a Multimedia device as a last resort.
On Mac, practically every device supports Mac OS Xs built in Core Audio standard, so you will
normally only see (CoreAudio) at the end of each devices name. Core Audio is similar to ASIO
in that it provides a low latency interface. Sibelius will use the device chosen on the Output tab
of the Sound pane of System Preferences by default.
On Windows, when you are using an ASIO device, the ASIO Setup button is enabled. Clicking
this button opens your devices ASIO control panel, where you can modify various comfortingly
technical settings specific to your device.
Outputs allows you to choose which of your devices outputs to use for playback. Most soundcards have a single pair of stereo outputs, so you will see only 1/2 in this menu. If you have a
soundcard or other audio interface with multiple pairs of outputs, each pair will be listed here.
Buffer size, as you might expect, determines the size of the buffer provided by your audio interface for data to be streamed into, which has an effect on the latency of the device: the larger the
buffer, the higher the latency. The buffer sizes provided by your hardware may vary, but for most
ASIO and Core Audio devices, a reasonable buffer size is 1024 samples.
Sample rate is the frequency at which the audio is played back through the audio interface.
Normally this should be set to 44100Hz.
Latency is the amount of time, in milliseconds, it takes for the audio device to play a note after
Sibelius tells it to. You cant edit the latency directly; its calculated by the combination of buffer
size and sample rate.

Reference

Plug-ins
Sibelius First includes five plug-ins, which are extra features created using a built-in programming
language called ManuScript. The program can automatically add fingerings to scores for some
brass and string instruments, making it very easy to produce simple sight-reading exercises for
students learning these instruments. You can even add fingerings to scales and arpeggios created
by Sibelius First. You can also add text note names above notes, and create text chord symbols
automatically from the notes in your score.
You can stop a plug-in while its running: just click the Stop plug-in button that appears in the top
left-hand corner of the screen. You can also undo whatever a plug-in does to your score in the
usual way, by choosing Edit > Undo (shortcut Ctrl+Z or XZ) after running it.

Add Brass Fingering

To add appropriate fingering for a number of common brass instruments, including trumpets in
Bb, C, D and Eb, horns using F and Bb fingerings, and 3- and 4-valve euphoniums, select the passage for which you want to add fingering (e.g. triple-click the staff of the brass instrument in question) and choose Plug-ins > Add Brass Fingering. Choose the instrument from the dialog and
click OK to add the fingering to your score in the Fingering text style.

Add Chord Symbols

This plug-in analyzes the harmony of your music and automatically adds appropriate chord symbols above the selected staves. You can choose to analyze any or all of the staves in your score, and
choose where the chord symbols will be created.
To run the plug-in, select the staves in which the harmony occurs (e.g. the two piano staves) and
then choose Plug-ins > Add Chord Symbols. A dialog will appear, as follows:

You can generally leave these settings at their defaults simply click OK to add chord symbols to
your score.
If you wish to change the settings, there are many options for controlling the results, as follows:
124

Plug-ins
* Add chord symbols: at the start of every bar or every note value from the start of the

125

Reference

bar (where note value is selected from a drop-down list): this option determines how often the
plug-in will add chord symbols to the score.
* How to find root note and Root note analysis options: these options control how the plugin determines the root note of the chord, which is the most important step in naming the chord.
For instance, C6 and Ami7 are effectively the same chord (they contain the same notes), but
have different root notes.
If the Always try to find root note by analyzing the notes option is selected, the plug-in will
attempt to guess the root note by various methods (controlled by the Root note analysis
options). Sibelius First cannot always guess the root note correctly (since any note in a chord is a
potential root note, and Sibelius First cant read the composers mind yet!).
If you dont like the plug-ins guesses for the root notes, try using the Take root note to be the
lowest sounding note option. As its name suggests, this assumes that all chords are in root
position, with the root note at the bottom of the chord. Alternatively, you can use the Take root
note to be lowest note in the following staff number option, which reads the root of the
chord from a particular staff.
* Root note analysis options:
% Prefer 7ths to 2nds: if there is an interval of a 2nd between any of the notes in the chord, the
plug-in will try to place it as 7th Tonic rather than Tonic - 2nd' or any other interval. This
option ensures, for example, that the notes Bb - C - E - G from bottom to top are recognized as
C7 rather than Bb% (b5) or Emi+(#11) or something else equally improbable.
% Prefer chords containing a triad: when this checkbox is selected, the plug-in will choose
the lowest root note that gives the chord a major or minor triad (from the root) if possible. If
no such note is present, the plug-in will use other methods to try to find the root note, unless
Use bottom note if chord has no triad is selected, in which case the plug-in uses the lowest note in the chord as the root.
* Notation options: these options control whether to write a chord symbol at every position
specified by Add chord symbols (at the top of the dialog) or whether to omit redundant ones:
% Insert chord symbol at every specified position always writes a chord symbol, regardless
of whether or not the actual chord has changed.
% Only insert chord symbol if the root note has changed: with this option selected, the
plug-in will not create a new chord symbol if the root has not changed since the last chord
symbol. The chord itself could change, e.g. C to C7, but the chord symbol would still be omitted with this option selected.
% Only insert chord symbol if the chord name has changed: with this option selected, the
plug-in will only omit a chord symbol if it would be identical to the last chord symbol created,
e.g. the second of two consecutive C chords would not be created, but a C7 following a C
chord would be written.
% Put chord symbols on the following staff number: this option determines the number of
the staff in the score where the chord symbols will be created, relative to the top selected staff,
i.e. if you select three staves and want the chord symbols created above the second of these
three staves, you would enter 2 here. As with all staff numbers in this plug-ins dialog, the
numbering counts from the top selected staff (number 1) downwards, and includes any hid-

Reference
den staves that may be included in the selection. If the plug-in seems to add no chord symbols to the score, it may be that you have chosen to create the chord symbols onto a hidden
staff.
* More notation options:
% Use slash inversion marks: when selected, the plug-in will notate different chord inversions
in the standard way, by writing the chord symbol followed by a slash or oblique (/) and the
name of the note at the bottom of the chord. For example, a C major chord in first inversion
would be written as C/E.
% Only write chords with 3 distinct notes: when selected, only chords with 3 or more different notes will be notated as chord symbols. This avoids adding ridiculous chord names
with lots of omissions at points where only one or two notes are sounding. However, with this
option selected, power chords (e.g. C5) will not be created.
% Notate omissions of: these options control which intervals are marked as omissions if they
are missing from a chord in which they would normally be expected. If, for example, the 5ths
option is switched on, the chord C-E-Bb will produce the chord symbol C7 (; 5).
% For 7ths/9ths/11ths/13ths, an interval is expected if the chord name contains a highernumbered extension. For example, a C13 chord is by default expected also to contain a 7th, a
9th and an 11th. Such a chord is unlikely to be fully-voiced in practice, so it is useful to switch
off the omission options for some of these higher extensions they are off by default.

Add Note Names

This plug-in writes A, C#, etc. above every note in the score.
To run the plug-in, simply select a passage (or make sure nothing is selected if you wish to add
note names to all staves throughout your score) and choose Plug-ins > Add Note Names. A simple dialog appears, allowing you to specify whether the note names are added in upper or lower
case, which text style is used, whether it should use sounding or written pitch (for transposing
instruments), whether it should include the octave number as well as the note name, and whether
note names should be added to the selected passage or the whole score. You can also choose the
language that should be used to write the note names.

Add String Fingering

To add appropriate fingering to music for violin, viola, cello and double bass, select the passage for
which you want to add fingering (typically, triple-click the staff of the instrument in question) and
choose Plug-ins > Add String Fingering. Choose the desired instrument from the dialog; you can
also choose the fingering position(s) to be used (the default setting is 1 and 3, which will add the
fingerings for first position and then go back and attempt to fill the gaps with fingerings from third
position). Click OK to add the fingering to your score in the Fingering text style.

Scales and Arpeggios

You can quickly create worksheets containing dozens of scales and arpeggios in just a few clicks:
simply choose Plug-ins > Scales and Arpeggios. You are guided through a series of dialogs, as follows:
* If a score is already open, you are first asked if you want to add the scales to the existing score, or

create a new score. Make your choice and click Next.

126

Plug-ins
* If you are creating a new score, youre asked whether you want to create scales for a single-staff

127

Reference

instrument, or for a keyboard instrument. (You can also ask the plug-in to produce a single
example of each type of scale and arpeggio it can create.) Make your choice, then click Next.
* You are asked to choose between several different types of scale or arpeggio: major scales, minor
scales, modal scales, altered scales, jazz scales, and arpeggios. Again, make your choice and click
Next.
* The next dialog allows you to set specific options about the scales or arpeggios you want to create: the type of scale, how many octaves and in which octave it should begin, the direction, the
note value to be used, the clef, and so on. Include key signature inserts a new key signature at
the start of each scale.
If you want to create keyboard scales, you can specify whether you want to add an interval of a
third or an octave above the notes in the right-hand staff.
If you want to create a series of scales, you can choose whether each new scale should be in the
key of the new starting note, or whether it should stay in the original key but simply begin on a
different degree of the scale.
When you are satisfied with the options:
% If you are creating scales or arpeggios for a single-staff instrument, click Finish.
% If you are creating scales for a keyboard instrument, click Next. You can make a few further
choices, such as whether the scales should be created in similar or contrary motion, whether
the left-hand staff should start in the same or a different octave than the right-hand staff, and
so on.
* After you click Finish, the plug-in creates the desired scales or arpeggios within just a few seconds.

Reference

Preferences
Preferences are options that affect the Sibelius First program as a whole, and which remain permanently set until you change them again, rather than being saved in individual scores.
If Sibelius First is used on the same computer at different times by different users, then Sibelius
First automatically remembers a different set of preferences for each person if they log on to the
computer as a different user.
The File > Preferences dialog (in the Sibelius First menu on Mac; shortcut Ctrl+, or X,) contains
various miscellaneous preferences, as follows:

* Switch off Play music if you dont want to hear the pretty opening music as Sibelius First loads
* Show shadow note determines whether or not Sibelius First should show the gray shadow

note during note input see Creating some notes on page 34.
* By default, Sibelius First will use a different zoom level during playback. Set Use different

zoom to the desired zoom level (or simply change the zoom level during playback to the one you
want Sibelius First to use), or switch it off to use the same zoom level during playback and editing.
* Some of the messages that pop up after doing certain operations in Sibelius First have a Dont
say this again option. If you switch this option on for one or more of these messages, and later
want to make them appear again, click the Show All Messages button.
* The list of Input Devices allows you to choose which MIDI input device you want to use for
step-time and Flexi-time input b MIDI setup for Windows and MIDI setup for Mac. If
your MIDI device is a MIDI guitar, be sure to switch on Input device is a MIDI guitar and then
128

Preferences
choose either 6 strings or 4 strings depending on whether your MIDI guitar is a regular guitar
or a bass. Sibelius First assumes that your MIDI guitar uses MIDI channel 1 for the highest
pitched string, and channel 6 (or 4, for a bass) for the lowest pitched string.
* Within Sibelius First, both the virtual paper and desk use high-quality textures to make them
easier on the eye. A number of different textures are provided for you to choose between. If
screen redraw seems particularly slow, try switching on the Alternative texture drawing
option, then quit and restart Sibelius; this may make Sibelius faster on some computers, but
slower on those with limited memory. If screen redraw is still slow, you will probably find that
switching textures off (by setting the options to Use color, not texture) makes screen redraw
quicker.

Reference
129

Reference

Printing
For details of standard paper sizes and advice on what page and staff sizes to use for particular
types of music, b Document Setup.

Setting the paper size

Before you print from Sibelius First, you should check that your printer driver is set to use the correct paper size. On Mac, each program on your computer maintains its own default paper size, so
you simply need to ensure that the correct size is set in the File > Page Setup dialog.
On Windows, you can change the paper size via Sibelius Firsts File > Print dialog, but this only
affects documents printed from Sibelius First, and only until you quit the program. The next time
you start up Sibelius First, its paper size is reset to your printer drivers default again. This means
that you should ensure your printers default settings are correct. To do this:
* On Windows XP:
% Choose Start > Printers and Faxes
% Select the default printer, then choose File > Printing Preferences
% In the printer driver dialog, click the Layout tab, then click Advanced (in the bottom right-

hand corner of the dialog)

% Choose the correct default paper size, then click OK twice to confirm the changes.
* On Windows Vista:
% Choose Start > Control Panel, then click Printers
% Right-click on the printers icon and choose Select printing preferences
% In the printer driver dialog, click the Layout tab, then click Advanced (in the bottom righthand corner of the dialog)
% Choose the correct default paper size, then click OK twice to confirm the changes.

Printing
Choose File > Print (shortcut Ctrl+P or XP). A standard Print dialog appears, with some extra
options on.
* On Windows, if you have more than one printer connected to your computer, you can choose

which one you want to use from the drop-down list at the top of the dialog. You can also alter
specific driver options by clicking Properties.
* On Mac, you should choose the Sibelius page of options to get the dialog containing options for
booklets, spreads, etc. You can also set which pages to print on the Copies & Pages page.
Set the print options described below as you want them, then click OK (Windows) or Print (Mac)
and the printing will begin.
Hint: on Windows, you can print Sibelius First files without running Sibelius First: right-click on
the files icon and choose Print from the menu that appears.
The options in the File > Print dialog are as follows. Unless otherwise stated, the options are found
on the main File > Print dialog on Windows, or the Sibelius page of the File > Print dialog on Mac:
130

Printing

Print range
If you dont want to print the whole score, you can type a list of pages to print (e.g. 1, 3, 8), and/or
a range of pages (e.g. 5-9), which can be backwards to print in reverse order (e.g. 9-5).
The page numbers you specify here are not necessarily the page numbers displayed in the score if
your score uses page number changes. Instead they refer to the physical pages in your score: if you
want to print the second, third, and fourth pages of the score, even though they may be numbered
ii, iii and iv, you type 2-4 in the Pages control.

Copies and Collate

By default, one copy will be printed, though you can set any other quantity you want in the Copies
box (on the Copies & Pages page on Mac). Multiple copies are done of each page in turn, so if you
choose two copies the pages will come out in the order 1, 1, 2, 2, 3, 3, etc.
However, if you switch on Collate, each copy of the score is collated properly, so the pages come
out in the order 1, 2, 3, 4... 1, 2, 3, 4.... This saves you having to sort the pages into order yourself,
but on laser printers printing may take a little longer.

This option prints a thin border around the page. When printing on outsize paper, this makes the
pages easier to visualize, and easier to guillotine, than just using crop marks. Its also very useful to
proof-read scores scaled to (say) 65%, with Border and Spreads (see below) switched on.

Crop marks
These are little cross-hairs used in professional publishing to point to the corners of the page. Crop
marks are required because books are printed on oversized paper that is subsequently trimmed to
the required size.
Its only sensible to use crop marks if youre printing on paper that is larger than your scores pages.

Print in color
When switched on, Sibelius First will print any objects that you have colored in your score in color
(or gray if you have a black-and-white printer). Colors in any graphics you may have in your score
will also be printed. When switched off, colored objects print in black.

Date and time footer

Sibelius First will print date and time footers on each page of your score when this option is
switched on. This is useful for keeping track of different versions of a score.

Fit to paper
This scales the score down in size, if necessary, so that the music fits within the print margins of
the paper, to avoid the edges of the music being clipped. This is particularly useful for printing Letter sized scores on A4 paper (and vice versa), and for reducing Tabloid/A3 scores onto Letter/A4
paper. Fit to paper does not however expand the music to fill the paper if it is larger than the page
size.

131

Reference

Border

Reference
Beware that US paper sizes such as Letter and Tabloid are not quite the same shape as each other,
so the page margins may turn out differently than you expect. No such problem arises with European paper sizes.
This option automatically adjusts the Scale setting (see below), so if you have Fit to paper
switched on, you shouldnt change the Scale setting yourself.

Scale
Your music is normally printed at 100% size, though you can set any other scale factor you like. To
reduce the music to fit onto smaller paper, simply switch on Fit to paper instead of working out
the scale factor yourself.

Substitute options
These options fix various printer problems and/or may improve the print speed or quality. When
you have time to test them, try various combinations of these options to see if you can gain any
improvements.
The options are as follows:
* Lines: some printer drivers do not print staff lines evenly, and may even fail to print them alto-

gether; some drivers draw lines such as barlines and stems with rounded instead of flat ends.
Some PostScript printers may give out of memory errors when printing many pages at once.
Turning this option on may solve these problems and should increase print speed, but may make
staff lines slightly uneven in thickness.
* Braces: some printer drivers print braces either in the wrong place or using the wrong symbol.
Switch on this option if you have these problems.
* Arpeggios, gliss., etc.: some Windows printer drivers have a bug that makes angled text and
wiggly glissando and arpeggio lines print at the wrong angle or in the wrong place; if you find
this happens, switch on this option.
* Symbols (Windows only): this option affects how symbol fonts used for e.g. notes, time signatures, clefs and other symbols in your score are rendered by your printer. Symbol fonts include
Opus, Reprise, Inkpen2, Opus Percussion, Opus Special, and so on, and fonts such as Symbol,
Wingdings, and other dingbats fonts. If this option is set wrongly for your printer, then symbol
fonts may not display or print at all. The four choices are as follows:
% Automatic: Sibelius First detects whether symbol fonts are in TrueType or PostScript (Type
1) format and renders them accordingly; this is the recommended setting on Windows
% PostScript: Sibelius First assumes all symbol fonts are in PostScript (Type 1) format
% TrueType: Sibelius First assumes all symbol fonts are in TrueType format.

Double-sided printing
To print your music double-sided:
* Under Format, select Normal and Odd. Print the score. Only odd-numbered (i.e. right-hand)

pages will be printed.

* Feed the pages back into the printer, possibly face up (depending on how your printer feeds it). If
the first page of your score is even-numbered that is, if it is a left-hand page you should feed
132

Printing
in one extra blank sheet at the start, since the first page shouldnt end up with anything printed
on the front.
* Now select Even. Print the score again, to print the even-numbered (i.e. left-hand) pages on the
back of the odd-numbered ones.
If the pages come out of your printer face down, you may have to reverse the order of the sheets
before printing the second side, or alternatively just print the second side in reverse order (by typing a backwards page range such as 81). You will have to try and see, as this varies from printer to
printer.
Laser printers tend to wrinkle paper slightly when printing on it. This can make printers misfeed if
you put paper back in to print on the other side. This problem will be reduced if you leave the
paper to settle for an hour or so after printing the first side, or if you feed the paper manually sheet
by sheet for the second side (which is a bore). Some misfeed problems are also caused by residual
static from the corona charge in most laser printers; it may be alleviated by riffling the paper
before re-feeding.

Spreads
Difference between
spreads and 2-up on
a six page document:

With Spreads selected, either:

Spreads

* make sure your paper is at least twice the size of your pages in Sibelius

First (e.g. Tabloid/A3 paper for Letter/A4 pages); or

* use the same page size as paper size but reduce the Scale accordingly,
e.g. print Letter/A4 pages at 68% on Letter/A4 paper.
Then print as normal, using any other options such as Border.

2-Up

2-Up

5 6

Similar to Spreads, except that the first page you specify is always
printed on the left.

Booklet
A booklet is a small book consisting of double-sided pages stapled in the middle. Booklets are
printed with two pages side-by-side on sheets of paper that are twice the size of the ultimate pages.
The pages have to be numbered strangely when printed so that it all works when the booklet is
assembled. For instance, the outermost sheet of a 16-page booklet would have pages 16 and 1 on
the front (in that order) and pages 2 and 15 on the back. Fortunately this complicated layout procedure, known technically as imposition, is done automatically for you by Sibelius First.
To print as a booklet, either:
* make sure your paper is twice the size of your music pages in Sibelius First (e.g. A3 paper for A4

pages), or

133

Reference

This prints two consecutive pages side by side on each sheet of paper, and
odd-numbered pages are always printed at the right-hand side of the
paper. This format is suitable for proofing.

Reference
* use the same page size as paper size but reduce the Scale accordingly, e.g. print two A4 pages at

70% on A4 paper.
Then:
* Click Booklet and Outward pages
* Print as normal. One side of the paper will be printed.
* Click Inward pages
* Feed the paper back into the printer, and print again to do the other side.

As with ordinary double-sided printing, if the pages come out of your printer face down, you may
have to reverse the order of the sheets before printing the second side, or alternatively just print the
second side in reverse order (by typing a backwards page range such as 81). You will have to try
and see, as this varies from printer to printer.
You can use all the other options when printing booklets too, e.g. Pages, Crop marks, Odd and
Even, etc. Collate is particularly useful for producing a stack of copies that you only have to fold.
Sibelius First assumes that the finished booklets first page is numbered 1, even if your scores first
page number is not 1. Thus if your score starts on page 2, this will appear as the inside left-hand
page of the booklet, not on the front. This lets you leave the front page blank in case you want to
add a special cover produced using a different program.
When printing Outward pages Sibelius First first prints the double-page containing page 1, then
3, 5, 7 etc. Similarly, when printing Inward pages, Sibelius First starts with the double-page containing page 2, then 4, 6 etc.
For example, the printing order of an 8-page booklet is like this:
* Outward pages: 1 & 8 (together, page 1 on the right), 3 & 6
* Inward pages: 2 & 7, 4 & 5.

Note also that two adjacent page numbers on a sheet always add up to the total number of pages
(rounded up to a multiple of four), plus 1; in the above case, 9.
If you want to print a specific double-page from a booklet e.g. pages 8 & 1 from an 8-page booklet just specify one of the pages (e.g. page 1) and Sibelius First will know to print the other next to
it.

Choosing good paper

Investing in very good paper can make your printouts look twice as good. Good paper is bright
white, is very opaque so the music doesnt show through the back, and is reasonably stiff so it
doesnt flop on a music stand. Avoid ordinary thin typing paper or photocopier paper we recommend paper of about 26 lb/ream or 100 gsm.

Problems with margins

Some printers may cut off the edges of your music, particularly the bottom edge. This is because
most printers need room to grip the paper.
One solution is to move the music further away from the edge by increasing the musics page margins on the Layout > Document Setup dialog (shortcut Ctrl+D or XD).
134

Printing
If your musics layout is sensitive to reformatting, and you find that only (say) the bottom of the
page is being cropped off, you can prevent the music reformatting by decreasing the top page margin by (say) 0.2 inches (5mm) when you increase the bottom margin by 0.2 inches (5mm), so that
the music just moves up the page a little. Alternatively, use Lock Format before adjusting the margins (b Layout and formatting).

Problems with double-sided printing

If your printer misfeeds, try any or all of these:
* Leave the paper to cool for a while after printing the first side
* Manual feed the second side
* Open the exit flap (if there is one) on the printer, which provides a straighter feed path.

If toner on the first side slips off when printing the second side:
* Leave the paper to cool for a while after printing the first side
* If there are settings to feed the paper faster (e.g. a lower print resolution), try these for the sec-

ond side.

Reference
135

Reference

Properties
Many objects in Sibelius First have properties that can be edited using the Window > Properties
window (shortcut Ctrl+Alt+P or zXP).

Text properties
You can change the font or text size of any selected text object using the Properties window. You
can also make text bold, italicized or underlined using the B, I and U checkboxes respectively.
Note that if you want to, say, change the font used by all the lyrics in your score, you should use the
Layout > Change Fonts dialog, which allows you to change the default text font throughout your
score in a single operation.
See Text on page 163 for further information on editing text.

Noteheads
On notation staves, different types of noteheads are sometimes used. For example, drum notation
uses a variety of noteheads to denote different drums in the drum set see Percussion on page
117 for more details. If you are preparing lead sheets or rhythm parts, you may also want to use
slashes, which Sibelius First treats as a type of notehead.
Its easy to change noteheads on a notation staff: just select the note or notes whose noteheads you
want to change, and then choose the desired notehead from the Notehead list in the Properties
window. Alternatively, you can hold Shift+Alt or xz and type the numbers on the main keyboard (not the numeric keypad) to choose the notehead.

Bar rests
You wont normally need to change the type of bar rest used in your scores, but if you are writing a
drum or rhythm part you may want to use the repeat bar symbol (sometimes called a cannon)
instead of a bar rest. Select as a passage all the bars in which you want to use the repeat bar symbol
so that theyre surrounded by a single blue box, then choose the repeat bar symbol from the Bar
rest list in Properties.
(For the record, the other two bar rest types included there are a blank bar rest and a double whole
note or breve bar rest, but youre unlikely ever to need them.)

136

Repeats

Repeats
b Lines, Text.

Like other kinds of playback, Sibelius First understands repeat markings in your score and plays
them back automatically.
Various kinds of object can affect the playback of repeats: barlines; lines such as 1st- and 2ndendings; text such as D.C. al Coda; and symbols for codas and segnos. MIDI files saved from
Sibelius First also incorporate repeats in exactly the same way as playback.

Playing repeats
Repeats are only played back if Play repeats is switched on in the Play > Performance dialog.
This option is switched on by default, but if you find that repeats dont play back, you should check
this first.

To create a start or end repeat barline, select the barline where you want the repeat to go, and
choose Create > Barline > Start Repeat or End Repeat.
Repeat barlines only repeat once (i.e. any passage with an end repeat barline at the end of it will be
played twice). However, if an ending line (see below) is also present at the same bar, its playback
properties take precedence, so the barline will repeat as many times as dictated by the ending line.

1st and 2nd ending lines

For information on creating these lines, b Lines.
If you have multiple sets of ending lines in your score, to get correct playback you must ensure that
the last ending of each repeated section has an open right-hand end:
Incorrect

Correct

1.

1.

2.

2.

1.

1.

2.

2.

Sibelius First sets the playback properties of these lines automatically when you create them; it
reads the numbers under the bracket and plays them the right number of times automatically.

Codas
Codas music that comes at the very end of a song with a repeating structure are normally separated from the preceding music by a gap. To create a coda:
* Create the bars where the coda music will go
* Select the barline just before the coda

137

Reference

Repeat barlines

Reference
* Choose Create > Barline > Double (because codas are normally preceded by double barlines, to

show the end of the previous section)

* You would also normally add a text direction here informing the player what to do when they get
to this double barline the first time through see Dal segno (D.S.) and da capo (D.C.)
below
* Choose Layout > Break > Split System. This creates a gap after the selected barline. You can
drag the barline at the start of the second half of the system in order to increase or decrease the
gap.
* To write the word CODA above the start of the coda, hit Esc to make sure nothing is selected.
Then choose Create > Text > Tempo (shortcut Ctrl+Alt+T or zXT) and click above the start of
the coda. Right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Mac) to see the word menu, which includes
the coda symbol, then type the word CODA in the normal way.

Dal segno (D.S.) and da capo (D.C.)

The Italian term dal segno literally means from the sign. In most music you will see either D.S.
al Fine (which means go back to the $ sign and play the music again until you come to the bar
marked Fine, then stop) or D.S. al Coda (which means go back to the $ sign and play the
music again until you come to the bar marked To Coda, then jump to the coda).
Similarly, da capo literally means from the head, i.e. the start of the song or piece. Just as with
D.S., in most music you will either see D.C. al Fine or D.C. al Coda.
You may also see simply D.C. or D.S. in the final bar of a score, which means to repeat from the
start of the score or the $ sign respectively, then stop at the end.
In music, these instructions always appear at the end of the bar from which you have to jump back
(either to the $ sign or to the start of the piece). To input these instructions:
* Select the barline where the player has to jump back in the song
* Choose Create > Text > Other System Text > Repeat (D.C./D.S./To Coda). (Its important to

use this text style rather than Tempo because it automatically attaches to the end of the bar.)
* A flashing caret appears. Now right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Mac) to see the word
menu, which includes the text you need enter it in the score simply by clicking it in the menu.
If you type the words yourself, be sure to use the correct case (i.e. type Fine, not fine, as the
latter wont play back correctly).

Creating a segno
If the player has to jump back to a segno, you do of course need to put the segno symbol in the
right place. To do this:
* Select the note at the start of the bar to which the player has to jump back
* Choose Create > Text > Tempo and right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Mac) to choose the

segno symbol.

138

Repeats

Fine and To Coda

The final special pieces of text used in repeat structures are Fine (which shows where the player
should stop playing the song if theyve previously jumped back from a D.S. or D.C. instruction),
and To Coda (which shows where the player should jump forward to the coda, if theyve previously jumped back from a D.S. al Coda or D.C. al Coda instruction).
Both of these instructions occur at the end of bars, and are entered the same way as D.S. and D.C.
see Dal segno (D.S.) and da capo (D.C.) above.

Reference
139

Reference

Rehearsal marks
Rehearsal marks are large letters or numbers that pinpoint important places in the music. They are
automatically lettered or numbered in sequence by Sibelius you only have to indicate where they
go. This means that you can create and delete rehearsal marks freely without having to worry
about re-lettering or renumbering them yourself.

Creating rehearsal marks

* Choose Create > Rehearsal Mark (shortcut Ctrl+R or XR)
* If no note is selected, the mouse pointer will change color and you should click above a barline to

place the rehearsal mark.

* If a note is selected, the rehearsal mark is automatically positioned above the barline at the start
of the next bar.

Editing rehearsal marks

You can drag, copy and delete rehearsal marks in the normal ways. As you drag them, they snap to
barlines horizontally.
As with tempo text, large scores often have more than one of each rehearsal mark say, one above
the system and another above the strings in orchestral music.
If you move or delete the top rehearsal mark, any duplicates lower down the system will move or
delete with it. However, if you move or delete a duplicate rehearsal mark instead of the top one, it
will behave independently. This allows you (say) to move or delete just the rehearsal mark above
the strings if there is a high note it would collide with.

140

Scanning

Scanning
INTRODUCTION
PhotoScore Lite from Neuratron is a music scanning program designed to work with Sibelius First
the musical equivalent of a text OCR (optical character recognition) program.
It is a sophisticated program with many advanced features. If you intend to scan relatively complex
scores such as orchestral/band music, or scores of many pages, we strongly recommend that you
start with more simple music until you are proficient with PhotoScore Lite, and then familiarize
yourself with the ADVANCED FEATURES section.

On-screen help
In addition to this topic, PhotoScore Lite has its own on-screen help: to access it, choose Help >
Neuratron PhotoScore Help (shortcut F1) from PhotoScore Lites menus.

PhotoScore Ultimate

For details of PhotoScore Ultimate, choose Help > PhotoScore Ultimate, or contact your local
dealer or Sibelius First.

Scanning
Scanning text is difficult for computers to do, and has only achieved reasonable accuracy in the last
few years. Music scanning is much harder because of the more complicated range of symbols
involved, and because of the complex two-dimensional grammar of music.
The difficulty with scanning music or text is that by scanning a page, a computer does not understand it. As far as the computer is concerned, scanning a page merely presents it with a grid of
millions of black and white dots, which could be music, text, a photograph or anything else.
The process of actually reading or interpreting music, text or pictures from this grid of dots is
extremely complex and poorly understood. A large part of the human brain, containing many millions of connections, is devoted solely to solving this pattern recognition problem.

Installing and uninstalling PhotoScore Lite

Refer to the separate Installation Guide booklet for help with installing and uninstalling PhotoScore Lite.

Suitable originals
PhotoScore Lite is designed to read originals that:
* Are printed rather than handwritten (and use notes with an engraved appearance rather than a

handwritten appearance, e.g. from a fake book)

141

Reference

An advanced version of PhotoScore Lite, called PhotoScore Ultimate, is available to buy separately,
with extra features and enhancements. PhotoScore Ultimate reads many more musical markings
(including tuplets, slurs, grace notes, cross-staff beaming, guitar tab, chord diagrams, repeat barlines etc.). You can use PhotoScore Ultimate to read scores with up to 12 staves per system, and
open them in Sibelius First.

Reference
* Fit on your scanner (i.e. the music itself is typically no larger than Letter/A4 size, though the

paper may be slightly larger)

* Have a staff-size of at least 0.12/3mm
* Use no more than 12 staves per page, and 2 voices per staff. (Additional staves or voices will be
omitted.)
* Are reasonably clear for example, staff lines should be continuous and not broken or blotchy,
half note (minim) and whole-note (semibreve) noteheads and flats should have a continuous
circumference and not be broken or filled in, beams on sixteenth notes (semiquavers) and
shorter notes should have a significant white gap in between, and objects that are meant to be
separate (e.g. noteheads and their preceding accidentals) should not overlap or be blotched
together.
Music that does not match the above will probably work, but with considerably reduced accuracy.
Scanning from photocopies is not particularly recommended unless the photocopier is a particularly good one, as photocopying tends to degrade the quality of an original significantly. You may
be obliged to scan from a reduced photocopy if your original is bigger than your scanner, but you
should expect lower accuracy.

Using PhotoScore Lite without a scanner

In addition to reading music that you scan yourself using a scanner, it is possible to read music
without using a scanner, either by opening individual pages that you have saved as graphics files,
or by opening PDF files.
To work with graphics files, you will need each page of music stored as a separate graphics file on
your computer in .bmp (bitmap) format on Windows, or TIFF and PICT (Picture file) format on
Mac. (PhotoScore UltimatePhotoScore Ultimate can also open PDF files.)
PhotoScore Lite can also read PDF files. Reading a PDF file may be useful if the music you want to
scan is available in PDF format from a web site, or if you want to convert a file from another music
program by producing a PDF file and then opening it in PhotoScore Lite.
Before you decide upon using PDF files as the way of converting files from another music program,
check that the program doesnt export a file format that Sibelius First can read directly, e.g.
MusicXML, as this would be preferable to using PDF files.
On Windows, PhotoScore Lite requires that you have Ghostscript installed in order to open PDF
files. If you didnt install Ghostscript when you initially installed PhotoScore Lite, you can download it free from www.ghostscript.com.

Copyright music
You should be aware that if you scan someone elses music without permission you are likely to
infringe copyright. Copyright infringement by scanning is illegal, and in any case is forbidden by
the Sibelius First license agreement.
Most music states if it is copyright and who the copyright owner is. If you have a piece of music
that you want to scan and you are not sure about its copyright status, please contact the musics
publisher, composer or arranger.
142

Scanning

GETTING GOING
Like Sibelius First, PhotoScore Lite functions in exactly the same way on Windows and Mac. You
can start PhotoScore Lite either by choosing File > Scan in Sibelius Firsts menus, clicking the Scan
icon on the Sibelius First toolbar, or by running it from the Start menu (Windows) or double-clicking its icon (Mac). Sibelius First doesnt need to be running when you use PhotoScore Lite.

The four stages

There are four stages when using PhotoScore Lite:
* Scanning the pages or opening a PDF file. When you scan a page, PhotoScore Lite takes a photo-

You can then play the music back, re-arrange it, transpose it, create parts, or print it out.

Quick start
Before we examine how to use PhotoScore Lite in detail, lets run through the process quickly to
introduce the four stages.
The first step is either to scan some music, or to open a page you have already scanned, or to open
a PDF file:
* To scan a page, choose File > Scan pages (shortcut Ctrl+W or XW); your scanner interface will

load. Scan a page and it is added to PhotoScores list of scanned pages.

* To open a graphics file, choose File > Open; when prompted for the resolution the image was

scanned at, choose the appropriate setting and click OK. The graphics file is then added to the
list of scanned pages.
* To open a PDF file, choose File > Open PDFs. You will be prompted to choose the resolution;
normally you can leave this at the default of 300 dpi and click OK. If the PDF is password protected, you will then be prompted to provide the password.
As soon as you scan a page or open a PDF or graphics file, each page appears in the Pages pane,
which is at the left hand of the main PhotoScore Lite window. Each page first appears under Pending Pages, and PhotoScore Lite immediately proceeds to read the pages you have added, Reading
each page will take a little while (depending on the speed of your computer) and a green progress
bar fills up behind the name of the page in the Pending Pages list. As PhotoScore Lite completes
reading each page, it moves to the list below, Read Pages.

143

Reference

graph of your original. Similarly, when you open a PDF file, PhotoScore Lite takes a photograph of it, so that it can read it in the next step.
* Reading the pages. This is the clever bit, where PhotoScore Lite reads the scanned pages to
work out what the notes and other markings are.
* Editing the resulting music. Here you correct any mistakes that PhotoScore Lite has made. Editing within PhotoScore Lite works in much the same way as editing music in Sibelius First.
Almost any marking can be corrected or input in PhotoScore Lite, but it is only essential at this
stage to correct rhythmic mistakes other corrections can be made after sending the score to
Sibelius First if you prefer.
* Sending the music to Sibelius First. This is done simply by clicking on a button. After a moment
the music pops up as a Sibelius First score just as if youd inputted it all yourself.

Reference
When PhotoScore Lite has finished reading the pages, the main editing window will appear:

From this window you can edit any errors in the music.
When you are satisfied with the corrections you have made, choose File > Send to > Sibelius
(shortcut Ctrl+D or XD) to send the music to Sibelius First.
If Sibelius First is not already running, it will start up, and the Open PhotoScore File dialog will
appear, which allows you to choose various options concerning which instruments will be used in
the Sibelius First score. Dont worry about these now just click OK. Moments later, the Sibelius
First score will appear, ready for editing, just as if you had inputted it yourself.

1. SCANNING OR OPENING A PDF

Before you scan, choose File > Scanner Setup to choose whether you want to use PhotoScores
own scanning interface in which case choose PhotoScore or your scanners own interface in
which case choose TWAIN (scanner default) and click OK. By default, PhotoScore Lite will use
your scanners own interface, which is fine, since you are presumably familiar with the way your
scanners software works.
Next, measure the size (height) of staves in the page you want to scan and choose a resolution
using the following table, and scan in black & white or gray not color:

144

Staff size

Resolution

0.25/6mm or more

200 dpi

0.15-0.25/46mm

300 dpi

0.12-0.15/34mm

400 dpi

Scanning
Reading accuracy and speed will be considerably reduced if you scan at too low or too high a resolution. So, for example, do not scan at 400 dpi unless the staves really are small.
Usually, you can choose whether to scan in black & white or grayscale (shades of gray). Scanning
in gray produce significantly more accurate results if the option is not available in your scanning
dialog, consult your scanners documentation.
Now you can scan your first page try a page or two of simple keyboard music or something similar:
* Put the page of music (the original) into your scanner, face-down and with the top of the page

*
*
*

*
*

*
*

145

Reference

pointing away from you.

Put one edge of the original flush against the raised edge of the glass.
You can put the page on its side if it fits better. PhotoScore Lite will automatically rotate the page
by 90 degrees if necessary. However you should normally align the top of the page with the left
edge of the scanner to ensure it does not turn out upside down. Dont worry though if it is
scanned upside down, as it is easy to correct later on.
If you are scanning in gray, then the page does not need to be completely straight, providing that
it is not more than 8 degrees off PhotoScore Lite will automatically make the page level (to
within 0.1 degrees) without loss of detail. It will still be rotated if scanning in black & white, but
there will be loss of detail, and thus less accurate results.
Choose File > Scan Pages, or click the Scan Pages button on PhotoScore Lites toolbar.
After a moment, the scanner will whir into life and transfer the page to your computer. (If this
doesnt happen, see POSSIBLE PROBLEMS below.)
If you are scanning from a fairly thick book, gently press down the lid (or the book if easier) during scanning to keep the page flat on the glass.
A window will appear for you to enter a name for the page, which will be something like Score
1, Page 1 by default. You can change this to any name you like (although to avoid any unexpected results it should end with a number) something like Piano p1 would do then click
OK. Subsequent pages you scan will be automatically numbered e.g. Piano p2, and a dialog will
not appear.
Wait a few seconds while PhotoScore Lite makes the image level, chooses the best brightness,
and locates the staves.
PhotoScore will now be ready to scan the next page, so put the page of music in the scanner, then
click the button that tells your scanner to start scanning again, and proceed as for the first page.
If the scanning interface does not reappear, simply click the Scan Pages button again.
Continue until you have scanned all the pages that you want to scan.
A scan of the first page will then appear. The buff paper color indicates that you are looking at a
scanned image (a scan) of the original page.
Check that all the staves are highlighted in blue this shows that PhotoScore Lite has detected
where they are.
If the page has systems of two or more staves, check also that the staves within each system are
joined at the left-hand end by a thick vertical (or near-vertical) red line.

Reference
If not all staves are blue, or not all staves within systems are joined with a red line, you can manually tell PhotoScore Lite where they are (see ADVANCED FEATURES below).
(Ignore the other buttons at the top of this window, which are also explained in ADVANCED
FEATURES below.)

Scanning summarized
Once youve scanned a few pages youll rapidly get into the routine of it. The procedure can be
summarized as follows:
* Place page in scanner
* Click the scanner button or choose File > Scan Pages
* Choose the resolution, and whether to scan in black & white or gray
* Click Scan
* If its the first page, enter a name for the page (or leave the default name)
* Go on to next page.

Catalog of scanned pages

Its important for you to understand that whenever you scan a page, PhotoScore Lite adds it to a
single list or catalog of scanned pages to be read later. You do not need to save scanned pages or
the catalog it is stored on your hard disk automatically.
This means that whenever you start using PhotoScore, it still remembers any pages you scanned
previously. (You can delete pages that you no longer need to keep.)
Well tell you more about the catalog later.

Hints on scanning
* If you want to read a page of music smaller than the size of your scanner, you should make sure

146

that only that portion is scanned.

Most scanner interfaces allow you to scan part of a page, usually by clicking a Preview button to
produce a thumbnail image, which may seem a little blocky. You can then adjust the required
area by dragging from the edges of the thumbnail.
Then click Scan to scan the selected area at high resolution. Every time you click Scan after this,
only the selected area will be scanned, until you change it.
Ensure that all of the music on the page you are scanning is on the glass of the scanner.
It doesnt matter if your original is larger than Letter/A4, so long as the music itself will fit onto
Letter/A4.
If you are scanning a page that is smaller than Letter/A4 size, it doesnt matter where on the glass
you position the original. However, it helps if you put the edge of the page flush against the edge
of the glass, to ensure that its straight.
If you are scanning a small music book then you may be able to fit a double-page spread (two
facing pages side-by-side) on the scanner glass, but dont try this PhotoScore Lite can only read
one page at a time. Scan each page separately.
For simplicity, we recommend that you scan all the pages in a piece of music before reading
them all. You are allowed to scan a page, then read it, then scan another and so on (see

Scanning
ADVANCED FEATURES below), but we dont suggest you try anything like this until you are
proficient with PhotoScore Lite.

2. READING
As mentioned earlier, just scanning a page simply presents the computer with a grid of millions of
black and white dots, which as far as its concerned could be anything from text to a photograph.
Reading the music is the clever bit, where PhotoScore Lite works out from the scan where and
what the notes and other markings on the page are.

Pages Pane
On the left-hand side of the PhotoScore Lite window you should see the
pages pane, as shown here. If you cant see this, choose View > Toggle
Pages Pane.

When you want to read a page you have scanned, click the little checkbox at the right-hand side, which expands to say Read when you hover
your mouse pointer over it. PhotoScore Lite will start to think, and the
blue bar behind the name of the page will turn green as PhotoScore
reads the page.
If you accidentally scanned the pages in the wrong order, you can correct
the order in the list of Pending Pages simply by clicking and dragging
the pages into the correct order.
If you just scanned in some pages or opened a PDF, however, your pages have probably already
been read by PhotoScore Lite, and so will be found in the lower half of the pages pane, under the
heading Read Pages. The pages are automatically grouped into scores; you can show and hide the
individual pages in each score by clicking the + or button at the left-hand side. To view a page in
order to edit it, click on its name under Read Pages.

What PhotoScore Lite reads

PhotoScore Lite reads the following musical markings:
* Notes & chords (including tail direction, beams & flags), rests
* Flats, sharps and naturals
* Treble and bass clefs, key signatures, time signatures
* 5-line staves (normal and small), standard barlines, 6-line guitar tab
* The format of the page, including the page size, staff-size, margins, and where systems end.

PhotoScore Ultimate, available separately, also reads text (including lyrics, dynamics, instrument
names, fingering, etc.), a wider variety of clefs and accidentals, tuplets, guitar chord diagrams, and
147

Reference

Pages that have not yet been read appear in the upper half of the pages
pane, under the heading Pending Pages. Notice how PhotoScore Lite
helpfully shows you a thumbnail of the scanned page as you hover your
mouse pointer over its name.

Reference
various other markings such as codas, segnos, ornaments, pedal markings and repeat endings.
PhotoScore Ultimate can even read neat handwritten music!

Hints on reading
* You should not need to interrupt reading, but you can normally do so if necessary by hitting Esc
or X., or by clicking Cancel on the progress window. PhotoScore Lite will show the part of the
page it has already read. You should delete this page by choosing Edit > Delete page before re-

scanning or re-reading the page.

* If the computer gives a warning message while reading a page, or if a page seems to be taking a
very long time to read, see POSSIBLE PROBLEMS below.
* If you like, you can ask PhotoScore Lite to read just a single scan or a choice of scans instead of
the whole score; see ADVANCED FEATURES below.

3. EDITING
When PhotoScore Lite has finished reading the music, its interpretation of the first page pops up in
a window called the output window. Here you can edit mistakes PhotoScore Lite has made.

Notice how the pages pane doesnt appear in the picture above: in order to give yourself more room
to edit the music, its a good idea to hide it while you edit, by choosing View > Toggle Pages Pane
(shortcut Ctrl+E or XE).
The top part of the window (with a buff-colored background) shows you the original page. The
Full detail view window at the top right-hand corner shows a zoomed-in portion of the original
page, according to where you point your mouse.
The large bottom part of the window (with a light gray background) shows PhotoScore Lites interpretation of the first scan that is, what PhotoScore Lite thinks the first page of the original says.
Hence this part of the window is where PhotoScore Lites mistakes can occur.
148

Scanning
At the top left of the window it says (e.g.) Page 1 of 2, and by clicking on the arrows you can move
through all of the pages that have been read (the output score). It makes sense to edit the first page
completely, then advance to the second page and so on until the whole output score has been
edited.
To the bottom right of the window is the Keypad, similar in function to Sibelius Firsts Keypad.
This can be repositioned by clicking its title bar, and dragging.
There is a Create menu at the top of the window, which is also similar in function to Sibelius
Firsts Create menu, though features not appropriate for PhotoScore Lite have been omitted.

What to correct
The minimum level of correction recommended before sending the output score to Sibelius First is
to correct key signatures and time signatures. Other mistakes such as pitch can be corrected in
Sibelius First, but correcting key signatures and time signatures is much easier in PhotoScore Lite,
so we recommend you do that.

To correct rhythmic mistakes, add the appropriate time signature if its not already present: choose
Create > Time Signature (shortcut T) and click in one of the staves to add the time signature.
Once PhotoScore Lite knows the time signature, any rhythmic inaccuracies are indicated by small
red notes over the barline, showing the number of missing or extra beats. As you correct the mistakes, these red notes disappear and once your score is free of red notes, you can send it to Sibelius First.
Once you are more proficient with PhotoScore Lite, you can correct the music completely in PhotoScore Lite before sending it to Sibelius First. The advantage of this is that you can spot errors by
looking at the scanned original on the screen instead of having to refer to it on paper.

Checking for mistakes

Check for mistakes by comparing the bottom part of the window with the original scan at the top.
The top and bottom parts move about to show the region of the page the mouse is pointing at.
Avoid the temptation to compare the output page with the original music on paper it is almost
always quicker to compare with the scan on the screen.
At the top right of the output window is the full detail view window, which shows in close-up the
part of the original that the pointer is over. Ctrl+clicking or X-clicking on this window makes the
view larger or smaller. This window can be repositioned by clicking its title bar and dragging.

MIDI playback
Another way to check for mistakes is to have the output played back to you. Your computer will
need a MIDI device attached to make use of this feature (if you have more than one attached, the
default one will be used).
149

Reference

In particular, if the score you are scanning is a transposing score, you will need to correct the key
signatures of the transposed instruments to delete a single key signature, select it and type
Ctrl+Delete or X-Delete. Then add the correct key signature to that staff alone: choose Create >
Key Signature (shortcut K), and Ctrl+click or X-click the staff to which you want to add the key
signature.

Reference
To play the whole page from the start, ensure that nothing is selected by clicking on an area of the
page with no notation. Then choose Play > Play/Stop (shortcut space), or click the Play button on
the toolbar. Do the same to stop the music. To play from a particular point on the page, select an
object in each of the staves you want playback from. It will commence from the start of the bar
with the earliest selection.
By default, all the staves will play back with a piano sound, but you can change this: right-click
(Windows) or Control-click (Mac) the names at the start of the first system (e.g. Staff 1), choose
Instruments from the context menu, then click Rename. You will see a dialog that looks a little
like Sibelius Firsts Create > Instruments dialog, from which you can choose the correct name
(and therefore the sound) used by that staff.
While the music is playing, the currently played bars will be highlighted in gray.

4. SENDING TO SIBELIUS
Once you have edited all the pages in the score, you should send them
to Sibelius First. Choose File > Send to > Sibelius (shortcut Ctrl+D or
XD), or simply click the little
icon next to the Save button at the
top of the output window.
If Sibelius First isnt already running, it will start, and the Open PhotoScore File dialog will appear:
* This is a transposing score: switch on this option if your score con-

*
*

tains transposing instruments, and you will be prompted to choose

the correct instruments when you click OK
Use default instruments: opens the file without trying to work out
which instruments are used in the score
Choose instruments: allows the user to choose an instrument for each staff in the score from a
dialog similar to the usual Instruments dialog; choose the staff in the scanned music that you
want to replace with a Sibelius First instrument, then click Add as normal. If you add an instrument that normally uses two staves (such as a piano), this will use up two of the staves in the
left-most list on the dialog.
Let Sibelius choose instruments: with this option switched on, Sibelius First will attempt to
work out which instruments are used in the score; it does this by checking the names of the
staves that are set in PhotoScore if a staff s name doesnt match an instrument Sibelius First
knows, it opens the file with the default piano sound
Use scanned page dimensions: this option tells Sibelius First to format the score according to
the page size suggested by PhotoScore. By default, the page size of the selected manuscript paper
used for importing will be used instead, but you can switch this on if you like.
The Page size, House style and orientation (Portrait or Landscape) options determine the
document setup of the resulting score.

Once your music has been opened in Sibelius First you can do anything you like to it, just as if you
had inputted it yourself but see Multi-staff instruments below for some clarification.

150

Scanning

Editing rhythmic mistakes

If you send a score from PhotoScore Lite to Sibelius First which has bars that dont add up, Sibelius First will lengthen bars that are too short, and shorten bars that are too long.
To do this, Sibelius First compares the length of the bars with the prevailing time signature. If a bar
is too short, Sibelius First simply inserts rests at the end. If a bar is too long, Sibelius First shortens
it by omitting one or more notes/rests at the end of the bar.
Although Sibelius First adjusts the lengths of bars like this, you are strongly advised to correct
faulty rhythms in PhotoScore Lite in the first place rather than trying to fix them in Sibelius First
afterwards, as it will save you extra work.

Format
Sibelius First ensures that the format of the music you see after importing a file from PhotoScore is
the same as the original scanned music. However, if the notes seem uncomfortably close together
or far apart in the end result, try changing the staff size in the Layout > Document Setup dialog
(shortcut Ctrl+D or XD). Alternatively, if you dont need the format of the music to match the
original, select the whole score (Ctrl+A or XA) and unlock the format (Ctrl+Shift+U or xXU).

For instruments that use two staves by default, such as a piano, you may find that it isnt possible to
use cross-staff beaming in music you have scanned. This is because PhotoScore Lite treats all
staves as separate instruments, which means that, by default, multi-staff instruments such as keyboards will be sent to Sibelius First as two separately-named staves without a brace.
When you send a PhotoScore file to Sibelius First, you can use the Open PhotoScore File dialog
to tell Sibelius First that, say, staves 1 and 2 are actually the right- and left-hand staves of a piano
either choose the instruments yourself, or click Let Sibelius First choose instruments.
For multi-staff instruments such as Flutes 1+2, if you want them to be written as two sub-bracketed staves with a single name, you could either import each staff as a flute and then change the
name and add a brace in Sibelius First, or import both staves as a piano, and then change the name
and the sound (b Mixer).
If your original contains instruments that have a different number of staves on different systems
e.g. strings that are sometimes divisi see ADVANCED FEATURES below.

Closing the output score

Once you have finished scanning a score and have sent it to Sibelius First, and are satisfied with the
result, you should close the score in PhotoScore Lite before you start scanning a new one. To do
this, simply choose File > Close Score; if the score has unsaved changes, you will be prompted to
save.

Deleting unwanted scans

PhotoScore Lite automatically saves each page you scan as a scanned image. This occupies a not
insignificant amount of hard disk space, so you should regularly delete scans that have been read.
You do not, however, have to delete the scans before scanning the next piece of music.
To delete unwanted scans:
151

Reference

Multi-staff instruments

Reference
* If the pages pane is not currently shown, choose View > Toggle Pages Pane (shortcut Ctrl+E or
XE)
* Click on the name of the page you want to delete; you can select more than one page at the same

time by holding down Shift and clicking elsewhere in the list. When a page is selected, the word
Remove appears to the right of its name: click Remove to delete the pages.
* PhotoScore will warn you that you are about to delete these pages: click Yes to confirm their
deletion.

POSSIBLE PROBLEMS
Scanning takes a long time
If there are no signs of scanning happening i.e. if after clicking on the Scan or Preview button
the scanner remains silent with no lights moving or flashing communication between the computer and the scanner has probably been interrupted.
Check that the scanner is switched on and that the cable between it and the computer is firmly
connected at both ends. If this doesnt help, try reinstalling your TWAIN scanner driver software.
Beware that some scanners need to be switched on before the computer is turned on, otherwise
they are not detected.

Not all staves/systems are detected

If after scanning a page you find that not all staves are highlighted in blue, or the staves are not correctly joined into systems by a thick red vertical line, this may be because:
* The original has 13 or more staves on a page: only PhotoScore Ultimate can scan scores with
*
*
*

more than 12 staves.

The original was not flat on the scanner glass: always close the lid when scanning, unless scanning a thick book. It may also help if you gently press down on the scanner lid during scanning.
The page was scanned at too low a resolution (i.e. the staves are smaller than you think): check
the staff size, alter the scanner setting accordingly, and re-scan.
You tried scanning a double-page spread: PhotoScore Lite cannot read both pages of a doublepage spread (e.g. from a miniature score) at once. Re-scan each of the pages separately. Ensure
that the music on the facing page is completely off the glass, or not scanned if any of it
impinges on the scan, PhotoScore Lite will not read the music correctly.
The staves are not clear enough in the original to be detected: in this case, you can tell PhotoScore Lite where any missing staves are located on the page see ADVANCED FEATURES
below.

Reading takes a long time

* If the page was scanned without being flat on the glass or with the lid open: you will get a black

border around the page that may spread across and obliterate some of the music. This can make
PhotoScore Lite take an extremely long time to read the page. If this happens, interrupt reading
(see below), then re-scan the page.
152

Scanning
* If not all staves were detected after scanning (i.e. some were not highlighted in blue): this can

slow reading down, see Not all staves/systems are detected above.

Music reads inaccurately

If you find music seems to be reading very inaccurately, this may be because:
* the original is of poor quality, e.g. a photocopy or an old edition;
* the original is handwritten (or uses a music font that looks handwritten): PhotoScore Lite is not
*
*
*
*

designed to read handwritten music;

the music uses more than two voices;
the music was scanned in black & white and was not straight enough: it is recommended that
you scan in shades of gray;
the music was not straight enough when scanned and Make scans level was not selected in the
preferences (see ADVANCED FEATURES below);
the music symbol designs used in the original are of a non-standard shape or size.

PhotoScore Lite has many features and options for more advanced use.
You are strongly recommended to familiarize yourself with this whole section before embarking
on any intensive scanning, such as orchestral/band scores or scores with many pages.

Choosing between scanners

In the unlikely event that you have more than one scanner connected to your computer, you can
choose between multiple scanner drivers by choosing File > Select Scanner.

Adjusting detected staves/systems

When you scan a page, PhotoScore Lite highlights staves it detects in blue, and joins them into systems with vertical red lines.
However, if the original is of poor quality, PhotoScore Lite may not detect some of the staves/systems, and you should tell PhotoScore Lite where they are.
The easiest method is to select the nearest blue staff (by clicking on it) and copy it by Alt+clicking
or z-clicking over the center line of the missing staff (the horizontal position is not important).
You can create a blue staff from scratch by clicking and dragging it out with the left mouse button.
After creating the staff, ensure that it is joined to any other staves in the same system (see below).
PhotoScore Lite will automatically clip the staff in place, by adjusting the position and size of it, if
it finds an appropriate staff underneath. If it fails to position/size the staff correctly, scale the image
to full size (by clicking on the button at the top marked 100) and adjust it using the blue handles.
* You can drag any blue staff up and down with the left mouse button. This also causes the staff to

automatically clip in place.

* You can drag the ends of blue staves around, and can even put blue staves at an angle.

153

Reference

ADVANCED FEATURES

Reference
* You can alter the size of any blue staff pull the handles in the middle of the staff up or down.

*
*

*
*
*
*

PhotoScore Lite can read pages that have a mixture of staff-sizes, and each blue staff can have a
different size. The top circular handle allows you to change the curvature of the staff. This is useful when scanning pages from thick books, where it is not possible to prevent the page from
being curved at the edges.
If any scanned staff is left with no blue staff on top of it, the scanned staff and any music on it
will be ignored when the page is read. This can slow reading down, but is otherwise harmless.
To join two adjacent staves together into the same system, click one staff so it goes red, then
Alt+click or z-click the other staff. They will be joined near the left-hand end by a thick vertical
(or near-vertical) red line.
To separate two joined staves into two separate systems, do exactly the same as for joining two
staves.
PhotoScore Lite automatically guesses whether staves should be joined together or not when you
create new ones, or move existing ones.
If youve messed up the blue staves and want to start again, Ctrl+double-click or X-double-click
the scan, and PhotoScore Lite will reset the blue staves to their original positions.
When you have finished editing the staves/systems, check carefully that the staves are all joined
into systems correctly, as you cannot alter this once the page has been read.

Scan window options

If you have chosen to use PhotoScores scanning interface in File > Scanner Setup, there are various further options and buttons available on the scan window:
* The Read this page button reads just this scan. Clicking the arrowed part of the button opens a
*
*
*
*

menu that lets you choose where in the output score to insert this page once it has been read.
Scale produces a dialog that lets you zoom in and out of the scan. The button to the right of
Scale zooms the image to fit the main window; 50 zooms to 50%; 100 zooms to 100%.
Upside down quickly rotates the image by 180 degrees, in case it was scanned the wrong way
up.
Re-scan re-scans the page.
On side quickly rotates the image by 90 degrees, in case it was scanned on its side.

Omitted staves
In scores for many instruments, particularly orchestral scores, unused staves are often omitted.
If you replace the default instrument names (e.g. Staff 1) at the start with proper names, then on
subsequent systems PhotoScore Lite will allocate instruments to staves in order from the top
down. Hence, if the original page omits an instrument from one system, then in the output window some of the staves will have the wrong names. To correct a name in this situation, Right-click
or Control-click over the existing instrument name against the staff in question, and choose the
correct instrument from the list of current instruments.
On any system that has staves omitted you will probably have to correct several instrument names
like this. Do it with care, otherwise confusion will arise.

154

Scanning

Multi-staff instruments
For multi-staff instruments such as keyboards and divided wind and strings, PhotoScore Lite
treats each staff as a separately-named instrument.
If the number of staves for a multi-staff instrument varies at all in the original, e.g. where strings
are divisi, then to avoid any confusion between the staves its best to give them slightly different
names, e.g. Viola a and Viola b. You can change the names back once the score has been sent to
Sibelius First.
Wherever any of the instruments staves are omitted, follow Omitted staves (above).
N.B. If the number of staves for the instrument increases (say from 1 to 2) during the score, and
the second staff has not occurred before, treat it by following Instruments/staves introduced after the start (below).

Instruments/staves introduced after the start

Some scores include instruments or staves that are not shown on the first system.

* First, correct the names of each of the other staves:

Right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Mac) each name, and choose the correct name from
the list of current instruments
* Then tell PhotoScore Lite the name of the newly-introduced instrument/staff
* Point over whatever name it has filled in (which may say e.g. Staff 5, or the name of an omitted
instrument). Right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Mac), click New, and click a name from
the list of instruments displayed (similar to Sibelius Firsts Instruments dialog.) If you want a
non-standard name, you can edit the name at the bottom.
You must do this with care or else a lot of confusion can arise.

Small staves
In the output window, small staves are displayed at full size to make them legible, but they are indicated by the following symbol at the end of the staff:

Other preferences
The File > Preferences dialog contains various other options, as follows.
On the Scanning page:
% Automatic scanning and Scan more quickly are only available in PhotoScore Ultimate
% PhotoScore: with this selected, PhotoScore uses its own simple scanning interface
% TWAIN (scanner default): when chosen, the standard TWAIN interface (that works with all
scanning programs) will be used when you choose File > Scan pages
% Select TWAIN scanner allows you to choose which scanning device PhotoScore should use

155

Reference

When this happens, on the system where the instrument/staff is first introduced you should do the
following:

Reference
% Make scans level: with this switched on, PhotoScore Lite will work out how rotated a scan

is, and then rotate it so that the staves are level. It is recommended that this is left selected.
% Read pages after scanning/opening is only available in PhotoScore Ultimate.
* On the Reading page, most options are disabled (since they are only available in PhotoScore
Ultimate). The only option you can switch on or off is Ties, Slurs and Hairpins, which is partly
enabled, because PhotoScore Lite can only read ties.
* On the Editing page:
% Automatic page margins: creates suitable page margins on each page
% Attach scanned staff panel to current staff: on the output window, this puts the original
scan just above the highlighted staff instead of at the top of the window. This means you have
to move your eyes less when comparing the output with the original, but the effect can be
confusing.
% Drag paper by: allows you to choose whether you drag the paper either by clicking and dragging, or Holding Shift and dragging.
* On the Advanced page:
% MIDI playback device allows you to choose which of your computers playback devices PhotoScore should use for playback
% System playback properties launches your operating systems sound and audio device
properties dialog, allowing you to choose your playback and recording devices for audio, and
your preferred playback device for MIDI
% Skin design: allows you to change the appearance of PhotoScore to match either Sibelius
First or its sister program, G7
% Display splash screen at start-up: allows you to switch off the PhotoScore Lite splash
screen when you run the program
% Auto-save to backup file every n minutes: automatically backs up your score regularly at
the time interval specified.
If you change any of these options, they will remain as the new default settings each time use you
PhotoScore until you change them again.

156

SibeliusMusic.com

SibeliusMusic.com
b Exporting Scorch web pages.

The Internet is the ideal way to reach a worldwide audience for your music. Sibelius First is the
only music notation program with the free web browser plug-in Scorch, which lets anyone view,
play back, transpose, and print scores on the Internet.
Composers, arrangers and anyone else can publish on our self-publishing web site
SibeliusMusic.com from piano pieces to orchestral scores, from early music to avant garde and
rock/pop. Its entirely free to publish scores, plus you can make money from it if you want to sell
your music (rather than provide it for free) youll be paid a generous 50% of the price!
You can also publish your music on your own web site, or publish teaching materials on our education site.

Scorch

People visiting your site will be prompted to download Scorch automatically, and in just a couple of
minutes theyll be able to see and hear the music on your own site and hundreds of others, including sites from major publishers such as www.sheetmusicdirect.com (rock/pop songs) and
www.boosey.com (classical/educational music).

The Scorch toolbar

Playback controls and tempo slider.
Click Play to start playback, or click anywhere on the
score to start playback from that point.

Turn pages

Choose which sound device

you use for playback

Change key*

Change top
instrument*

Print the
score*

Save the score Scorch information and

to disk*
updates

* option not available in all scores

Recommended settings
To make your score look and sound as good as possible when other people look at your music, you
should standardize the following before you publish it on the Internet:
* Fonts not all fonts can be assumed to be available on all computers
* Page size the score must print acceptably on various kinds of paper

157

Reference

Sibelius Scorch is the amazing free web browser plug-in that allows anyone to view, play back,
change key and instruments, and even print scores directly from the Internet, whether or not they
have Sibelius First.

Reference
* Playback the score must make minimal assumptions about the computers sound capabilities.

Limit the fonts used for text in the score to common ones, such as Times, Times New Roman, Arial
and Helvetica (although Scorch will substitute the nearest equivalent fonts if the person viewing
your web page doesnt have the fonts you have used). Also ensure that the only music fonts you use
are Sibelius Firsts standard Opus, Helsinki, Reprise and Inkpen2 fonts, since these will be available
on every computer with Scorch installed.
When preparing your scores for publishing on SibeliusMusic.com, where they can be printed, use
portrait format and preferably a standard page size (e.g. Letter, Tabloid, A4 or A3). Scorch will
scale the music to fit on the printers page size.
You should also bear in mind that a score that sounds good on your own soundcard or MIDI
devices may not sound good on different computers. So you should at least try listening to your
score using standard General MIDI sounds, to get an idea how your score will sound when played
back through Scorch.

Publishing on SibeliusMusic.com
To get started, open the Sibelius First file you would like to publish online, and choose File >
Publish on SibeliusMusic.com.
* If you havent saved the file recently, you will be prompted to do so first; save it, then choose
*

*
*
*

Publish on SibeliusMusic.com again

Your web browser will open and display a web page for you to specify basic information about
your score, such as its title (this is automatically filled in for you if you have previously filled it in
on the File > New or File > Score Info dialog)
Find on your hard drive the score you wish to publish online click Browse to find your score
When you have found the score, click Next. Your computer will then connect to the Internet and
upload your score to SibeliusMusic.com.
You will be asked to provide further information about yourself and your score simply follow
the instructions on the screen.

SibeliusMusic.com will only publish music to which you hold the sole music copyright, i.e. original
compositions or arrangements of out-of-copyright music. You are not permitted to publish transcriptions or arrangements of copyright music, verbatim transcriptions or editions of out-of-copyright music, or scores containing copyright lyrics that are used without permission. For further
details about the copyright restrictions on scores you can publish, see the information provided at
SibeliusMusic.com.
If you experience any problems or have any queries about self-publishing on SibeliusMusic.com,
please email [email protected].

158

Slurs

Slurs
b Lines.

Slurs and phrase-marks

Sibelius First treats slurs and phrase-marks alike. Phrase-marks are pretty much just big slurs, so
well use the word slur to cover both. This terminology is also fairly standard in music engraving.

Magnetic slurs
In Sibelius First, slurs snap to notes, so that if you change the pitch of
notes or add articulations, the slur moves: meet the magnetic slur.
(Some other objects are also magnetic, such as tuplets.)
To create a magnetic slur, either:
* select a note (or grace note) and type S. This draws a slur to the next note; or
* select the passage of notes (on a single staff) you want to be slurred and type S, which draws a

You can then extend the slur to the following note by hitting space (by analogy with creating lyrics), or contract it back again with Shift-space.
These keys move the right-hand end because it is
selected. Look for the small square handle slurs
have handles when selected; if one end of the slur is
selected, only that end gets a handle). This use of space
and Shift-space also works for other lines.
You can also select and move the left-hand end in the
same way, either with the arrows, mouse or by hitting
space/Shift-space; to select either end of the line, type
Alt+0/1 or z0/1, which cycles through four points:
the left end of the slur, both ends of the slur (to adjust
the vertical position of the entire slur), the mid-point of
the slur (to adjust its curvature), and the right end of the
slur.
Finally, you can change the shape of a slur and even
make it asymmetrical by dragging the middle with the
mouse.

Positioning slurs
Slurs typically go at the notehead end of
notes and chords in one voice, and at the
stem end in two or more voices.
However, in one-voice music, if the slurred
notes have a mixture of stem directions, or
if the slur is long (say, four or more bars),
then the slur should go above the notes.
When a slur starts on a tied note, the slur
should start at the first of the notes that are
tied together. Similarly, if a slur ends on a
tied note, the slur should end on the last of
the tied notes.
To make slurs more visible, the very ends
and the highest or lowest point of the arch
should avoid touching a staff line.

Magnetic slurs follow some complex positioning rules, but Sibelius First takes care of all this for
you. You only need to know a few simple things about how they are positioned. Typing S puts the
slur starting at the notehead end of the first note in one-voice music, or at the stem end in two or
more voices. Shift-S puts the slur at the opposite end. Edit > Flip (shortcut X) flips a slur to the
other side of a note; you may want to do this sometimes if the slur joins notes which have a mixture
of stem directions (see box).

159

Reference

slur over all the selected notes.

Reference
Magnetic slurs do not attach to cross-staff notes. The slur will naturally go to where the note would
be on the original staff, but you can drag the slurs end to the notes actual position.

Non-magnetic slurs
Although we dont recommend it except for special circumstances, you can also create less intelligent non-magnetic slurs by creating a slur with nothing selected with the mouse from the
Create > Line dialog. Non-magnetic slurs dont snap to notes, and nor do they avoid beams and
articulations, but they can be useful in some situations.
Non-magnetic slurs appear in red when selected, as a hint that you should probably use a magnetic
one instead.

160

Staves

Staves
Creating staves
To create a staff for a new instrument, choose Create > Instruments (shortcut I)
b Instruments.

Systems indented at the left-hand side

To indent any system manually, simply drag the initial barline (to the left of the clef) or the leftmost end of the staff rightwards.
The indent is set for that particular barline only, so to keep the format the same youre recommended to put a system or page break at the end of the preceding system, if there is one. (If you
dont do this, then if that barline ends up in the middle of a system Sibelius will put a gap before it
to produce a divided system, like a coda which is ingenious but may come as a surprise.)

Systems indented at the right-hand side

* First, its a good idea to force a system break after the bar that will be at the end of the shortened

system, by selecting the barline and typing Return (on the main keyboard)
* Click just to the right of the barline at the right-hand side of the system; you need to click to the
right of the middle staff line. A small blue handle appears.
* Drag the handle leftwards, or use the shortcuts 0/1 (with Ctrl or X for larger steps), to increase
the right-hand indent for that system.

Save trees hide empty staves

If a staff only contains bars rest, you can hide it from that particular system:
* Double-click the staff to select it all (or select several staves as a passage)
* Choose Layout > Hide Empty Staves (shortcut Ctrl+Shift+Alt+H or xzXH).

You can also do this to several staves, or a passage lasting as many bars as you like, or even to the
whole score. Staves will be hidden only on systems where they have no music, or where all the
music is hidden (e.g. cue passages).
To hide empty staves throughout the score, simply choose Edit > Select > Select All (shortcut
Ctrl+A or XA) and choose Layout > Hide Empty Staves all unused staves throughout the score
will disappear and the whole score will instantly reformat to fit on fewer pages, possibly saving
several grateful trees.
When using Layout > Hide Empty Staves, if you include keyboard staves then you may end up
with just one hand hidden, which looks odd. So either check the keyboard part afterwards and reshow the hidden keyboard staff if this occurs, or (if, say, youre hiding staves throughout a score
and cant be bothered to check the keyboard staves afterwards) dont include keyboard staves when
hiding staves.

161

Reference

It is occasionally useful to be able to make a system stop short of the right margin, e.g. for music
examples, worksheets or exam or test papers. To do this:

Reference
You cant, of course, hide the only staff in a system, since there has to be at least one staff to show
that theres a system there at all. If you want actually to delete all the bars from a single staff, you
should instead select the bars as a system passage and hit Delete.

Show hidden staves

To re-show staves that youve previously hidden using Layout > Hide Empty Staves:
* Click a bar where you want to show the staves
* Choose Layout > Show Empty Staves (shortcut Ctrl+Shift+Alt+S or xzXS)
* In the dialog that appears, click OK to show all hidden staves, or select the particular staves you

want to show.
This shows staves that were hidden using Layout > Hide Empty Staves (because they contain no
music), but it doesnt show:
* staves that were hidden using an instrument change to No instrument (hidden) to make

these reappear, use another instrument change to revert to the original instrument
* staves that were hidden using Focus on Staves to make these reappear, switch off View > Focus
on Staves.

Deleting staves permanently

If you want to get rid of a staff (and any music on it) permanently, choose Create > Instruments
(shortcut I), select the staff (or staves) you want to delete from the Staves in Score list, and click
Delete from Score, then click OK. Alternatively, you can triple-click on a staff in the score to
select it throughout, then hit Delete.

Staff size
The staff size determines the size of everything in the score. If you double the staff size, all text,
lines and so on will double too. If your score looks too cramped or spaced out, you can alleviate
this by changing the staff size; b Document Setup.

Small staves
To make a staff go smaller than other staves, choose Create > Instruments, select the staff in question in the Staves in score list, and switch on the Small staff checkbox, then click OK.

162

Text

Text
b Common text styles.

This topic explains in detail the different methods of creating and editing text in Sibelius First.

Creating text fast

There are several quick ways to create text:
* Preferably, first select a note near where you want the text to appear, then type the keyboard
shortcuts Ctrl+E or XE, Ctrl+T or XT and Ctrl+L or XL to get the three most common text
*
*

Word menus
To save you time, Sibelius First has built-in menus of useful words to type when creating text. Each
text style has its own appropriate word menu. For instance, Expression produces a menu of
dynamics (etc.), and Chord symbols gives various bits from which you can make up any chord
symbol.
To obtain the word menu, simply right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Mac) while creating or
editing text. Some of the words and characters on the menus have keyboard shortcuts.

Text editing
The text editing keys are similar to other programs, plus a few extra keys. The main ones are as follows:
* To edit an existing text object, double-click it, or hit Return (on the main keyboard)
* To stop editing text, hit Esc
* To select all text in the current text object, type Ctrl+A or XA
* For a new line while editing, hit Return (on the main keyboard)

163

Reference

styles, namely Expression, Technique and Lyrics line 1

Other text styles with shortcuts are: Lyrics line 2 (shortcut Ctrl+Alt+L or zXL); Chord symbols (Ctrl+K or XK for kord); and Tempo (Ctrl+Alt+T or zXT)
If you have a note or other object selected, Sibelius First will automatically create the text at that
point in the score; if you have nothing selected, the mouse pointer will change color to show that
it contains an object, and you can click in the score to place the text
For standard words like cresc., use the menus of useful words see Word menus below
If the same text is used over and over again, just copy it with Alt+click or z-click, or multicopy
it, holding Shift to put the copied text at its default vertical position (e.g. to put the same dynamics on every instrument).
You can copy text to the clipboard and then paste it elsewhere in the same score, into another
score, or even to/from another program see Copying lines of text and text between
programs below
You can also copy the caret itself to start a new piece of text. Find some text on the screen in
the style you require, double-click it to make the caret appear, then Alt+click or z-click somewhere else to start some new text in the same style.

Reference
* To make text bold/non-bold, click B (shortcut Ctrl+B or XB) in the Text panel of the Properties

*
*
*
*

window. This (and italic/underlining) affects text you are about to type, a chunk of text you have
selected, or the whole text object (or text objects) if its selected
To make text italic/non-italic, click I (shortcut Ctrl+I or XI) in the Text panel of the Properties
window
To reset a text styles font to its default while editing it, type Ctrl+Alt+Space or ^z-Space
To make text underlined/non-underlined, click U (shortcut Ctrl+U or XU) in the Text panel of
the Properties window. Underlining text is very rare in music.
To change the font or point size of text, change the value in the Properties window (although you
should normally edit the text style instead)

Copying lines of text and text between programs

You can copy text objects in Sibelius First in a variety of ways:
* within the same score or different scores, either using Alt+click or z-click (optionally holding
Shift to put the text at that text styles default vertical position) or using Edit > Copy and Edit >
Paste the latter method is especially useful with lyrics (b Lyrics)
* into another program (e.g. Microsoft Word): simply select the text to be copied, use Edit > Copy
(shortcut Ctrl+C or XC) to copy it to the clipboard, switch to the other program, and use Edit >
Paste (shortcut usually Ctrl+V or XV) to paste the text.

If you copy several text objects into another program at once, they will be pasted one after another,
with a space in between each; for lyrics, separate syllables of the same word are pasted with
hyphens in between b Lyrics. When copied into another program, fonts etc. are ignored, so
dynamics and notes in metronome mark (which use the music text font) will not appear as such
when pasted into, say, a Word document unless you correct the font afterwards.
To copy text into Sibelius First from other programs:
* Select the text and copy it to the clipboard with Edit > Copy (shortcut normally Ctrl+C or XC)
* Switch to Sibelius First and create a suitable text caret, e.g. select a note and type Ctrl+T or XT

for Technique text

* Choose Edit > Paste (shortcut Ctrl+V or XV) to paste the text.
Pasting lyrics into Sibelius First from other programs is slightly different b Lyrics.

Text at the left of the system

If you want to put text to the left of a system, youre probably specifying which players are playing
an instrument, in which case, b Instruments.
However, if you have a special reason to write text to the left of the system, its fine to do so but you
should put a system break at the end of the preceding system, to ensure that the text remains where
it is if the music reformats. b Breaks.

164

Common text styles

Common text styles

b Text, Lyrics, Chord symbols.

Sibelius First includes many text styles for use in your score. This topic describes many of these
text styles in detail, though several of them are important enough that they have their own topics
see above.

So what is a text style, anyway?

There are many different kinds of text in used in scores, such as: lyrics, which go below the staff;
expression markings, which are italic and normally go below the staff (except when there are lyrics
present, in which case they go above the staff); titles which are big, bold and centered at the top of
the page; and so on.

Because Sibelius First has text styles for each of the kinds of text you will need to write in your
score, you dont need to set any of this up for yourself: simply choose the appropriate text style, and
Sibelius First will produce text that looks right, and that goes in the right place on the page.

Three types of text

There are three types of text in Sibelius First (try saying that three times quickly!):
* Staff text: text that applies to a single staff, typically directions for a single instrument
* System text: text that applies to all staves in the score (though it may only be displayed above one

or two of them), and which will appear in all parts (if there are any) typically tempo or
rehearsal directions
* Title page text: text that can only be created on a title page.

165

Reference

Each kind of text may use a different font, formatting (such as bold, italic and, rarely, underlined),
justification (such as left-, center- or right-alignment), and positioning (such as whether the text
should appear above or below one staff or all staves, or perhaps at the top or bottom of the page).
These settings together are what make up a text style.

Reference

Important text styles

Title page text

System text

Staff text

The table below lists the most important text styles and what they are used for.
Name

Used for

Expression

writing dynamics and expressive markings such as mp, cresc. and legato
Shortcut: Ctrl+E or XE

Technique

writing playing techniques such as mute, pizz., etc.

Shortcut: Ctrl+T or XT

Lyrics line 1, Lyrics line 2 etc.

Plain text

writing lyrics in vocal music b 3.17 Lyrics

Shortcut: Ctrl+L or XL (Line 1), Ctrl+Alt+L or zXL (Line 2)
writing e.g. Cm7 b 3.7 Chord symbols
Shortcut: Ctrl+K or XK
writing blocks of lyrics, editorial commentaries, etc.

Fingering

writing fingerings in e.g. keyboard, brass or string music

Guitar fingering (p i m a)

...writing fingerings in guitar music

Boxed text

writing certain playing techniques, e.g. in percussion

Small text

writing certain playing techniques

Footnote

writing editorial commentaries at the bottom of a single page (not the same as Footer)

Title

writing the title of the piece or movement

Subtitle

writing subtitles (e.g. for a particular movement)

Composer

writing the name of the composer (usually all in CAPITALS) or arranger/orchestrator

(not in capitals)

Lyricist

writing the name of the lyricist, poet, or other source of text

Dedication

writing a dedication (e.g. To the choir of St. Johns)

Tempo

writing tempo markings such as Andante

Shortcut: Ctrl+Alt+T or zXT
writing metronome marks and metric modulations

Chord symbol

Metronome mark
Copyright

writing copyright lines in your score

Header etc.

writing a header on every page

Footer etc..

writing a footer on every page (not the same as Footnote)

Rit./Accel.

writing particular tempo instructions

Composer (on blank page)

writing the name of the composer on a title page at the start of the score

Dedication (on blank page)

writinga dedication on a title page at the start of the score

Plain text (on blank page)

writing instrumentation, performance directions, etc. on blank pages

Subtitle (on blank page)

writing a subtitle on a blank page

Title (on blank page)

writing the title of the work on a title page at the start of the score

Expression
This text style is for writing dynamics and other similar instructions to players, e.g. legato, lively,
marcato. These are written in italics.
Dynamics such as mf or sfz are special bold italic characters that use a special music text font,
normally Opus Text. You can create these characters from the word menu (right-click or Controlclick), or by holding down Ctrl or X and typing the letters, e.g. Ctrl+MF or XMF to produce mf.
166

Common text styles

The exception is z, for which you must type Ctrl+Shift+Z or xXZ (because Ctrl+Z or XZ is the
shortcut for Edit > Undo).
All common expression markings can be created quickly from the word menu, to save you typing
them.
Dynamics only apply to a single staff, but you can quickly add dynamics to multiple staves in a
couple of ways:
* Copy the dynamic with Edit > Copy (shortcut Ctrl+C or XC), then select the staves you want to
copy the dynamic to and type Ctrl+V or XV to paste it to all selected staves. This is called mul-

ticopying
* Select the dynamic and use Alt+click or z-click to copy it onto other staves; you can hold down
Shift while you Alt+click or z-click to put each dynamic at its default vertical position.

Technique

Metronome mark
Metronome marks look something like q = 72, and are often accompanied by a tempo marking
(see Tempo below). To write a metronome mark:
* Select an object (e.g. a note or rest) in your score where you want the metronome mark to go,
normally the first note of a bar, and choose Create > Text > Metronome mark; a flashing caret
appears. (If nothing is selected in your score, choose Create > Text > Metronome mark, then

click in your score to place the text.)

* Write notes in metronome marks by right-clicking (Windows) or Control-clicking (Mac) to get
the word menu. You can alternatively use the Ctrl or X key in conjunction with the numeric
keypad.
* You can then type = 60 or whatever in the normal way. Hit space on either side of the = sign.
When typing a metronome mark after a tempo mark, e.g. Allegro q = 60, you are not advised to
input it using two separate bits of text (Tempo text plus Metronome mark text), or the two separate
text objects could collide if the notes in the bar get too close together. Instead, write all the text in
the Tempo text style, and when you get to the metronome mark, switch off Bold and preferably
choose a smaller point size on the Text panel of the Properties window.

Metric modulations
Metric modulations (also sometimes known as listesso tempo markings, meaning the same
tempo) are used to illustrate the relationship between note values in different tempos, e.g.:

167

Reference

This is for writing technical instructions that are not normally written in italics, e.g. mute, pizz.,
a2, solo, tremolo. You can also write musical symbols such as accidentals in Technique text using
the word menu, which is useful for things like harp music.

Reference
Metric modulations are also frequently used to show a swing feel, e.g.

To create a metric modulation, choose Create > Text > Other System Text > Metric modulation.
The word menu for this text style contains all the most common metric modulations and swing
markings, both with and without parentheses. This text style uses the Opus Metronome font.

Tempo
Tempo text usually appears at the start of the score, e.g. Allegro non troppo, and is often accompanied by a metronome mark (see above). Its quickest to create these from the File > New dialog
when first setting up your score, though you can easily add them later.
Sibelius First knows the meaning of a wide variety of tempo markings and will play them back
even if you dont create a metronome mark. As usual, right-clicking (Windows) or Control-clicking (Mac) while creating Tempo text gives a menu of useful words.
To create rits. and accels., we recommend you dont type them as text, but use rit./accel. lines
instead (b Lines), as these play back. Beware that A tempo and Tempo I dont play back, so
create a metronome mark (which you can hide if you want) to revert to the original tempo.
In large scores, text in the Tempo and Metronome mark styles automatically appears not just at the
top, but duplicated lower down as well (normally above the keyboard or strings). The two copies
mimic each other whenever you edit one of them for instance, if you edit one piece of tempo text,
both will change simultaneously.
However, each piece of text can be dragged up and down or deleted independently. This is useful to
avoid collisions with a high note above the top staff that does not occur lower down the score. To
drag or delete both pieces of text together, do it to the top one. To delete one of the lower pieces of
text, simply select it and hit Delete.

Lyrics and Chord symbols

These text styles are a bit special. b Lyrics and Chord symbols.

Title, Subtitle, Composer, Lyricist, Dedication

Its quickest to create most of these from the File > New dialog when first setting up your score,
though you can easily add them later. By default, these text styles are left-, center- or right-aligned
on the page, which means you can only drag text in these styles up and down, not left or right.
You can put titles above any system in your score, not just at the start you might want a new title
at the start of a new section, song or movement, say though if you do this it is best to put a system
or page break at the end of the previous system to keep the sections separated.

Fingering
(In Create > Text > Other Staff Text.) This is for keyboard, brass and string fingerings. Hit
Return (on the main keyboard) after each number. Hitting space advances to the next note.

168

Common text styles

Small text and Boxed text

These are for other technique-like instructions. Boxed text is useful for important instructions
such as changes of instrument.

Copyright
A copyright line is normally written on the first page of a score. This text style (choose Create >
Text > Other system text > Copyright) goes at the bottom of the page, centered, and appears in
all parts. The symbol is available from the word menu.
You should create the text on the first bar of the score though it will appear at the bottom of the
page, it will in fact be attached to the first bar, which will ensure it always remains on the first page
even if the score reformats.

Footnote
This positions text at the bottom of the page. To create a footnote, select a note in the staff and bar
you want the footnote to refer to, then choose Create > Text > Other Staff Text > Footnote. The
caret will nonetheless appear at the foot of the page.

Header and Header (after first page)

Headers are text that goes at the top of every page e.g. the name of the piece, or instrument in a
part.
Header (within Other System Text) produces the same text on every page; if you change the
header on any page, it automatically changes on all other pages. Headers and footers appear on the
page where you place them and all subsequent pages, but not previous pages. So you should normally place the header/footer on the first page, so they appear throughout. Header (after first
page) works the same but is always shown hidden on the first page, to avoid colliding with the
title. Headers are system text and so appear in all parts.

Footer
Footers are text that goes at the bottom of every page. Create > Text > Other System Text >
Footer (outside edge) goes on the right of right-hand pages and the left of left-hand pages;
Footer (inside edge) goes on the inside edge.
As with headers, you should normally create the footer on the first or perhaps the second page; it
will automatically appear on all subsequent pages (but not previous ones). If you change the footer
on any page, it automatically changes on all other pages. Footers are system text and so appear in
all parts.

Plain text
To create plain text in your score, for example to type miscellaneous performance instructions or
blocks of lyrics, use Create > Text > Other Staff Text > Plain text.

169

Reference

You can refer to the footnote with an asterisk or numeral using (say) Technique text above the staff.
The footnote you type will always stay on the same page as the bar its referring to. It will also
appear only in the part of the staff in question.

Reference

Ties
Ties are used in music to indicate that two notes of identical pitch are joined to each other to form
one longer note. Notes at the end or middle of a tie should not be replayed. Ties are distinctly different than slurs, which are used to show phrase structures and, in the case of wind or string
instruments, group notes together that should be played within one single movement of the bow or
in one continuous breath b Slurs.

Ties versus slurs

Never use a slur instead of a tie slurs looks similar, but wont behave like a tie in playback or if
you transpose the music. Likewise you should never use a tie instead of a slur, as it is then possible
to tie notes to nothing (i.e. neither to another note nor a rest), resulting in notes being held indefinitely during playback.

Creating ties
Ties are input from the first Keypad layout. Simply select a note and then choose the tie from the
keypad (shortcut Enter). To add a tie to all the notes of a chord, double-click it (or choose Edit >
Select > Select More, shortcut Ctrl+Shift+A or xXA) before selecting the tie from the Keypad.
You can edit the size and position of ties in a number of ways:
* To flip a tie to curve upwards instead of downwards (or vice versa), select it and choose Edit >

Flip (shortcut X)
* Select either end (use Alt+0/1 or z0/1 to select either end using the keyboard) and drag the
end, or type Shift+Alt+0/1 or xz0/1; hold down Ctrl or X for larger steps. Sibelius First

always ensures the tie remains horizontal and symmetrical.

* You can also select and drag the middle of the tie (or move it with 3/2) to make it more or less
arched.

Ties in arpeggiated music

In keyboard and harp music its common to see figures such as the one
shown on the right. To achieve this, simply enter the notes as usual, adding a tie to each one. You can then simply extend each tie as far as necessary to meet the destination note.

Beware that Sibelius First does not know that these ties should be attached to their respective
destinations, so it will not automatically adjust their length if the layout or spacing changes. So you
may wish to adjust the length of the ties once the layout of your score is finalized.

Notes tied into 2nd ending (2nd-time) bars

When notes are tied over into a 2nd ending (2nd-time bar), you need to draw ties at the very start
of the 2nd ending. To achieve this, you should use the above-mentioned laissez vibrer symbols, or a
non-magnetic slur (b Slurs), although neither of these methods will play back correctly.

170

Time signatures

Time signatures
Creating time signatures
* Select a note, rest, line or other object in your score
* Choose Create > Time Signature (shortcut T) and click the time signature you want; click

Other and use the drop-down lists to create more complex time signatures
* Click OK or hit Return; the time signature is created at the beginning of the following bar.
To create a time signature at the start of your score, its easiest to choose it on the File > New dialog
when you first create the score. To create or change it subsequently, make sure that nothing is
selected (hit Esc), then choose Create > Time Signature, select the time signature you want and
click OK. The mouse pointer turns colored to show that it contains an object click at the start of
the score to place the initial time signature.

Pick-up (upbeat) bars

You will notice that pick-up (upbeat) bars correctly show the number of beats in each bar as rests,
divided according to the Beam and Rest Groups settings you made when creating the time signature.
When music starts with a pick-up bar, its normal to number the first complete bar as bar 1, rather
than bar 2 as it would otherwise be. Sibelius First does this for you by automatically numbering the
pick-up bar as bar 0.

Rebarring music
If you put a time signature into some existing music, Sibelius First splits the existing music up into
new bar-lengths, with ties across barlines where necessary, unless you switch off the Rewrite bars
up to next time signature option in Create > Time Signature.
Sibelius First only rebars the music up to the next time signature change in your score, if there is
one. However, if you start by selecting a passage before creating a time signature, Sibelius First will
restore the original time signature at the end of the selection, and only rewrite music up to that
point. This is very useful when you want to change the barring of a few bars in the middle of the
score.
In the unlikely event that you have copied some bars into a score that dont match the prevailing
time signature and you would like to rebar them accordingly, select the time signature and delete
it. When asked if the bars following should be rewritten, click No, then reinsert the same time signature, ensuring that Rewrite bars up to next time signature is switched on.

171

Reference

If your score starts with a pick-up (upbeat) bar, its easiest to specify this at the same time as creating the initial time signature. Click Start with bar of length in the Create > Time Signature dialog, and choose the length of the bar from the list, or type it on the numeric keypad (with Num
Lock on). You can choose more than one note value if you want a pick-up (upbeat) bar with a
peculiar length such as a half note (minim) plus an eighth note (quaver).

Reference

Cautionary time signatures

Allow cautionary allows a cautionary time signature to appear at the end of the preceding system
if the time signature is being put (or subsequently ends up) at the end of a system. Youd normally
want to switch off this box if putting a time signature at the start of a new piece, song or movement
within a larger score. (The same goes for cautionary key signatures and clefs.)

Complex time signatures

To create a time signature other than the most common ones illustrated on the Create > Time Signature dialog, click Other and pick the numbers you want from the lists provided.
If you want the groups shown as an additive time signature, such as 3+2+2/8, simply type 3+2+2
into the box for the top of the time signature instead of picking a number from the list. On Mac,
you must use the + key on the numeric keypad, not on the main keyboard.

Modifying time signatures

You can copy and delete time signatures like other objects. You can also drag time signatures left
and right to move them even to fairly silly places. We dont recommend you drag time signatures
out of the bar they belong to.

172

Transposing

Transposing
For details of transposing instruments and transposing scores, b Instruments.
For information on simplifying key signatures and enharmonic spellings, b Key signatures.

* Select whatever you want to transpose usually a passage or the whole score (shortcut Ctrl+A
or XA)
* Choose Notes > Transpose (shortcut Shift-T)
* Choose whether you want to transpose by Key or by Interval
* If you choose to transpose by Key:
% Choose the key you want to transpose to from the menu
% Decide whether you want Sibelius First to transpose by the smallest required interval (Clos-

est), or Up or Down.
* If you choose to transpose by Interval:
% Click Up or Down.
% From the second box, choose the main interval.
% In the first box, Major/Perfect leaves the main interval unaltered, Augmented adds a halfstep (semitone), Minor/Diminished subtracts a half-step.
% Diatonic moves the notes within the key specified by the current key signature; so transposing up a diatonic 2nd makes the third note of the key into the fourth, makes the flattened fifth
into the flattened sixth, etc.
* Set the other options if you like:
% Transpose key signatures (available when transposing a system passage or the whole score)
transposes any key changes within the selected passage. Normally leave this on. If switched
off, transposed notes acquire accidentals that would otherwise be specified in the key signature.
% If Transpose key signatures is on, you can also switch on Change key at start, which will
create a new key signature at the start of the transposed passage if you like.
173

Reference

To transpose music:

Reference
% If you dont want Sibelius First to create a restorative key change at the end of the transposed

passage back to the original key, switch on Allow change of key to persist.
% Use double sharps/flats makes Sibelius First notate remote keys using double sharps and
flats rather than naturals. Switch this off for atonal music. Leave it on if youre Rachmaninov,
or Alban Berg in his youth.
* Click OK, and Sibelius First instantly transposes the music.

Shifting without accidentals

To shift notes that you dont want to end up with accidentals, simply select the music and type 3/2
one or more times.

Transposing by one or more octaves

The quick method is to select the music and type Ctrl+3/2 or X3/2.

Transposing by more than two octaves

For brevity, the Notes > Transpose dialog (shortcut Shift-T) only lists intervals up to two octaves.
For bigger intervals, transpose by further octaves by typing Ctrl+3/2 or X3/2 before or after
transposing from the dialog.

Transposing by a half-step (semitone)

Although most transpositions are straightforward, this particular case merits a little explanation. If
you have a score in, say, D major, and want to transpose it into D flat major, you should not transpose it down by a minor 2nd, which produces C# major instead, transpose it down by an augmented unison.

Extreme transpositions
To do extreme transpositions for which the interval required is not listed, e.g. B to D flat (up a doubly-augmented third), split it into two less extreme transpositions: first transpose up a minor third
to D, then down an augmented unison to D flat.

Chord symbols and chord diagrams

These automatically transpose.

Moving other objects

When transposing, Sibelius First will move other objects as it sees fit. For instance, ties and slurs
automatically move to follow the notes. If music is transposed so far that lots of notes stem-directions change, some slurs may need to be flipped with Edit > Flip (shortcut X) so as to fit over the
notes smoothly.

174

Tremolos

Tremolos
b Percussion.

Tremolos are an abbreviation for rapidly repeated notes. A one-note tremolo is for a single
repeated note; a two-note tremolo represents two alternating notes; a buzz roll is a special kind of
tremolo used for unpitched percussion.
One-note tremolos

One-note

Adding one tremolo stroke to a

quarter note (crotchet) or longer
note indicates that it is to be
played as two eighth notes (quavers). Adding two strokes means
it should be played as four sixteenth notes (semiquavers), and
so on. Three and four strokes are
also used to mean that the note
should be reiterated as fast as
possible (an unmeasured
tremolo), e.g. to indicate a drum
roll.

One-note tremolos are notated as strokes on the stem of a note or

chord, e.g.

On an eighth (quaver) or shorter

note, one tremolo stroke means
it should be divided into two,
two strokes means it should be
divided into four, and so on.

You can remove the tremolos by choosing the same Keypad button.

To write this, choose the number of strokes you want the note to
have from the third Keypad layout (either before or after you create
the note).

Two-note
Two-note tremolos are notated as beam-like strokes between two
notes or chords, e.g.

On the first note/chord, simply choose the number of strokes you want from the third Keypad layout (type 1/2/3/4/5 for 1/2/3/4/5 strokes), then click the two-note tremolo button
shown on the left (shortcut Enter). You can do this before or after creating the second note.
Each of the notes is written as if it lasted for the whole length
of the tremolo, i.e. it looks as if the note-lengths are doubled.
Sibelius First automatically doubles the note values for you.
So to write a two-note tremolo that lasts for a half note
(minim) you would write two quarter notes (crotchets) and
then use the third Keypad layout to add the tremolo:
Before

Two-note tremolos
These are beams between two notes
or chords that indicate that they
should be repeatedly played alternately. Multiple strokes mean
exactly the same as for one-note
tremolos.

After

You can switch off the tremolos by choosing the same buttons from the Keypad again.
Two-note tremolos can be written between staves (by crossing one or other note onto the other
staff b Beams), and across barlines.

175

Reference

To add tremolos to a note or chord after creating it, select the note/
chord and choose the number of strokes from the third Keypad layout (type 1/2/3/4/5 for 1/2/3/4/5 strokes).

Reference
To adjust the angle of a two-note tremolo, drag the stems of the notes at either side. If the two-note
tremolo is between two whole-notes (semibreves), drag the tremolo line itself (this has the same
effect as dragging the stem of the first note were it to have one!)

Buzz roll (Z on stem)

Buzz rolls are notated by adding a Z symbol to the stem of a note or chord to indicate a
multiple stroke roll, as used in percussion writing (see right). To add a buzz roll to a note or
chord after creating it, select the note or chord and, from the third Keypad layout (shortcut
F10), hit 6. Sibelius First plays buzz rolls back as fast tremolos. b Percussion.

The tribulations of tremolo notations

With two-note tremolos, the odd convention of writing each note with the total length of the tremolo produces various anomalies.
In the 19th century, a crazy convention was in operation whereby the note values were only doubled if the tremolo lasted for a quarter note (crotchet) or more. Thus you could find pairs of
eighths (quavers) tremoloing, and also half notes (minims), but never quarter notes (crotchets).
This was bananas.
However, another idiosyncrasy that survives to the present day is as follows: if you want to notate a
two-note tremolo lasting for two 4/4 bars, you write two whole-notes (semibreves) with a tremolo
across the barline, rather than doubling the note values to two double whole notes (breves). Most
people go a lifetime without noticing this weird exception what sheltered lives they lead.

176

Triplets and other tuplets

Triplets and other tuplets

Tuplets are rhythms like triplets, which are played at some fraction of their normal speed.
(Tuplet is not a nice word, though alternatives like irrational rhythm arent too terrific either.
Opinion is divided as to whether tuplet rhymes with duplet or with couplet.)

Creating tuplets quickly

* Input or select the first note (only) of the tuplet, which must be of the unit length of the tuplet

(see box).
For instance, if you want a triplet with a total length of a half note (minim), the first note you
input must be a quarter note (crotchet).
* Type Ctrl+3 or X3 for a triplet which, lets face it, is what youre probably after or Ctrl+29
or X29 for anything from a duplet to a nonuplet
* The tuplet will appear, with the correct number of rests. Add the other notes in the normal way.

You can select a tuplets bracket or number and copy it onto another note to turn that note into a
tuplet.
You can also, of course, copy passages containing tuplets. The only thing you cant copy is part of a
tuplet, such as just the first note of a tuplet, as that would produce a chunk of fractional rhythm
that wouldnt make much sense. If you get an unexpected warning that youre copying part of a
tuplet, make sure youve selected the tuplet number or bracket as well as the notes within it.

Deleting tuplets
To delete a tuplet, select the number or bracket and hit Delete. This deletes not only the number and
bracket, but also the notes. This is because without the tuplet, the notes would no longer add up.

Moving tuplets
Tuplets are magnetic that is, automatically positioned like slurs (b Slurs). Sibelius First
decides whether the tuplet should go above or below the notes, and at what angle. The tuplet number and bracket move automatically to avoid collisions with notes at either end of the tuplet, and
articulations on notes in the tuplet. Try dragging the first note in a tuplet up and down and see
what happens! This means that if you transpose your music, the tuplet number and bracket move
automatically to ensure they do not collide with the notes.
If you disagree with where Sibelius First puts the tuplet by default, you can flip it to the other side
of the notes by selecting the number (or bracket) and choosing Edit > Flip (shortcut X).
You can also move the whole tuplet up and down by dragging the number (or the middle of the
bracket if there is no number) or using the arrow keys. You shouldnt try to drag a tuplet to the
other side of the notes use Edit > Flip (shortcut X) instead.
You can adjust the angle of the bracket and number by moving either tip of the bracket.

177

Reference

Copying tuplets

Reference

Voices
What voices are
Music usually has a single voice (or layer) of notes, chords and rests on each staff. The stems
point up or down according to the pitch of the note.:
Just one voice

When music is in two voices, however, the staff has two independent streams of music that can
have different rhythms. The two voices are distinguished by drawing the stems upwards in voice 1
and downwards in voice 2.:
Voice 1

Voice 2

Notice that there are also two different sets of rests, the higher ones belonging to voice 1 and the
lower ones to voice 2. Usually, for simplicity, people only write one rest where two identical ones
occur in both voices.
In guitar and organ music and occasionally elsewhere, you can also have a third voice (with stems
up again) and even a fourth (with stems down again).

Using voices
Sibelius First allows four independent voices per staff, which are color-coded: voice 1 is dark blue,
voice 2 is green, voice 3 is orange and voice 4 is pink.
Notes, of course, can only be in a single voice, but staff-attached text and lines can either be in a
single voice, a combination of voices, or all voices: this doesnt affect the visual appearance of the
score, but can be useful for playback (e.g. to make a hairpin apply to all voices in the staff).
You can use the mouse to click the voice buttons on the Keypad to change voice, or you can use the
Edit > Voice submenu, or the keyboard shortcuts Alt+1/2/3/4 or z1/2/3/4 (for all voices use
Alt+5 or z5).
To set the voice of a note (either a selected note, or a note you are about to create), click the appropriate voice button on the Keypad, or use the appropriate keyboard shortcut.
To make text or a line apply to all voices, simply type Alt+5 or z5 (or click the All button on the
Keypad). If, however, you need it to apply to a combination of voices, you must click the buttons on
the Keypad with the mouse rather than use the shortcuts; so if text or a line is in voice 1, and you
click the voice 2 button on the Keypad, that object will then belong to both voice 1 and voice 2 (and
will be colored light blue in the score to show this).
You cannot automatically create text or lines in a combination of voices: they are always created in
a single voice initially, and you can edit their voices afterwards.
178

Voices
Other objects such as clefs, key signatures, system text (e.g. title, tempo markings) and system
lines (e.g. rit./accel. lines, 1st- and 2nd-endings) always apply to all voices, and so are always light
blue (for staff objects) or purple (for system objects) when selected. It doesnt matter which voice is
chosen when you create these objects.

Starting off an extra voice of notes

To start off an extra voice with the keyboard, or using step-time input:
* Select a note, rest or other object (such as text or a line) at the point where you want the new

voice to start
* Type N (the shortcut for Notes > Input Notes) followed by Alt+2 or z2 for voice 2; the caret
goes green
* Input the note as normal, and it appears in voice 2; the rest of the bar is filled with the appropriate rests
* Now you can continue adding notes in voice 2 as normal.
To start off an extra voice with the mouse:
properties from the Keypad
* Click in the score where you want the new voice to begin; Sibelius First inputs the note, and fills
up the rest of the bar with rests in the new voice
* Now you can continue to input notes in the new voice as normal.
To start off Flexi-time recording in an extra voice, choose the desired voice in the Notes > Flexitime Options dialog (shortcut Ctrl+Shift+O or xXO). If the voice already exists in the score,
you can just select a rest in that voice and then start Flexi-time as normal b Flexi-time.

Bars partially in two voices

If you dont want two voices right to the end of a bar, Delete any unwanted rests at the end, to hide
them.
If you want voice 2 to start part-way through a bar that already contains notes in another voice,
simply input the voice 2 note at the point where you want it to start using the mouse. Alternatively,
input rests in voice 2 from the start of the bar, followed by the notes, and Delete the rests afterwards.
In either case, the notes in voice 1 will revert to having stems both up and down where you deleted
the rests.

Deleting voice 2
You can remove parts of bars of voice 2 by deleting rests, as described above. However, if you want
to delete a whole bar of voice 2, you should just put a bar rest into voice 2 from the second Keypad
layout, then Delete it.

179

Reference

* With nothing in your score selected, choose the voice button, note value and any other note

Reference

Merging voices
If you want to merge all the notes in a passage in multiple voices into a single voice, simply select
the passage and choose the desired voice from the Keypad or Edit > Voice (shortcut Alt+1/2/3/4
or z1/2/3/4):
Before

After

You cant merge voices with tuplets in Sibelius First will omit one of the voices where the tuplet
occurs.

Voices 3 and 4
Add voices 3 and 4 just like voice 2. If you want three voices, you can use voices 1+2+3 or 1+2+4
depending on the stem directions you want the voices to have. The stems of voices 1 and 3 point
upwards, and those of voices 2 and 4 point downwards.

Rests
When rests appear in multiple voices, Sibelius First automatically draws them above or below their
normal positions so its clear to which voice they belong. You can drag the rests up or down further
or move them with the arrow keys if they start getting in the way of other voices.

180

Index
15va . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . see lines
1st and 2nd ending lines (1st-/2nd-time bars) .101, 137
1st and 2nd endings (1st-/2nd time bars) . . . . . see lines
8va . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . see lines

B
backup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38, 80
bar numbers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
bar rests . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
barlines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
repeat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
bars
adding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
deleting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
pick-up (upbeat) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171

C
caret . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .34, 90, 179
text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74, 163
CDs
making . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
chord diagrams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
copying . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
deleting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
chord symbols . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61, 163
transposing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61, 174
chords . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
creating . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
clefs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
octave . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
click . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
during Flexi-time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
coda . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
color
paper and desk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
Composer text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
converting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . see files
copying . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26, 36
chord diagrams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
copyright lines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
Create menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21, 44
Chord Diagram . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
Clef . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
Graphic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
Instruments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
Key Signature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
Line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100

181

Index

a tempo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
accel. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . see lines
accelerando
playback of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
accent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . see articulations
acciaccatura . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . see articulations
acciaccaturas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
see also grace notes
accidentals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35, 47
double sharps/flats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
spelling of (Flexi-time) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
add
bars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
fingering
brass . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
string . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
string fingering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
Adobe Acrobat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
AIFF files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
alphabetic input . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
appoggiatura . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . see articulations
appoggiaturas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
see also grace notes
arpeggio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
problems printing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
articulations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
atonal music . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
Audio Engine Options dialog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
audio files
exporting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
auto-backup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
auto-save . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38, 80

rebarring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
repeat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26, 101
batch processing
printing parts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
beams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
angles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
editing individually . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
booklet printing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
bowing marks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .see articulations, slurs
boxed text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
braces
problems printing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
breaks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52, 58
page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58, 98
system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
viewing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
buzz roll . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176

Index
Rehearsal Mark . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
Lyrics submenu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
Time Signature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
Title Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Tuplet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
creating
chords . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
instruments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
lines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
manuscript paper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
see also the name of the object to be created
credits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
crescendo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
see also hairpins
crescendo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . see hairpins
cursor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . see caret, mouse
cutting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

D
D.C. (da capo) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
D.S. (dal segno) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
decrescendo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .see diminuendo
Dedication text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
deleting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
chord diagrams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
deselecting objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
dialog
defined . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
diatonic
transposition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
differences in parts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
diminuendo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
see also hairpins
diminuendo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . see hairpins
Document Setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
dot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . see staccato, rhythm dot
double-sided printing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
down-bow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . see articulations
downloading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
dragging
objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
paper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
duplets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . see tuplets
dynamic parts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
dynamics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
between keyboard staves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121

E
Edit menu
Copy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

182

Cut . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .25
Delete (Clear) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .25
Delete Bars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .49
Flip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
Paste . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .25
Redo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .25
Repeat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .26
Select submenu
Select Graphic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .73
Undo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .25
editing
basic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .24
elisions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
endings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . see 1st and 2nd endings
Engraving Rules
staves and systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
enharmonic spelling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .see accidentals
entering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . see creating, inputting
Espressivo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76, 119
exam paper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
example scores . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17
exporting
audio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .75
graphics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .73
PDF files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .74
via clipboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .73
MIDI files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .76
music examples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .73
Scorch web pages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .77
Sibelius 2 files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .81
exporting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . see files
Expression text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166

F
fasola music . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
fermata . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . see articulations
File menu
Close . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .29
Export submenu
Audio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .75
Graphics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .73
MIDI File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .76
Scorch Web Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .77
New . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .29
Open . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7, 17
Preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
Print . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
Print All Parts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .70
Publish on SibeliusMusic.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
Save . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .38
Scan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
Score Info . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81, 158
files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .80
AIFF files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .75

Index
audio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
auto-backup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
auto-save . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38, 80
file formats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
new . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
opening . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
printing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
saving . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38, 80
sharing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Sibelius 2 files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
WAV files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
fine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
fingering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
brass instruments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
string instruments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
first ending . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . see 1st and 2nd endings
first-time bar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . see 1st and 2nd endings
flat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Flexi-time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48, 82
options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
recording . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
voices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
footers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
footnotes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
formatting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50, 98
fretboard diagrams. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . see chord diagrams

H
hairpins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
hairpins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . see lines
harmonics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
headers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
headless notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
help
arpeggio lines not printing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
braces not printing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132

I
importing
graphics files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
MIDI files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
music into Word documents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
imposition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
improvements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
indented systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
inputting
alphabetic input . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Flexi-time input . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48, 82
guitar tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
in multiple voices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
lines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
lyrics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
mouse input . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
scanning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
step-time input . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
instrument names
changing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
instruments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
adding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
changing order in the score . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
creating . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
deleting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
ranges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
selecting throughout a score . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
transposing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95, 96
Internet publishing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
interpretation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

J
justification
staves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161

K
key signatures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

183

Index

General MIDI module . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122

Ghostscript . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
glissando . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
grace notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
graphics files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
importing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
PDF files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
gray objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . see hiding
guitar
lines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
guitar frames . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . see chord diagrams
guitar tab
creating a tab instrument . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
inputting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
turning into notation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89

buttons drawn incorrectly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64

edges cut off music when printing . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
notes or symbols not printing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
printing double-sided causes printer jams . . . . . . 135
red question marks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
repeats dont play back . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
setting the optimum screen resolution . . . . . . . . . . 64
staff lines not printing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
wrong rhythms in Flexi-time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
hiding
empty staves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52, 161
house styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
HTML . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78

Index
cautionary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
creating . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
deleting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
hiding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
moving . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
multiple . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
keyboard (MIDI)
USB . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
keyboard input . . . . . . . . see Flexi-time, step-time input
keyboard instruments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
dynamics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
keyboard shortcuts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7, 18
one-key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Keypad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
layouts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26, 36
2nd . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
3rd . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Kodly stick notation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112

L
listesso tempo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . see metric modulations
landscape format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
layers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . see voices
layout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51, 98
page breaks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
page size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
staff size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
system breaks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
vertical spacing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
viewing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Layout menu
Break submenu
Page Break . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
Split System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
System Break . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
Document Setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50, 65, 98
Hide Empty Staves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
Show Empty Staves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
leger lines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
avoiding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
lines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
creating . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40, 43, 100
dashed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
guitar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
problems printing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
slurs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Live Playback . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
Lyricist text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
lyrics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
elisions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
inputting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103

M
magnetic
slurs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
tuplets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
manuscript paper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .29
marcato . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . see articulations
margins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65, 98, 134
page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .67
staff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .67
measures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .see bars
menus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21
merging voices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
meters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . see time signatures
metric modulations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
metronome click . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .82
metronome mark . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .31
metronome marks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23, 40
creating . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
Microsoft Word . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .73
MIDI files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
converting to audio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .75
downloading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
exporting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .76
importing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
MIDI guitar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .90
MIDI input . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . see Flexi-time
MIDI input . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . see inputting
MIDI interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9, 13
MIDI messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .85
recording in Flexi-time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .83
MIDI setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9
MIDI setup for Mac . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12
MIDI Thru . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .49
Mixer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
monitors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21
multiple . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21
mouse
using the wheel button . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19
mouse input . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .34
moving objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .24
MP3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .75
multiple
key signatures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .97
monitors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21, 64
voices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178
music examples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .73
mute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
staves in Mixer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108

N
natural . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .26
Navigator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18
Neuratron PhotoScore Lite . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141

184

Index
non-magnetic slurs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
noteheads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .110, 136
larger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
mixing sizes in a chord . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
slash . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
smaller . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
notes
basic editing of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
bracketed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
copying . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
creating . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
editing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
headless . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
in parentheses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
in text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
mouse input . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
out of range . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90, 95
silent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
spacing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
stemless . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
turning into guitar tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
see also mouse input, alphabetic input, step-time input, Flexi-time
see also noteheads
Notes menu
Flexi-time Input . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Flexi-time Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
Transpose . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
Transposing Score . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
numeric keypad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . see Keypad

objects
copying . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
deleting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
deselecting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
dragging . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
moving . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
selecting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
octave
clefs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
lines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
opening
Sibelius Lite scores . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Opus font . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
Opus Metronome font . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
ornaments
trills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
overdubbing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84

P
page
breaks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . see breaks, page

185

Index

page breaks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . see breaks

page margins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
page size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29, 51, 98
pan position . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
paper
choosing good . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
paper sizes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65, 130
A3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
A4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
A5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
B4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
B5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
Band . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
Concert . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
Executive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
Folio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
Hymn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
Legal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
Letter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
Octavo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
Part . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
Quarto . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
recommended . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
Statement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
Tabloid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
parts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
PDF files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70, 74
reading with PhotoScore Lite . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
pedaling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
percussion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
noteheads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
PhotoScore Lite . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
phrase-marks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .see slurs
pick-up (upbeat) bars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
pitch . . . . . . . .see notes, transposing scores, transposing
instruments
plain text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
Play menu
Live Playback . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
Move Playback Line to Start . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
Play or Pause . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Playback Devices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
playback . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
dynamics between keyboard staves . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
Espressivo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
Live Playback . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
repeats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
Rubato . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
playback line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22, 34
playing keyboard without inputting notes . . . . . . . . . . 49
portamento . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
portrait format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
Preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128

Index
preferences
display settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
printing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28, 130
2-up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
booklets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
borders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
colors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
crop marks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
double-sided . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
Fit to Paper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
from Scorch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
PDF files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
scale factor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
spreads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
Substitute options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136

Q
quantization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
question marks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
quintuplets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . see tuplets

R
rall. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . see lines
rebarring music . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
recording
onto CD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
see also Flexi-time
Redo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
reformatting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . see formatting
rehearsal marks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
creating . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
editing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
repeat bars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
repeating music (with R) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
repeats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
1st and 2nd ending lines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
D.C. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
D.S. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
da capo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
dal segno . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
fine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
repeat barlines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
to coda . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
respelling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
rests . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
bar rests . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
grouping into beats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
reverb . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
rhythm
slashes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
rhythm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .see notes
rhythm dot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

186

rhythmic feel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120

rit.
playback of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
rit. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . see lines
Rubato . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119

S
sacred harp music . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . see shape notes
saving
changing default location . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .80
Sibelius-compatible files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .81
trees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
saving files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .38
scanning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
Scorch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
Scorch web pages
exporting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .77
scores
example scores . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . see example scores
files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . see files
new . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .29
screen resolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .64
scroll bars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19
second ending . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . see 1st and 2nd endings
second-time bar . . . . . . . . . . . . . see 1st and 2nd endings
sections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .58
segno . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
selecting
objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .24
septuplets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . see tuplets
settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
sextuplets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . see tuplets
shape notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
sharp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27, 35
shortcuts, keyboard . . . . . . . . . . .see keyboard shortcuts
Sibelius 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .81
SibeliusMusic.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
silent notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
slashes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
slurs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43, 159
magnetic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
non-magnetic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
spacing
horizontal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .99
spacing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . see notes, staves
split point . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .85
spreads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
staccato . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . see articulations
staff margins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .67
staff size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67, 98, 162
staff system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . see system
staves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
creating . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30, 161
deleting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162

Index
hide empty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
hiding empty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
left justified . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
moving . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
muting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
problems printing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
show empty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30, 51
small . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
spacing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
stopping early . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
see also instruments, staff
step-time input . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
stereo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
stick notation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
Substitute options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
arpeggios, gliss., etc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
braces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
lines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
symbols . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
subtitles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
suggestions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
swing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
symbols
light blue above bars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
system
break . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
breaks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
indented . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161

tab input . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Technique text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
Tempo I . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
tempo slider . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Tempo text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
tempo text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31, 41
tenuto . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
terminology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
test paper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
bold . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
boxed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
copying between programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
creating . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40, 163
creating notes in . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
editing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
instrument names . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
italic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
plain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
underline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
word menus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
text style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

U
Undo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

V
vertical
staff spacing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
View menu
Full Screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Layout Marks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Page Margins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Toolbar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
voices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45, 178
creating . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
deleting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
merging . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
recording in Flexi-time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
volume . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106

W
WAV files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
web pages

187

Index

textures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21, 64
ties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27, 170
in arpeggiated music . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170
into 2nd-time bars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170
time signatures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31, 171
beam groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
cautionary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
complex . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
title pages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Title text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
toolbar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
transposing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
by a half-step (semitone) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
by key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
by octaves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
chord symbols . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61, 174
diatonically . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
tremolos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
buzz roll (z on stem) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118, 176
trills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
trills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . see lines
triplets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45, 177
tuplets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45, 177
copying . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
creating . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
deleting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
in Flexi-time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
in imported MIDI files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
magnetic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
moving . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177

Index
exporting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
wheel mouse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Window menu
Mixer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
Navigator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18, 21
Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21, 136
wisdom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18, 27, 32, 44
word menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
word menus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163

188

worksheet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
www.sibeliusmusic.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157

Z
z on stem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176
zoom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19
default level . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .80