# Writing music **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 15, 2011, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/writing-music/567725 "2011-01-15T17:35:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2011, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/writing-music/567725/1 "2011-01-15T17:35:17Z")
Is there some (inexpensive) program, similar to Word, say, that can be used to write music? I’m not trying to do complicated stuff, but I have some old handwritten music that I’d like to make look nice. And I’ve got a couple of “fake book” songs where I’d like to add specific chords etc. I’d like to have it all look “professional” rather than just use music paper and hand-written notes. And I don’t want to spend a lot of money, because I’m not doing THAT much. Any thought? ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2011, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/writing-music/567725/2 "2011-01-15T17:39:46Z")
[Finale Notepad](http://www.finalemusic.com/notepad/default.aspx) is 10 bucks to download. When I was using it a few years ago notepad was free and there were some things that you could only do with the money version. I think switching time signatures in a piece was one, or if it wasn’t I certainly never found out how to do it. ---
**Author:** ![iamnotbatman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/858c86/32.png) [@iamnotbatman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamnotbatman)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2011, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/writing-music/567725/3 "2011-01-15T17:40:19Z")
I use GarageBand (piano). It’s cheap, but the staff/notation is mediocre. The plus is that you can play the composition back to you (also mediocre) to make sure you didn’t screw up the notation. ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2011, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/writing-music/567725/4 "2011-01-15T17:41:42Z")
Wow, that was fast! Thanks!! ---
**Author:** ![Pitchmeister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pitchmeister/32/3459_2.png) [@Pitchmeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pitchmeister)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2011, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/writing-music/567725/5 "2011-01-15T17:41:51Z")
[Finale](http://www.finalemusic.com/NotePad/default.aspx) comes in lots of different versions, the cheapest of which is $10. Have a look what best fits your needs. ETA: Curses, ninja’d by two people! ---
**Author:** ![raspberry\_hunter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b19c9b/32.png) [@raspberry\_hunter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/raspberry_hunter)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2011, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/writing-music/567725/6 "2011-01-15T17:47:23Z")
Lilypond ([http://lilypond.org/](http://lilypond.org/)) is free, and makes beautiful scores, but requires substantially more of a learning curve. I love having the control, though (I hated using Finale). ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2011, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/writing-music/567725/7 "2011-01-15T17:48:08Z")
Mwahaha. I really don’t have any more input. I haven’t used finale in years, I don’t know if it’s gotten better, worse or stayed the same. I know that one of the more expensive versions is loaded on computers at school for the composition majors but I don’t know if they use it or ditch it for other software. Me, I write my music on parchment with a quill and inkpot. Makes it seem more real, you know? ---
**Author:** ![K364](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k364/32/5_2.png) [@K364](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/K364)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2011, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/writing-music/567725/8 "2011-01-15T20:18:20Z")
If you are a geeky programmer type, you’ll love the challenge of lilypond. And, as **raspberry hunter** said, it produces beautiful scores. It has been designed since day one to created professional musical scores. ---
**Author:** ![MacSpon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/34f0e0/32.png) [@MacSpon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacSpon)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2011, 8:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/writing-music/567725/9 "2011-01-16T08:45:02Z")
[Lime](http://www.cerlsoundgroup.org/main.html) isn’t bad. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2011, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/writing-music/567725/10 "2011-01-16T12:42:56Z")
[MuseScore](http://musescore.org/) is perhaps the best of the open-source point-and-click (as opposed to Lilypond) options. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2011, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/writing-music/567725/11 "2011-01-17T11:55:16Z")
Actually, Finale Notepad used to be freeware. I still have the latest free version, which isn’t that much different from the current version\*, and the EULA specifically indicates that I can share this version with absolutely anyone. Plus, I’m not that big on Finale’s practice of releasing new versions of their software every year that do little more than break compatibility with previous versions, and costs a significant fraction of that previous version’s price. So, since I can’t find it anywhere else, I’ll give you a [direct link](http://trlkly.drivehq.com/downloads/NP2k8WinSetup.exe) to download it from one of my websites. \*It appears like dynamic markings are missing, but they are actually under the articulations tool. That and support for MusicXML are the only differences I found–hardly worth $10, IMHO. Three versions later, and the only reason to get it is if you already have another music program that writes in MusicXML, and you want to switch. ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2011, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/writing-music/567725/12 "2011-01-19T12:49:45Z")
I’ve been trying MuseScore since it was free and I’m not really doing all that much. I gotta say, it’s a little frustrating, even simple things (rests in mid-measure, f’rinstance) but I assume that’s just because I’m new to it. Works reasonably well for my needs. Thanks all! ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2011, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/writing-music/567725/13 "2011-01-19T13:00:16Z")
> [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](#): > > I’ve been trying MuseScore since it was free and I’m not really doing all that much. I gotta say, it’s a little frustrating, even simple things (rests in mid-measure, f’rinstance)… I haven’t used that program, but I’m wondering what you are describing. Does it NOT put rests in the proper place (a whole rest would be proper in the middle of a measure)? ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2011, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/writing-music/567725/14 "2011-01-20T01:24:54Z")
It’s 4/4, and I want: half note, quarter rest, eighth rest, eighth note. Had a lot of trouble. It seems to want to put rests in where it thinks they should go to make the measure count out right, rather than where I want them to go. If there’s quarter note, quarter note, quarter rest, quarter note – no prob. ---
**Author:** ![antonio107](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7ea924/32.png) [@antonio107](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/antonio107)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2011, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/writing-music/567725/15 "2011-01-20T02:00:40Z")
> [@Inner\_Stickler](#): > > Mwahaha. I really don’t have any more input. I haven’t used finale in years, I don’t know if it’s gotten better, worse or stayed the same. I know that one of the more expensive versions is loaded on computers at school for the composition majors but I don’t know if they use it or ditch it for other software. When I stopped taking composition classes I stopped upgrading. My last version is '09, I think? Learning to use Finale is a lot like learning to sing from _Modus Novus_: the people who made it are more akin to scientists than musicians, and there’s nothing natural or intuitive about it. Yet inspite of this, you somehow manage to master it after five or six deeply flawed orchestration assignments. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![fachverwirrt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/94ad74/32.png) [@fachverwirrt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fachverwirrt)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2011, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/writing-music/567725/16 "2011-01-20T02:06:06Z")
Ah, Modus Novus. I remember you fondly… ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2011, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/writing-music/567725/17 "2011-01-20T02:27:49Z")
> [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](#): > > It’s 4/4, and I want: half note, quarter rest, eighth rest, eighth note. Had a lot of trouble. Why put two consecutive rests when you can just dot the quarter rest on beat three? ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2011, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/writing-music/567725/18 "2011-01-20T03:49:25Z")
> [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](#): > > Why put two consecutive rests when you can just dot the quarter rest on beat three? I’m copying an existing score. I frankly wouldn’t care what the rests were, I just had a damnable time trying to get note - rest - note within one measure. It kept trying to do it as note - note - rest, and nothing I could say or do would make it change it’s mind. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2011, 7:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/writing-music/567725/19 "2011-01-20T07:37:00Z")
Although it fills the bar with rests automatically, you need to enter the rest you actually want manually before you can put the note after it - maybe that’s where you’re going wrong? ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2011, 10:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/writing-music/567725/20 "2011-01-20T10:31:32Z")
> [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](#): > > Why put two consecutive rests when you can just dot the quarter rest on beat three? In 4/4 time, that would not be correct notation. A dotted quarter rest is reserved for sigs like 6/8, 12/8, where it represents a major beat. It is not used in 2/4, 4/4. Why? Tradition, probably due to the desire to separate quarter-value beats, even though this is violated with notes (a dotted quarter or half is fine in that location in 4/4). [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/writing-music/567725.md?page=2)