Music Scribe needed!

[Nick Parker 3,017]

Hello, everybody, this is my first post, so I feel a little pathetic asking for help so soon, but... anyways, I am a self-taught pianist who learns songs (many by John Williams, needless to say) by ear and performs them. I would love to make sheet music for you guys to use, but here is the dilemma: I can not read or write music. What I would like is someone who can take my arrangements and notate them into readable format. Thank you, and my apologies for any grammatical errors; I am European, and this English grammar confuses me. (The first song you would assist with would be Irina's Theme, by the way.)

[Henry B 49]

I don't mean not to be helpful, but what you should really do is learn to read music. Having others transcribe works for you is simply a temporary fix. And I'm certain that the accuracy of your transcriptions and your skill in performance would increase as a result of learning to read.

[Nick Parker 3,017]

I suppose so. Nonetheless, I would not mind this "temporary fix" of which you speak. Ah well.

[Williamsfan301 11]

Why bother learning music? 1/3 of the composers in Hollywood and video games can't read or write music either. Never stopped them...

[MissPadmé 17]

Why bother learning music? 1/3 of the composers in Hollywood and video games can't read or write music either. Never stopped them...

this is a very stupid remark if meant serious. but unfortunately true

you should learn to read and write music. do not boher others with that. you get independent and can work on your own.. and you learn alot more about finding the right chords and their connection

[Nick Parker 3,017]

Yes, yes, thank you all for your input. I have downloaded a program entitled "Finale Notepad 2008". I am now trying to understand what these "majors" and "minors" mean.

[Henry B 49]

Major = happy, minor = sad.

[ins 42]

I never understood why people have so much trouble reading/writing some dots with lines attached on it (ok, just hearing the notes on a sheet without actually playing them is a mastery for me I will eventually never understand)

But seriously, Sibelius with Kontakt Player for that matter has a small little piano which shows you exactly what's going. Another possibility is to buy a keyboard (with piano weight keys) and a midi connection. Gets done the job very easily.

Just out of curiosity, because I am doing this by myself, how can you learn piano the autodidact way (which is a problem when no one shows you how dynamics and accidentals work and should sound) without learning the notes? Furthermore how can you be sure to use "the right" fingering?

If you are interested in learning this rather straightforward "skill" I can arrange some sheets with very very basic songs which shows you the mapping.

[Williamsfan301 11]

Why bother learning music? 1/3 of the composers in Hollywood and video games can't read or write music either. Never stopped them...

this is a very stupid remark if meant serious. but unfortunately true

you should learn to read and write music. do not boher others with that. you get independent and can work on your own.. and you learn alot more about finding the right chords and their connection

Sorry, meant VERY sarcastically - but it's an unfortunately true statement.

btw, don't use Finale anything - that program is a ROYAL pain in the a@@ and will just serve to frustrate you. Get Sibelius. I use both on a regular basis and much prefer Sibelius.

[Joe Brausam 203]

I don't know, I've been a Finale user for a few years now - Sibelius confuses me.

[Nick Parker 3,017]

I have downloaded this "Sibelius". I believe it is better than "Finale NotePad 2008" in many ways, though I am too poor to afford it, and must thus use a save-disabled (of all the features to omit) demo. As for "ins".... What is this "autodidact" of which you speak? Paragraphs concerning musical grammar make my head swim circles in an Olympic Pool. Though, yes, I would like to see these "basic song arrangements".

[ins 42]

I don't know, I've been a Finale user for a few years now - Sibelius confuses me.

hehe, it's the other way around for me

[Williamsfan301 11]

Finale is great if you're the Microsoft type - 10 steps to do one task.

What I like about Sibelius is that I find it "thinks" like me - a musician (scary I know). I took a class on Finale and a class on Sibelius as part of my Music Ed Masters. According to the prof who claimed he knows the guys who made both, Finale was made by computer geeks who were amateur musicians where as Sibelius was made by musicians who were amateur computer geeks.

I know its impossible because of the nature of music, but what I wouldn't give for a word processor type music writing program.

[Marian Schedenig 5,520]

There's an extension for LaTeX that supports typesetting music. Due to the nature, you either write in code (not very difficult, but not beautiful to look at) or with some Word-style editors (I've never seen really good ones though), but the results are generally high-quality. Computer science papers are usually written in LaTeX, as are many computer books. Plus it's free. I don't know anything about the music extension though other than that there is one.

[MSM 85]

Hello, everybody, this is my first post, so I feel a little pathetic asking for help so soon, but... anyways, I am a self-taught pianist who learns songs (many by John Williams, needless to say) by ear and performs them. I would love to make sheet music for you guys to use, but here is the dilemma: I can not read or write music. What I would like is someone who can take my arrangements and notate them into readable format. Thank you, and my apologies for any grammatical errors; I am European, and this English grammar confuses me. (The first song you would assist with would be Irina's Theme, by the way.)

But what exactly do you want us to do? If you post samples of your arrangements we could get an impression of what you make and if it would be transcribable by ear. Is that what you mean?

[Nick Parker 3,017]

I am thinking of the specifics... perhaps a video...?