Preparing Sibelius scores for online Woodshed use

Online example

• These instructions assume a basic working knowledge of Sibelius. Note that there are some significant differences between using Sibelius 1.x and using the 2.x version.
   
• Set "page" size to 8 inches wide by 5 inches high. -- (Height "adjustable" for larger music systems. Purpose is to make the final image on the screen approx 800 x 500 pixels which will fit on a 800x600 or larger screen resolution without scrolling up and down while viewing/listening. You can choose much smaller margins (down to .3 or even .2 inch) than you would for hard-copy publishing. I sometimes use a height of 4 inches for 4-part where there is no accompaniment staff.
   
• Set one system per page. (except places where two fit comfortably). This will make the on-screen display replicate the printed version which the singer should have in their hand. You can cheat the staff sizes smaller than "nominal" as the version you are preparing is intended only as a reference to the real printed copy.
   
• Put one voice per staff. -- I don't know of any other way of isolating individual parts. Also helps the singers concentrate on just their part, especially those with minimal choral singing experience.
   
• Identify which voice part. -- I use a "subtitle" in italics below the song title which identifies "1st Tenor Emphasized", etc.
   
• Insert words. At least for the first verse (where appropriate). This is a cue for some singers to keep track of where they are. No need to add more than one verse, as they have the full copy of the printed version to sing from.
   
• Use Repeats, etc. As in the original music. The newer versions of Sibelius play simple repeats properly. More complex ones are not handled properly and must be "faked" by cutting and pasting, and artificially diddling the bar numbers.
   
• Use Bar Numbers, Rehearsal Letters, etc. These also help the singer keep track of where they are in the music. I set Sibelius to display the bar number at the beginning of each system, or to mimic the method used in the printed version.
   
• Watch out for dynamic markings & hairpins. My experience is that Sibelius' automatic playback of dynamic markings ("pp", "fff", etc.) is too dramatic unless fine tuned manually. Same for hairpins (crescendos and de-crescendos.) Unless someone comes up with a more realistic set of settings for the dynamic playback, I have found it better to avoid including them for online woodshedding.
• Provide tempo markings. Sibelius/Scorch will play the music at your specified tempo. Note that the viewers can manually change your set speed slower or faster with the Scorch viewer.
   
• Make one copy of the file for each voice part and save it as both "Sibelius" and as "Scorch Web Page" Check the "Snap zoom level" box and "set" the width to 800 (pixels). For me, it usually jumps to "807" or something equally strange, but that is OK.
   
• Embed an indicator of which voice in the file name. I use two characters in the file name to name each version with S, A, T, B, and Q to indicate the SATB (or T1 T2, B1, B2, and QQ to designate the TTBB version.
   
• Set the volume for the parts. -- In Version 2 of Sibelius, the settings in the Play / Mixer window are saved with the Sibelius (.sib) file and will be used whenever anyone plays that file.

I use these settings, but others prefer different sounds (primarily piano):

Part	Emphasized Part	Other Parts & Solos	Accompaniment
Volume	120	40-60 (adjust to suit)	60-80 (adjust to suit)
Pan	0 (Full Left) (-100 in Sibelius 1.x)	127 (Full Right) (+100 in Sibelius 1.x)	Original (default) setting
Sound	Voice Ohs (53) (some prefer piano)	Choir Ahs (52)	Original instrument

• WIth Sibelius version 1.x, the volumes you set in the "Sounds" window only apply when YOU are playing it in Sibelius, they do NOT carry over when someone else plays the music in Scorch. In order to keep the "volume" setting for each part in the Sibelius 1.x file, you must attach a MIDI command:

To embed separate volume for each part (Sibelius 1.x), attach an "Expression" text to the first note in each staff. The general formula is "~C7,xxx" where xxx is the desired volume from "0" (silent) to "127") all the way up. This is the same number as shown in the table above for "Volume" Note that the quotation marks are NOT used in the score.

• Entering music: Scorch has an available integrated scanner (called PhotoScore) which may be useful in scanning very clean original scores. However, my experience (and that of many others) is that the cleanup that is required to make the scanned music usable is more trouble than it is worth. Your mileage may vary.

Another method of entering music into Sibelius is to use a MIDI Keyboard. Most PCs and Macs have a MIDI port, and it requires nothing more than an inexpensive cable to link you computer and your MIDI keyboard. Sibelius will import music directly onto the score from the MIDI input. Entering music with a mouse (note-by-note) is the third method.

• Alternatives: Sibelius is available in versions for both PC and Mac. Likewise, the Scorch viewer (free) is available for both platforms as well. The Scorch viewer is also available in versions which work with both Microsoft Internet Explorer, and Netscape and several other internet browsers. It may be possible to do this with Finale or other music notation programs, but the major advantage of using Sibelius is the free Scorch viewer plug-in that anyone can use.
   
• DO NOT Publish! Respect the rights of the copyright holder(s). Never make copyright property available to the public without express permission of the owner. We make the online pages available ONLY to the singers who, by definition, already hold a paid-for copy of the music. We do this by making the pages NOT linked from any public pages. This also keeps the music out of the reaches of the internet search engines.
   
• Example: You can see the results here. This shows an example with one song (Sweelinck's Hodie Christus Natus Est from the Choral Public Domain Library)

rcrowley Hodie Demonstration Preparation Description

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© 2002 Richard Crowley
Revised 03 May 2003