Last month, nothing short of an earthquake-level upheaval struck the professional music industry. On Aug. 26, the president of the Colorado-based tech company MakeMusic announced that the firm would be making “no further updates” to Finale, the pioneering and popular music-notation app that the firm had been selling and updating for 35 years. “Technology stacks change, Mac and Windows operating systems evolve, and Finale’s millions of lines of code add up,” MakeMusic’s Greg Dell’Era wrote in his first (and likely last) contribution to the company’s Finale-centric blog. “Instead of releasing new versions of Finale that would offer only marginal value to our users, we’ve made the decision to end its development.”
Author: ericdano
Polymath, musician, awesome.
Michael Brecker’s Funky Cha-Cha Solo
So, seems like my decades run with Finale is coming to an end. So I’ve been dabbling in Dorico to do some notation. Here is a Finale version of Brecker’s Funky Cha-Cha solo on Finale and Dorico.
While I consider myself an extreme Finale power user (like, I know that program in and out), Dorico has some potential. I think the BIGGEST issue is there is a lack of a plugin ecosystem. And Scripting is pretty much non-existent on it. I do rely on some Finale Scripts to do things.
Funky Cha-Cha Michael Brecker Finale Version (186.1 KiB, 5 hits)
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Funky Cha-Cha Michael Brecker Dorico Version (101.6 KiB, 4 hits)
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Why Musicians pay over $15k for John Coltrane’s favorite saxophone
Yes. Except I’d never pay for a new one. Used is the way to go.
End of Finale, Start of….?
If you haven’t heard, the LONG TIME notation software (which I use), Finale, is going to be sunset. I think it is a terrible business decision. It would have been like Apple deciding to stop doing the Mac when it was in it’s iPod phase. Or it’s iPhone phase. Finale has been a stable, reliable platform to do music on. I have 24 years invested in this program. Thousands of Finale Files. I think MakeMusic’s pivot to “MakeMusic Cloud” is myopic.
There has been talk of perhaps one of the other software packages being able to open FinaleFiles natively. That would be nice. The current “solution” of exporting stuff out from Finale into MusicXML format is less than ideal.
So, what notation packages are remaining then? There is Sibelius. I’ve NEVER gotten into the Sibelius workflow. Ever. I have bought it a couple of times, and just never liked it.
There is the free Musescore. Honestly, it has come a LONG WAY. But it still has a long way to go. While simple leadsheets it can tackle, anything more looks like it would be rough.
So that leaves us with Dorico, the software started by ex-Sibelius developers after Avid gutted the original team. I tried it, and it has a lot of Sibelius like things about it. BUT……it does seem more Finale like than the other options. How it does linked parts is sorta how I think Finale would have eventually done it……if they ever got around to it.
Finale was really frustrating as it would introduce a feature……but it would have issues. They would wait a release or two, and then “fix it” and tout it as a new feature.
Anyhow, I tried, and I exported the “Zinn Practice regimen” to it. Looks pretty good. I need to get more of my “style” set up in it, but generally, it’s not bad.
Zinn Practice Regimen 2024 (913.0 KiB, 3 hits)
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Ranking The Epic White House Saxophone Battle
Great video. Michael Brecker is the GOAT.
Sheet of the Week – Austin (Dasha)
Austin by Dasha for Eb Instruments (272.3 KiB, 6 hits)
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Austin by Dasha for Bb Instruments (271.2 KiB, 3 hits)
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Sheet Of The Week – Adventure of a Lifetime (Coldplay)
Oh yes, that song.
Adventure Of A Lifetime by Coldplay for Eb Instruments (371.2 KiB, 8 hits)
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Adventure Of A Lifetime by Coldplay for Bb Instruments (369.7 KiB, 4 hits)
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Adventure Of A Lifetime by Coldplay for Eb Instruments (iPad Version) (92.0 KiB, 1 hits)
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Adventure Of A Lifetime by Coldplay for Bb Instruments (iPad Version) (91.4 KiB, 0 hits)
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Something’s Coming – Michael Brecker Solo
One of my Favorite solos
Something's Coming - Brecker Solo (305.9 KiB, 7 hits)
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Somethings Coming - Michael Brecker (iPad version) (72.7 KiB, 0 hits)
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Sheet Of The Week – Shape Of You (Ed Sheeran)
One of Ed’s major hits.
Shape Of You by Ed Sheeran for Eb Instruments (390.3 KiB, 10 hits)
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Shape Of You by Ed Sheeran for Bb Instruments (397.0 KiB, 5 hits)
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Sheet Of The Week – I’m Just Ken (Mark Ronson)
From Barbie…..great song.
I'm Just Ken by Mark Ronson for Eb Instruments (283.6 KiB, 13 hits)
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I'm Just Ken by Mark Ronson for Bb Instruments (283.1 KiB, 5 hits)
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Sheet Of The Week – Flowers (Miley Cyrus)
Good song by Miley.
Flowers by Miley Cyrus for Eb Instruments (278.4 KiB, 18 hits)
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Flowers by Miley Cyrus for Bb Instruments (278.3 KiB, 8 hits)
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Musician.Social – Take 2
Over a year ago, Twitter sorta…….shitted itself. Elon Musk F’d it up big time. It is now paid, and basically a bastion of hate and misogyny and all other sorts of bad behavior.
So, I started a Mastodon site, Musician.Social……and it was thriving really well……until the Hosting startup failed. Big time failed. As in they didn’t have backups (like they said they would), etc,etc. So basically went from a 3k user base down to just me.
However, I resurrected it pretty much the same day, and it is hosted on a proven host, Masto.host, and has been running for about 5 months on it. It has been solid.
If you are looking to move away from Twitter, check it out. Mastodon has a lot of great Twitter like clients, there are NO ADS at all on the platform, and tons of interesting music related topics and other things.
Sheet Of The Week – Ghost City Tokyo (Ayase)
Interesting song here…..
Ghost City Tokyo by Ayase for Eb Instruments (299.2 KiB, 7 hits)
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Ghost City Tokyo by Ayase for Bb Instruments (300.7 KiB, 2 hits)
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Sheet Of The Week – How I’m Feeling Now (Lewis Capaldi)
One by Lewis.
How I'm Feeling by Lewis Capaldi for Eb Instruments (287.8 KiB, 3 hits)
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How I'm Feeling by Lewis Capaldi for Bb Instruments (280.2 KiB, 2 hits)
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Two Items to add to your Gig Bag
Found two great little items to add to your gig bag. First item are these SEFONE Keychain Work Lights. They are small, have magnets, and are way bright. So useful for packing up stuff on the stage. They are replacing the Lmaytech lights I previously recommended (I still love those though, but these lights are smaller).
The second item is this Voyager Saxophone Multi Tool. This is really for ANY woodwind instrument. This little tool is freaking amazing. It is extremely well designed, with the right sized screw drivers, spring pullers, etc. It is just essential to have.
