Gracenotes

Sibelius USA, Inc. Newsletter April 2005

Hello and welcome to the April issue of Gracenotes - our email newsletter to Sibelius enthusiasts in North, Central and South America. 

This edition of Gracenotes features two Sibelius users who have composed for the HBO series Sex and the City. Douglas J. Cuomo composed the title theme, and two-time John Lennon Songwriting Contest winner Darren Wilsey has written music for the show as well. As many of you know, Sibelius is a sponsor of the John Lennon Songwriting Contest Educational Tour Bus and Darren’s success well exemplifies the value of this program. 

Speaking of music education, there are very few programs or institutions that have had the impact that the Berklee College of Music has had, and we’re proud to announce that Berklee has made the Sibelius Educational Suite a core requirement for all Berklee education majors.  Music Education Chair Dr. Cecil Adderley and Assistant Professor Stefani Langol discuss the value of the Sibelius programs to music educators in this issue.  We certainly try our hardest to help educators reach their students, and this March MENC: The National Association for Music Education, used Sibelius technology once again to help them reach an estimated 6 million participants in the nationally broadcast World’s Largest Concert, also featured in this edition of Gracenotes. 

Finally, longtime Sibelius user Michael Tilson Thomas will celebrate the memory and work of his grandparents in The Thomashefskys: Music and Memories of a Life in the YiddishTheater. The show opens in Carnegie Hall later this month, then travels to San Francisco in June.  Please see details below.

Once again, we are grateful for your input and encourage you to e-mail us at gracenotes@sibelius.com to share your thoughts about past, present or future editions of Gracenotes.

Mark Ruch, Sibelius Gracenotes Editor

Sibelius in the Classroom

Berklee Music Education Majors take Sibelius to School

Sibelius Education Suite Required Package with Computer Purchase With a diverse population of 3,800 students, state-of-the-art facilities and a list of alumni reading like a Who's Who of the industry, Boston 's Berklee College of Music is known worldwide as one of the premier locations for the study of contemporary music. Berklee also enjoys a reputation for placing the latest technology in its students hands - or laps. In 2003, Berklee began a two-year initiative requiring all entering freshmen to purchase an Apple PowerBook G4 laptop computer equipped with the latest music and traditional software, with certain majors requiring specific software bundles in addition to the preloaded packages. The increasing presence of computers in the classroom has brought resources once reserved specifically for technical majors into more traditional courses of study, including Music Education, where students now bring the Sibelius Education Suite to class. To continue reading, please click here.

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Sibelius Software Sings Around the World with MENC Sibelius Software Provides Downloadable Sheet Music for MENC's "World's Largest Concert"

For the fourth year in a row, Sibelius Software Ltd., one of the world's leading music software companies, demonstrated its commitment to music education by participating in the 21st annual World's Largest Concert (WLC ®) produced by MENC: The National Association for Music Education.

The live sing-along event links students around the world through music, and has been a highlight of the Music In Our Schools Month (MIOSM ®) celebration since 1985. The concert broadcast aired Thursday, March 10, 2005 on PBS and the American Forces Television and Radio Network, reaching an estimated audience of 6 million students, teachers and music supporters in 175 countries

Through an arrangement with Sibelius USA , MENC used the web-hosting services of SibeliusMusic.com and Sibelius' Scorch technology to provide vocal scores, piano accompaniment and orchestral arrangements for the concert, online and free of charge, so that teachers and students could learn the music and perform along with the program broadcast. Scorch is an interactive program that allows users to view, play, customize and print musical scores directly from the Web.
To learn more, please click here.

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Featured Sibelius Users

Sibelius Takes Composer Douglas J. Cuomo beyond Stage, Screen and TV

"Stage, screen, television and beyond" may sound like a well-used phrase lifted from an actor's bio, but it is precisely where Douglas J. Cuomo has found success as one of today's most versatile composers. With credits ranging from television scores to teen pop to serious contemporary composition, Cuomo's music can be heard behind some of TV's most popular shows, including the title themes for the HBO mega-hit Sex and the City, Committed (NBC) and Now with Bill Moyers (PBS), plus underscores for Homicide: Life on the Street (NBC) and Now and Again (CBS). His work for theater includes the Tony-nominated Anna Christie, The Visit, Candida, Design for Living, The Women, Blue Man Group/Tubes and Hamlet. Cuomo has also scored the independent films Handgun (with Treat Williams), In the Weeds (with Molly Ringwald and Eric Bogosian) and Revolution #9 (with the late Spalding Gray), and has credits on multi-platinum albums for superstars Britney Spears and *NSYNC.

After earning a degree in jazz/guitar performance from the University of Miami, Cuomo began his career as a professional musician playing guitar with various jazz ensembles, eventually leaving the road to pursue his first love, writing music. His score for Atomic Opera, a musical theater piece, eventually led to work in TV.

A common thread running through his diverse musical landscape is his choice of writing tool, Sibelius 3. "I was one of the early users, going back to version 1.0," he explains. "The program is an ideal work palette. When writing commercial music - underscoring ancillary scenes for TV, for instance - Sibelius helps me generate scores and parts for recording sessions quickly. Cues are often short, due to the nature of visual edits, so I'll create a MIDI realization of the score with LOGIC, let the producers listen and give me their input. I'll then put the appropriate changes in LOGIC, create a new MIDI file, import it into Sibelius and knock out the scores and parts from there. The scores look great, and the program offers complete control.

Continue reading the article - click here.

Visit Doug Cuomo’s website - click here.

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Composer Darren Wilsey uses Sibelius to fuel TV, Stage and Film Success

Composer Darren Wilsey, a grand prize winner in the John Lennon Songwriting Contest "Electronic" category in 2001 and 2003, has had his music featured on a number of popular television shows. A Sibelius user for a number of years, Wilsey is currently using Sibelius 3. "The context in which I use Sibelius is usually geared towards orchestral applications and/or using the program as a sequencer - especially if recording music that is more cinematic in nature," Wilsey notes. For example, in 2003 Olympic gold medalist Brian Boitano commissioned Wilsey to compose The Persistence of Time and Cliffhangers for his appearance on the CBS special Ice Wars. "These pieces are a mixture of electronica, rock and classical," he says, "and Sibelius played a big part in the derivation of the orchestral components."
Wilsey studied piano and music composition at The Juilliard School of Music, and was a classical guitar major at The Manhattan School of Music. His music has been featured on Jerry Bruckheimer's Skin (FOX), Third Watch (NBC), Sex and the City (HBO), Miss Match (NBC) and Queer Eye for the Straight Guy (Bravo). He also scored the music for the award-winning documentary Silicon Alley Stories. Read on here.

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Michael Tilson Thomas Conducts "The Thomashefskys: Music and Memories of a Life in the Yiddish Theater"

Carnegie Hall on April 16 and 17, 2005

World renowned conductor and long-time Sibelius user Michael Tilson Thomas (MTT) is well into his tenth year as Music Director for the San Francisco Symphony.

This season includes The Thomashefskys: Music and Memories of a Life in the Yiddish Theater, a tribute to his grandparents, Boris and Bessie Thomashefsky, Eastern European actors and entrepreneurs who helped launch New York’s Yiddish Theater and became its biggest stars. The program will debut at Carnegie Hall on April 16 and 17, and then follows MTT back to San Francisco for a performance on June 29 in Davies Hall.

 

To learn more about the Thomashefsky Project, please click here. For information about the performances at Carnegie Hall, please go to: http://www.carnegiehall.org For information about the performances at the San Francisco Symphony, please go to http://www.sfsymphony.org

Hints & Tips for Sibelius Users

Check out our on-line archive for a variety of Sibelius Hints & Tips created by Robin Hodson, U.S. Eastern Regional Manager for Sibelius. To download these free resources, please click here.

Hints & Tips for G7 Users

Check out our on-line archive for a variety of valuable G7 Hints & Tips created by Bruce Munson, U.S. Western Regional Manager for Sibelius. These references also give quick tips for getting started with G7. To download these free resources, please click here.

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Upcoming Training Sessions

Are you interested in learning more about Sibelius 3? We will be offering full-day training sessions in many locations around the U.S. over the next several months. We offer two types of sessions: Sibelius – Beginning, and Sibelius - Intermediate/Advanced.

Training Schedule

Date	Time	Location	Training session
4/9/2005	9am - 3pm	Vandercook College Chicago, IL	Sibelius – Beginning
4/23/2005	9am - 4pm	MTSU Murfreeboro, TN	Sibelius – Intermediate/Advanced
4/23/2005	9am - 3pm	Vandercook College Chicago, IL	Sibelius – Intermediate/Advanced
4/30/2005	9am - 4pm	Woodbridge High Irvine, CA	Sibelius – Beginning
5/01/2005	9am - 4pm	UCLA - Schoenberg Hall Los Angeles, CA	Sibelius – Intermediate/Advanced
6/21/2005	9am - 3pm	The Mike Klinger Music Technology Retreat Carson, WACall: 1-800-248-9699 for more information	Sibelius – Beginning / Intermediate

For more information, or to reserve your space, please click here.

 

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