Gracenotes

Sibelius USA, Inc. Newsletter - December, 2005

Welcome to the December issue of Gracenotes—our e-mail newsletter to Sibelius enthusiasts in North, Central and South America. As we are nearing the holiday season (and for many, a well-deserved school vacation), we want to take this opportunity to wish you all a very happy holiday season and a prosperous 2006, and to thank you for your support of Sibelius. Our goal for 2006 is to continue to provide you with the most advanced and well thought-through software products we can possibly create.

As we close the year with our final issue, we hope you have enjoyed the content we have provided and that you will continue to be enlightened (maybe, just a little…) with our e-newsletter during 2006. As with all past issues of Gracenotes, we have many interesting case studies to share with you along with events going on within the Sibelius community.

Our featured Sibelius user this month is the multifaceted composer Stephen Cohn. We're also fortunate to have several big names in jazz assist us for a series of free hands-on clinics at IAJE's annual conference this coming January 12, and hope you'll be able to sit in on a session or two.

We recently had the opportunity to visit the music program at Queensborough Community College, part of The City University of New York (C.U.N.Y.), and interviewed Music Department Chair Dr. Joseph Nagler who talks about his use of Sibelius, Auralia and Musition.

Authorized Sibelius dealer and trainer Mike Klinger recently trained 260 music teachers employed by the Department of Defense to bring the power of Sibelius 4 and Photoscore Pro to military bases in the U.S. and around the world.

We are very pleased to announce the appointment of Philip Nicol as Chief Operating Officer of Sibelius USA. In the nine or so months that he has been with us, Philip has demonstrated what a great asset he is to our business, our customers and our dealers.

We appreciate your feedback and encourage you to e-mail us at gracenotes@sibelius.com to share your thoughts about past, present or future editions of Gracenotes.

Happy Holidays! Look for our next e-newsletter in January, 2006!

Mark Ruch, Editor

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Philip Nicol Named COO of Sibelius USA

Sibelius USA, Inc. has announced the appointment of Philip Nicol as its Chief Operating Officer. Nicol, who joined the company in March 2005, was responsible for finance and tax reporting, cash management, credit, and U.S. operations.

Philip Nicol

"In the nine or so months that he has been with us, Philip has demonstrated what a great understanding he has of the opportunities that are ahead for our industry," states Jeremy Silver, Chief Executive Officer, Sibelius Software Ltd. "We are extremely well positioned to grow our business and deliver new, exciting products and services to our customers and retailers. I am delighted that Philip has agreed to head up our great US team and take on the new responsibilities to help drive Sibelius forward in this exciting and growing marketplace."


To read the entire article click here.

 

Sibelius in the Classroom

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Sibelius Helps Write The Future of Music Education at Queensborough Community College

Queensborough Community College, part of The City University of New York (C.U.N.Y.), prides itself on reflecting the cultural diversity of the borough of Queens and the surrounding New York City area.

Students in Queensborough's Music Electronics program have access to Sibelius and other music production software.

That diversity is reflected musically, as well, with hip-hop, electronica and other modern styles sharing the stage with traditional classical and jazz. Queensborough has the only Music Electronics Technology program in the C.U.N.Y. system, and the curriculum is supported by computer labs that feature Power Mac computers running Mac OS X and Sibelius.

According to Music Department Chair Dr. Joseph Nagler, the move to Sibelius is a reflection of the college striving to meet the needs of an ever-changing industry and a diverse student body.

"We chose Sibelius because of the flexibility and intuitive nature of the program," explains Nagler. "A lot of faculty members started using it for personal projects, and gradually, we introduced it into the curriculum. We began with Version 2, and now have 3, plus various software programs from the Education Suite. Namely, Musition and Auralia. It's been a smooth transition for both faculty and students. Our favorite feature is the immediate gratification the students get. They can conceptualize an idea, put it down on the screen, and be able to hear it back via the Kontakt player orchestration within a relatively short period of time. And, since most of our students are computer literate, the learning curve is small."

To read the entire article click here.

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Sibelius Training Rolled Out for Music Teachers at US Military Bases Around the World

Mike Klinger

People travel great distances to attend the independently run music software workshops at the Mike Klinger Music Technology Retreat in Carson, Washington, located in the Columbia River Gorge about 50 miles east of Portland, Oregon. This past September, Klinger did the traveling himself, training 260 music teachers employed by the Department of Defense in Japan, Germany and Atlanta, Georgia – this as part of a widespread deployment of the Sibelius/Photoscore Pro bundle. These educators, in turn, are now fanning out and bringing the power of Sibelius 4 notation software with them to every U.S. military base in the country and around the globe.

Klinger has trained thousands of educators in the use of music software, and in many ways, the DOD seminars were similar to the ones he usually conducts. The emotional scale of these trainings differed however in the unique and important impact that his audience might eventually avail its students when they begin emailing their musical scores to their parents – using Sibelius Scorch technology.

"That's when the magnitude of what I was doing hit me," he said. "This (Scorch) is the best feature of Sibelius. Department of Defense teachers train kids whose parents are fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. At the schools, the kids are learning to compose a piece of music that they can send to the front lines and say 'check out this new piece that I wrote at school.' Mom or Dad can listen to it right there. That realization brought tears to my eyes."

Sibelius Scorch is the standard for the digital delivery of music – whether over the Internet or via fixed media such as a CD. Sibelius users simply save their scores as Scorch files and then share them via the web or email. The recipients then use the free software plug-in to view, play, customize and print the scores.

To read the entire article click here.

 

Featured Sibelius Users

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Sibelius and VIP Artists to Host Hands-On Clinics at the IAJE 2006 Conference

Notable jazz artists such as Gil Goldstein and Bob Mintzer will join Sibelius' Bruce Munson to offer a series of free, hands-on clinics at the IAJE annual conference on Thursday, January 12, 2006. The conference will run from January 11 to 14 at the Hilton Hotel, 1335 Avenue of the Americas, New York City. The clinics will be held at the Computer Lab, Hilton Concourse A. Additionally, Sibelius will present demos of Sibelius 4 and the new sound libraries at the IAJE conference in booth #330.

Munson, who will help conduct each of the clinics, kicks off the series with an introduction to Sibelius 4 for the Jazz Educator, which will illustrate techniques to help save time while creating lead sheets. Session time: 9:00 am – 9:50 am.

Trombonist and arranger extraordinaire Dennis Wilson will run an interactive, hands-on session entitled "Arranging for the Count Basie Orchestra Using Sibelius" that will feature his techniques of teaching jazz arranging using Sibelius notation. Wilson began his professional career with Lionel Hampton as trombonist, arranger, and musical director. He has been a lead/solo trombonist for the Dizzy Gillespie Big Band, The New Tommy Dorsey Orchestra, and for ten years with Mr. William James "Count" Basie and his Orchestra. Session times: 10:00 am – 10:50 am and again at 1:00 pm – 1:50 pm.

Premier guitarist and arranger/composer David O'Rourke will present a tutorial in the Arrange and Dynamic Parts features of Sibelius. O'Rourke will show how easy it is to create full arrangements in the style of such greats as Sammy Nestico, Thad Jones and Nelson Riddle. Session times: 11:00 am – 11:50 am and again at 5:00 pm – 5:50 pm.

Gil Goldstein	Bob Mintzer
Dennis Wilson	David O'Rourke

In a session entitled "Using Sibelius to Facilitate the Writing Process," renowned composer Bob Mintzer will explain how to use Sibelius to write for big bands and combos. Session times: 12:00 noon – 12:50 pm and again at 4:00 pm – 4:50 pm.

Jazz great Gil Goldstein's clinic on arranging and orchestration will detail ways that Sibelius can enhance these processes. Goldstein will examine examples including Michael Brecker's Quindectet, Pat Metheny's score to Map of the World, and a rare look at sketches by Gil Evans. Session time: 3:00 pm – 3:50 pm.

For more information about IAJE, please visit this link: IAJE website.

For additional details on the artists, please visit the following links:

Bob Mintzer - http://www.bobmintzer.com/

Gil Goldstein - http://education.nyu.edu/music/faculty/goldstein_gil.html

Dennis Wilson - http://www.denniswilson.org

David O'Rourke - http://www.davidorourke.com

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Renowned Composer Stephen Cohn Counts Sibelius Among His Essential Tools

Composer Stephen Cohn's interests span genres: after an early career writing pop songs, he's penned television themes, film scores, CDs for meditation, and full orchestral works. His exploration of music crosses generations: after getting a degree in music from Cal State Northridge, he studied under Walter Scharf, the award-winning composer who'd worked with George Gershwin and Rudy Vallee, and today he's one of the music industry's leading practitioners of software-based orchestration. But his muse is rooted in the timeless melodies of American culture.

Stephen Cohn

"There's a great tradition among composers, which is to take the folk music of their countries and push the envelope with it, bring it into a contemporary idiom, keep it alive," Cohn says. "These are such great melodies. They resonate inside of us."

On March 25, the Kansas City Symphony will premiere Cohn's orchestral work "Finale from Two Together: An American Folk Music Suite" at the Midland Theater, as part of a program that will also include works by Aaron Copland and John Williams. "Finale" was featured on the 2003 family entertainment CD that netted him a Gold Award from the Parents Choice Foundation.

Cohn, who also owns an Emmy for scoring the 2001 Joanne Woodward documentary Dying with Dignity on PBS, is not only an accomplished Sibelius user – he teaches the software to other professionals in Hollywood.

To read the entire article click here.

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Upcoming Training, Shows and Events

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Are you interested in learning more about Sibelius 4? We are offering training sessions in many locations around the U.S. over the next several months. Two types of sessions are available : Sibelius - Beginning, and Sibelius - Intermediate/Advanced.

 

Training Schedule

Date	Time	Location	Type
Mon, 09 January 2006	6:00PM to 8:15PM	New York City	Sibelius Beginning Sessions Ernie Jackson's 4/2 Training These classes meet once a week for 4 weeks
Tue, 10 January 2006	6:00PM to 8:15PM	New York City	Sibelius Int./Adv. Sessions Ernie Jackson's 4/2 Training These classes meet once a week for 4 weeks

For more information, or to reserve your space, please visit: www.sibelius.com/training.

 

Sibelius will be exhibiting at the following regional seminars, expos and national trade shows:

Upcoming shows and events

Event	Dates	Location	Booth Number	Link
Florida MEA	1/5 - 1/7	Tampa, FL	8035	www.flmusiced.org
IAJE	1/11 - 1/14	New York, NY	330	www.iaje.org
NAMM	1/18 - 1/22	Anaheim, CA	6337	www.thenammshow.com

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