Arrange in Sibelius 2

These pages refer solely to the upgrade from Sibelius 1.x to Sibelius 2. All the improvements and many more are incorporated in the more recent upgrade to Sibelius 6.

Sibelius 2's unique Arrange feature dramatically reduces the time it takes to produce arrangements and orchestrations for any ensemble - for example, using Arrange you can rapidly orchestrate a complete piano piece for concert band. It saves hours of time for composers, arrangers and educators, and is ideal for students learning instrumental writing.

Simply select some music, and choose how you want it to be arranged or orchestrated - Sibelius does the rest in an instant, using appropriate instruments, doublings, etc.

Arrange takes seconds to turn this...

...into this! (Download a PDF of the page of band music; 64K)

More than 130 styles for arranging and orchestration are provided, and you can change style as often as you like in a score. Examples include:

• Band: high brass and pitched percussion only
• Choir: tenor doubling soprano down an octave
• Impressionist orchestration with harp, woodwind and strings
• Jazz quintet
• Baroque wind concerto
• Film orchestration for an action sequence

Be as specific or unspecific as you like - if you already know which instruments you want to use, you can use Arrange as a quick way to copy music onto them. Or you can use the ready-made styles to experiment with arrangement and orchestration at any level.

The Arrange styles have been created by Michael Price, whose orchestration credits include the epic Band of Brothers TV series produced by Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks.

You can edit the Arrange styles and create your own, customizing every aspect of the arrangement, such as which instruments double each other, what register they use (e.g. high strings), and who plays different parts of the music (e.g. fast melody in the woodwind, slow accompaniment in the strings).

'Explode' and reduce

Arrange also lets you 'explode' notes from chords onto separate staves, and makes instant keyboard reductions.

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