Getting Started with Sibelius

This tutorial will introduce Sibelius, an application used for music notation. Think of it a kind of "MS Word for music". Using this software, you can create scores for a variety of musical ensembles that are ready to print and use. It also features that let you preview how your score will sound and even publish it to the web (more on these in future tutorials). Start by launching Sibelius from the Dock (see picture).

When you start up the program, you will first see a splash screen with details about the software. Next, you may see a window like this one:

This window is used to configure the MIDI devices that Sibelius will use to turn your score into sound. We do not need to change any of the settings in here just yet, so if it does appear go ahead and click the OK button in the bottom right corner.

The first thing you will probably want to do is create a new score. This can be accomplished by clicking New in the File menu or by pressing apple+N. When you do this, Sibelius does not just give you a blank page to configure. A small window opens that will ask you a series of questions about your score so that most of the details are taken care of before you compose a single note.

The questions are presented through a series of 5 panels in this window. Once you are satisfied with the settings on the current panel, press the Next> button to continue. If you want to skip the remaining panels, leaving them in a default state, you may click the Finish button at any time and Sibelius will open your new score.

The first panel asks you for the basic instrumentation you would like to start with. There are a number of common types of music ensembles available to you in the menu, each containing a preformatted list of instruments found in that ensemble. Even if you do not see an option that suits the particular piece you will be writing, selecting one of these as a starting point is still a good idea. You can easily add and subtract instruments by using the Add Instruments button or once you start editing your score.

Below this, you will see options for your printer's paper size and the orientation. As you make changes to any of these, you will notice the preview window to the right is updates to give you a glimpse at how you score will look.

Once you have settled on a set of option you are happy with, go ahead and click the Next> button. If you decide you need to go back for any reason, feel free to press the <Previous button and make any changes.

The next page sets up something called the "House Style". In a sense, this is like the font for your music score. It will change the look of the music notes and other elements in your score, something that is difficult to judge in the small preview window. If you are unhappy with changes you make here, don't worry, they can be corrected later.

Below this you will see an option for the font used for text in your score. If you don't like "Times New Roman", here's the place you can change it. When you are done with this panel, click Next>.

The next page has plenty of options for setting up your time signature. You can select one of the common ones listed, or set up a custom time signature. The Beam and Rest Groups... button gives you even more flexibility. Would you like that 7/8 time to grouped as 4+3 or 3+4 or 2+3+2? Endless possibilities. Lastly, you can setup a pick-up beat (or anacrusis, as some more proper folks like to say) to start your piece.

At the bottom is a section to setup you tempo. If you click on the up-down arrow to the right of the Tempo text box, you will see a menu of common terms to start your piece off. If you prefer to give more precise directions, check the Metronome mark option and enter the BPM for the note value of your choice.

Click Next>. On this page, you can setup the key signature for your piece. Choose one of the 12 options. Notice there is also an option between Major keys and Minor keys. This is simply for your reference when selecting the number of sharps or flats. Sibelius doesn't actual keep track of the difference (as far as I can tell).

Click Next>. The "Score Info" page lets you enter information about your piece such as the title and composer. This will be used in several places so it is a good idea not to leave these blank. The most noticeable place you will see this information displayed is at the top of the page. If you change your mind about the title later, don't worry. It is very easy to change. This is the final setup page, so when you are done, you will click the Finish button.

You should see a new window appear on the desktop. The score will have all of the attributes that you added during the previous setup process. There should also be two floating palettes that will help you work on your score.

The first of these is called the Navigator. Should this window disappear, it can be opened again by going to the Window menu and clicking on the option for the Navigator. You may have noticed that you can only see part of your score in the main window, because score page are too large to be displayed in the window all at once. The Navigator provides a means of controlling what part of the score is displayed. In the window, a miniature version of the score is displayed with a rectangle on top to represent the portion being viewed in the main window. If you click and drag the rectangle, you will notice that display in the main window changes in response to this. This enables you to control what you see in the main window.

Next is the Keypad. This window acts as a palette that you can click on to add elements to your score. Should this window disappear, it can be opened again by going to the Window menu and clicking on the option for the Keypad. Notice the tabs at the top of this window. It defaults to the first one, where the most common elements (including note values) are contained. Take a minute to click through the other options and you will see that their are plenty of other elements available to you (including bowings, accents and quarter-sharp markings). You will also notice that this palette has a layout similar to the one on the number keypad of your computer keyboard (on the right end). This is because each element corresponds to a key on that area of the keyboard. You can change between options more quickly by learning to use this part of your keyboard.

You can begin entering notes with the mouse, by clicking on the first measure and then pressing "N" on your keyboard. Choose a rhythmic duration either with the mouse or the keypad and then click to place it on the staff. If you do not change the duration before placing the next note, Sibelius will continue using the same value until you specify another.

As the notes are added, you will see the blue cursor move to the next beat. This lets you know where you are in the piece. If you need to back up and correct a note, use the left and right arrow keys to toggle back and forth among the notes. The blue highlighted note represents the current selection. You can raise and lower its pitch by using the up and down arrow keys. Notice that the keypad displays the duration of the current note. You can change a duration by choosing another value when a note is selected.

This should get you started using Sibelius for your music notation needs. It has a fair number of options to add elements to the score. They are far too numerous for me to document completely, so look through the options in the Notes, Create and Layout menus to see what is available. They are very well organized and should make things easy to find. Have fun composing your score!