When I was an untutored rock musician, I envied my colleagues who could read and write music notation. They could access and study material that literally was a closed book to me. So, at one point in ...

In one sense, MuseScore is the "odd man out" in this article. It does not employ LilyPond in any way, but it does support MusicXML. That support gives it an entry into the LilyPond environment by way ...

Some people spend a lifetime studying music theory - and there’s certainly value in doing that - but if you just want to know the basics, fast, ToneGym’s new crash course could be well worth taking.

After you have input your composition into your notation software, it is worthwhile reviewing the timbres and textures of your composition and considering whether they are effective or not. You might ...

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The Grand Staff. Treble Clef on upper staff; Bass Clef on lower staff (image: wikipedia) The curving flourishes of music notation have always been something a mystery to me, although every day I, like ...

The score for John Cage’s indeterminate composition “Fontana Mix” (image: BBC Radio 3) With the development of music notation, music was set free from the delicate bonds of oral and aural traditions.

Simply sign up to the Life & Arts myFT Digest -- delivered directly to your inbox. Music notation is at best a compromise, at worst a lie. In western culture a five-line stave suspending a pattern of ...