will notation programs be phased out?

[jeffh]

Something will kill the internet

The Matrix?

[memyselfandus]

Recently I went to a concert of a Symphony Orchestra, and there was nothing in the hall than a laptop, a PA system and one director - no other musicians, no real instruments, no notation any more... They started the laptop, and then the music was playing...

ewwww that's gross! just plain gross. Lol

[chokehold]

I've been keeping my eye on the sibelius stuff also. Looks like they are part of Steinberg now.

Nope, Sibelius is AVID, so it's going to be a ProTools episode.

I think a piano roll and "sheet-style" notation are two completely different approaches.

The one is an easy and quick "musician's" approach, that is meant to control instruments, synths, samplers, by allowing easy display and editing of overlapping notes, per-note velocities, MIDI channel assignments etc., and lives from being relatively easily understandable for anyone who plays an instrument, even if they can't read sheet notation.

The other is the "technical nerd" approach that is absolutely correct, but historically oriented because it deals with an ancient (I'm not saying or implying "wrong", definitely not!) method of noting down music, a sort of standardized interchange format like MIDI itself, but has no need for per-note MIDI channel assignments, velocity values etc., and addresses a completely different audience.

Just like a printer's technical maintenance manual and user manual address completely different types of folks that deal with it, but both are essential for the audience they address to know what they're doing.

Not the best analogy, but I hope you know what I mean.

So no, I don't think sheet notation programs will disappear anytime soon... but given the world's educational development over the last decades, I also don't think they're going to experience a bloom of variety either.

[chokehold]

Recently I went to a concert of a Symphony Orchestra, and there was nothing in the hall than a laptop, a PA system and one director - no other musicians, no real instruments, no notation any more... They started the laptop, and then the music was playing...

ewwww that's gross! just plain gross. Lol

Nope.
Well, no totally.
It's also sort of modern.
http://slork.stanford.edu/

[machinesworking]

No, Notation software won't die off.
Classical still exists, jazz still exists. Rock and electronic music didn't kill off the violin.

60+ years ago when tape manipulation started there were probably a few people thinking that cutting and rearranging found sounds on tape was going to kill off classical music, that certainly that happened as a scare when synthesizers first appeared, and when rock was super big. What happened in reality was classical musicians used the new technology sometimes, just like today.


Is a piano roll a better representation of music than notations? No, not at all, if it was it might have a chance, but 'reading' a piano roll to play the music isn't half as easy as reading music.

I'm currently studying music theory and the teacher strongly recommended getting a copy of Finale, so I would say again, no, notation software isn't going anywhere because Avid had no idea how to handle Sibulous.

[wasi]

There will always be a need for notation, and traditional score or lead sheet notation is much more scalable, versatile, nuanced and forward thinking than anything else around. You can't even get close to score notation with a piano roll and you can't write lead sheets in midi. But there were always styles and musical currents where notation was less important.

As for notation programs, well, there seems to be less demand for the high-end stuff, probably because there has been an influx of low-end stuff. I can cover most of my daily notational needs with iReal b for $10.

[Ogg Vorbis]

Try to write an F Major scale on a piano roll.

[sin night]

Maybe it's because I received some classical training, but I think a score is way more readable than a piano roll, so it makes a lot of sense when you play an instrument... And also: how would you write on a piano roll that something has to be played "legato", "staccato" and so on? And how would you mark pauses to breath at the end of the phrases (if you are a singer or you play a wind instrument)? And what a mess would it be a trill written on a piano roll!

The score is more compact and readable than a piano roll and it gives you all (or almost all) the informations you need to play. If I were asket to play something, I would ask for a score, there's no way I would use the piano roll!.



That said, I think the piano roll is the best solution to input notes on pc. I tried very few times to use the score editor of Cubase, but it doesn't do for me; I find that it's easier and faster to input notes on a piano roll and then, if I really need a score (it's so very rare, because I'm mostly programming), I switch to the score editor to further edit what I already wrote with the piano roll (so I can check the formatting, add symbols that aren't automatically added when switching from a midi sequence to a score, and so on...).



So: just get the best of the two worlds and use the tool that best suits what you're doing. I don't see any of them dying soon.

[CTStump]

Someday it may be lost or forgotten. As long as High screwl, College bands are in existence so will notation be needed.

Although Cursive writing is no longer being taught so someday be sooner than we think.

[vurt]

Betty Crocker instant cake mixes did not replace baking from scratch. It only allowed more people to get involved in the cake making racket. That's sort of how I view computer music.

must be very dark!

[memyselfandus]

Recently I went to a concert of a Symphony Orchestra, and there was nothing in the hall than a laptop, a PA system and one director - no other musicians, no real instruments, no notation any more... They started the laptop, and then the music was playing...

ewwww that's gross! just plain gross. Lol

Nope.
Well, no totally.
It's also sort of modern.
http://slork.stanford.edu/

oh.. "that" stuff. yea that stuff is pretty awesome.

[Ogg Vorbis]

Betty Crocker instant cake mixes did not replace baking from scratch. It only allowed more people to get involved in the cake making racket. That's sort of how I view computer music.

must be very dark!

Not as dark as the idea that notation has been replaced by piano rolls.

[mandolarian]

Try to write an F Major scale on a piano roll.

My piano roll can't go that happy, it only gets to Dm and it's so sad.

[Ogg Vorbis]

Try to write an F Major scale on a piano roll.

My piano roll can't go that happy, it only gets to Dm and it's so sad.

MIne goes to D11.

[Rahul_B]

Notation is the most elegant and universal way to write down music.

Notation can express any musical idea in a very easy to understand and concise format. I can glance at a piece of sheet music and see all the information clearly laid out in front of me. Piano roll on the other hand...

How do you read rhythms off of a piano roll? Estimate how big the rectangles are in comparison to other rectangles? How do you glance at a piano roll and tell what key the composition is in? How do you tell what the time signature is? How do you even apply music theory to a piano roll? How do you sight read a piano roll?

There's also a level of understanding about music that is not possible to achieve if you don't know the universal language of music. Don't believe me? Pick up any music theory textbook and read the first chapter.