FIG. 1: Scott Watson’s Home Practice Online! site contains MIDI files suitable for practice.

The main reason that people use notation software is to produce printed music parts. Another reason is to create practice tracks for students — and that will be the topic of this column for the next two issues of MET. Although there are several very good notation programs, I'll focus on two that are especially popular among educators: Sibelius Software Sibelius and MakeMusic Finale. I'll discuss Sibelius in this issue and Finale in the next issue.

If you create and save a Sibelius file in Sibelius format, only Sibelius users can open that file. Because most students won't have Sibelius at home, you need to find other ways to provide them with practice tracks of warm-ups, complete pieces, and improvisation exercises. Students can then use those files to practice on their home computer or on a CD or MP3 player.

You can save a Sibelius score in Standard MIDI File format by choosing File→Expor→tMIDI files. Standard MIDI Files can be opened by most music-notation and sequencing programs and can be played back in a Web browser such as Microsoft Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, or Apple Safari. MIDI files can be posted on a school Web site for student practice (see Fig. 1) and sent to students as an email attachment.

MIDI files are convenient and flexible; they're a fraction of the size of audio files; and if you open them in a music program, you can usually change the key and tempo. (Key and tempo cannot be adjusted if the files are opened in a Web browser.)

On the other hand, MIDI files play back using whatever synthesizer is set up to work with the software, whether a sound-card synth chip, a tone module, a keyboard synth, or a software instrument. The playback sound quality can therefore vary greatly.

Keep in mind that Sibelius can also import MIDI files that were created using a sequencer or an accompaniment program (such as PG Music Band-in-a-Box) or downloaded from the Web. The MIDI data can then be displayed in standard notation. (For more on this subject, see “Scoring with Standard MIDI Files” in the September/October 2006 issue of MET. All MET articles are available for free at www.metmagazine.com.) Before you use MIDI or audio files created by someone else, though, be sure you aren't violating the copyright laws (for more information on this subject, see “Copyright Concerns” in the November/December 2006 issue of MET).

Sibelius creates WAV and AIFF audio files by playing the score through a software synthesizer and recording the synth's audio output. For this to work, you must be sure to install Kontakt Silver (which comes with Sibelius 4) and follow the steps in the Sibelius Help section to ensure that you have the settings right. Then choose File→Export→Audio. The resulting audio files can be burned to an audio CD or saved on a data CD, using a CD burner.

FIG. 2: MIDI and MP3 file formats are used for posting practice tracks on the Web because of their relatively small file sizes.

The biggest advantage of using audio files is that the sound quality is always the same, aside from the obvious differences between speaker systems. On the other hand, audio files are much larger than MIDI files. At CD quality (that is, a 16bit, 44.1 kHz recording), a stereo WAV file takes up approximately 10 MB of storage per minute of sound.

Because WAV and AIFF audio files tend to be large, you should convert them to MP3 format if you plan to post audio files online. That compresses them, making them ideal for posting on a Web site (see Fig. 2), attaching to an email, or playing back on a consumer MP3 player such as an Apple iPod. It does, however, sacrifice some of the sound quality. You can easily convert the files to MP3 format using software such as Apple's iTunes.

The size of an MP3 file varies greatly depending on the amount of compression you use when converting it, but a stereo MP3 file can require as little as 1 MB per minute. In contrast, one minute of a typical MIDI file is measured in kilobytes. Since 1 MB equals 1,000 KB, the difference is dramatic. Furthermore, to transpose or alter the tempo of an audio file requires specialized tools, such as a professional-quality sequencing program. (For an in-depth discussion of the differences between MIDI files and audio files and when to use each, see “The MIDI-Digital Audio Shuffle” in the April/May 2005 issue of MET.)

Scorch is free software from Sibelius that lets you view, play, customize, and print Sibelius scores on the Internet. The program makes scores interactive, using a Web browser, so that you don't need a copy of Sibelius. You can post Scorch files on a Web site (see Fig. 3) and can email the files to your students. The students merely need to download the free Sibelius Web-browser plug-in. This is a wonderful way to share practice files.

FIG. 3: Using the free Sibelius Scorch plug-in, you can audition student work and view the pieces in standard notation on Karen Garrett’s www.musictechteacher.com. Click on the Student Music Compositions link.

When you create a Scorch version of a Sibelius file (File→Export→Scorch Web Page), Sibelius creates two files: one with the file extension .htm (HyperText Markup Language, a standard file format for Web pages), and one with a Sibelius .sib extension. The .htm and .sib files must be in the same folder.

If you are emailing, be sure to include both the .htm and .sib files created in the saving process. When creating a link to the file on a Web site, link to the .htm file. Refer to the Sibelius Help menu for specific instructions on how to create Scorch files.

Scorch files let the user scroll through the score and change the tempo and key. They are very small, just slightly larger than MIDI files. On the other hand, as with MIDI files, the user's synthesizer determines the sound quality.

Each of the file types discussed here has its uses with Sibelius, and I recommend that you try them all when preparing materials for your students. I provide three file versions for students on my Haverford Middle School jazz-practice Web page: MIDI files to open in Web browsers and music-notation or sequencing software, Scorch files to view a scrolling score and control tempo and key, and MP3 files for students to download to their MP3 players (see Fig. 4).

FIG. 4: The Haverford Jazz Practice Web site includes MIDI, Scorch, and MP3 versions of practice files.

Also note that Sibelius plug-ins can be used to enhance practice files. To check this out, go to Plug-ins→Composing Tools and consider options such as adding a drum groove, realizing chord symbols, and adding a simple harmony.

Tom Rudolph (terudolph@aol.com) is the director of music and a middle-school classroom and instrumental-music instructor for the School District of Haverford Township in Havertown, Pennsylvania. He is an adjunct assistant professor at the University of the Arts and the president of the Technology Institute for Music Educators (TI:ME).