# Tips on learning to write out Music



## Captainnumber36 (Jan 19, 2017)

Software, courses, and etc. What advice do you have to provide to help someone write out their compositions?

:tiphat:


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## MarkW (Feb 16, 2015)

Read the paperback edition of the Harvard Dictionary of Music. That will tell you most of what you need to know.

Addndum: I realize the above sounds a little snarky, but I actually did that at about 15. I'd liked CM for a few years, but realized how little I knew the vocabulary and terminology ("What the hell does tessitura mean?" "What are grace notes?") So I spent thirty-five cents (this was a long time ago) and resd the darn thing!


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## EdwardBast (Nov 25, 2013)

Captainnumber36 said:


> Software, courses, and etc. What advice do you have to provide to help someone write out their compositions?
> 
> :tiphat:


Learning to read fluently is the first step. Get a book on musical notation. Learn about the instruments, since specific techniques for a number of them require special conventions of terminology and notation. Get books on orchestration for the layout of orchestral scores. Study scores to get the finer points. I use the G. Schirmer style sheet for consistency in the work I do as a professional copyist. Eventually, get good music notation software like Finale or Sibelius.


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