Composition Submission Suggestions

[stevel]

Hi Everyone,

[note:maybe admin might be able to also make this a sticky in the showcase area]

When you post your music here, may I make the following recommendations:

1. Post a PDF file of the score of you have a score. If you use Finale or Sibelius, you can download Cute PDF or PDF995 (search Google) and you "print" your file as usual, but the "printer" you choose is one of the above programs (it comes up as a printer choice) and it creates a PDF file. Both programs are FREE - PDF995 connects to its website each time you use it as an advertisment, and Cute PDF includes a second thing to download (a converter) but other than that, they're fairly worry free.

Otherwise, if you have a newer Mac, I believe you can simply choose "Save as PDF" any time you choose Print.

2. Post an Audio sample of the work either in MIDI (.mid) or Audio (.wav, .aif, .mp3) at a reputable hosting site (or your own). MIDI files are small enough to be included on this site, but the other Audio formats (even MP3) are fairly large.

When I say reputable, I mean try to find a host that doesn't have a zillion pop-up ads and doesn't make it too difficult for your file to be listened to - some people are understandably are reluctant to download files from an unknown source - esepecially if they're large.

3. If you have to post Sibelius or Finale files, OK, but remember not everyone can read them, nor do they want to download the FREE viewers both companies offer. Sibeluis has the advantage that Scorch will not allow people to edit what they view, but Finale (to my knowledge) has not yet included that feature. Finally, if you're going to do that, you might as well put them on Finale or Sibelius website instead of here.

In other words, if you're asking for comments on your compositions, you need to go the extra mile and provide potential commenters with enough easy-to-access resources to get at your music - PDF and Audio. If you're simply "showcasing" your music, don't you also think it would be best to provide it as easily and as compatibly as possible? People can choose to listen to Beethoven? Why do they want to hear you? If you make it hard for them to see and hear your music, there's all the more reason for them to listen to Beethoven (whose one symphony they own is probably in their easily accessible CD collection) instead!

Best,
Steve

[Stenir]

Additional notes from my own experience:

1. Be careful with MIDI files. Finale and Sibelius are not designed as MIDI file creators. Their main purpose is for notation. Just like every other notation program out there. The "save as a MIDI file" feature is just a bonus in there. Remember to keep an eye on how Finale and Sibelius use channels. Finale 2007, for example, doesn't stop at 16. I commonly am up in the 37th channel in my instrument list. The key here is that you have to do some formatting in the instrument map feature (Instrument List for Finale, not sure for Sibelius). Usually, the list will generate, say 3 Clarinets as Channel 1, 2, and 3. For midi files, you don't have the luxury of doing that. The best thing in this case is to put them all on one channel.

Example:

When Finale first creates the file:
(Instrument, Channel, MIDI Instrument)
Flute, Channel 1, Flute
Flute, Channel 2, Flute
Oboe, Channel 3, Oboe
Clarinet 1, Channel 4, Clarinet
Clarinet 2, Channel 5, Clarinet
Clarinet 3, Channel 6, Clarinet
....<etc>

Here's how you'd have to change it to make your instruments sound right (and have enough channels for your project):
Flute 1, Channel 1, Flute
Flute 2, Channel 1, Flute
Oboe, Channel 2, Oboe
Clarinet 1, Channel 3, Clarinet
Clarinet 2, Channel 3, Clarinet
Clarinet 3, Channel 3, Clarinet

For this matter, almost any of us could help tell you what you need to do to make the MIDI sound right, but if you'd like, you can PM me and I'll tell you what you have to do to make a decent MIDI file.

I hope that I explained that enough.

2. A good PDF maker I have is PrimoPDF. Works just like the rest but you don't have to download anything extra and it doesn't kick up pop-ups or takes you to its website. Not certain if there's a Mac version, but worth it to check out.

3. If you choose to use MP3, look into getting a soundclick account. For starters, it's a good site (and many of my own works are up there...as I shamelessly plug the site!) and we can all get it to easily. If you have your own page, by all means upload your files there, but soundclick is a very good place to post your music in MP3 format. Unless you only have one song and choose to place the MP3 here, try not to (I'm pretty sure it not only eats up your storage ability but also the bandwith).

Honestly, I agree with stevel. Most of us learned how to compose via our experience as instrumentalists. Our basic understanding of composition comes from having read scores. So why not afford us the same opportunity with a score of your music?