Music software resources

Music notation software is used to engrave music into a digital form. It can be used to create, edit, play back, and print sheet music for compositions, arrangements, and transcriptions. Note input is often done using a computer keyboard and mouse, or with MIDI instruments.

Dorico Pro, Finale, MuseScore, and Sibelius Ultimate are music notation software programs available on selected computers and circulating laptops at the Marvin Duchow Music Library. Additionally, PhotoScore is an optical music recognition software program for music scanning available on selected computers at the Marvin Duchow Music Library.

Scoring Notes blog

• Tips, tutorials, reviews, and podcasts focusing on music notation software. Originally created as a Sibelius-focused blog, the focus has expanded to cover all music notation software.
• For users of all levels
• Tip: The Product Guide has quick links for the specific information on Dorico, Finale, MuseScore, and Sibelius
• Available in English only

Dorico is a suite of music notation software offered by Steinberg, a German music technology company. Dorico is available for Windows, MacOS, and iPad. Dorico is available either as a limited, free version or via paid subscription. 

Dorico Pro is available on selected computers and circulating laptops at the Marvin Duchow Music Library.

Dorico Blog - Resource list

• Resources from the Dorico website including manuals, a First Steps Guide, a forum, Facebook groups (in English, French and other languages) and more.
• For users of all levels
• List in English and German, resources in various languages
• Tip: The "Getting Started" and "Help" sections of this page contain most of the free resources in the list.

Dorico YouTube Channel

• The official Dorico YouTube channel, including tutorial playlists like the how-to series and Getting Started with Dorico SE (which can also be used to learn the basics of any desktop version of Dorico)
• For users of all levels
• Available in English and German

Finale was a music notation software offered by MakeMusic, and was available for Windows and MacOS.

The End of Finale 

In August 2024, Finale announced it was ending development of the software. Technical support for current users will be available until August 25, 2025. For further information, please see the Finale website.

Finale remains available on selected computers and circulating laptops at the Marvin Duchow Music Library.

Help Center - User Manuals

• Resources from the Finale Knowledge Base including manuals, tutorials, a forum, and a Quick Reference Guide.
• For users of all levels
• Available in English only
• Tip: the Quick Reference Guides (downloadable at the bottom of the Help Resources page) contain a helpful map of the User Manual Website

Conquering Finale YouTube Channel

• Video tutorials and tips, created by a professional musician in the Finale community
• For beginner to intermediate users
• Available in English only

MuseScore is a free, open source music notation software available for Windows, MacOS and Linux. There are two MuseScore websites: musescore.org and musescore.com. Software downloads, support, and documentation can be found at musescore.org. Musescore.com on the other hand, houses an online platform where users may choose to create an account to share and download scores. This online platform can be used for free, or upgraded to a paid subscription version of the service with more features.

MuseScore is available on selected computers and circulating laptops at the Marvin Duchow Music Library.

MuseScore Support

• Support resources on the MuseScore website including the handbook, forum and tutorials.
• For users of all levels
• Available in 21 languages - switch languages using the drop-down menu at the bottom of the page
• Tip: make sure that you choose the handbook for the version of MuseScore that you are currently using

MuseScore YouTube Channel

• The official MuseScore YouTube channel, containing short informative videos, including the MuseScore 4 in Minutes playlist.
• For users of all levels
• Video audio in English; subtitles in other languages

David McCoy MuseScore Tutorials Playlist

• Video tutorials (YouTube) for MuseScore 3, created by a music teacher 
• For beginners
• Available in English only

Sibelius is a suite of music notation software offered by Avid. The company also distributes Pro Tools, an audio editing software. There are three versions of Sibelius software, ranging from Sibelius First, a free, limited version of the software, to Sibelius Ultimate, the full, paid version of the software. 

Sibelius Ultimate is available on selected computers and circulating laptops at the Marvin Duchow Music Library. 

Sibelius Documentation

• A hub for downloading all Sibelius documentation from Avid, including a Reference Guide and Tutorials, for current and past versions of the software
• For users of all levels
• Available in English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, German, Chinese, Japanese, and Russian

Tutorials

• Video tutorials and tips created by Avid, organized into categories
• For users of all levels
• Available in English only
• Tip: Use the drop-down menu under “Filter by category” to view videos under categories such as “Editing and Arranging”, “Tips & tricks”, and “For Mobile”.

Forum

• An active, official community forum where users can discuss and ask questions about the software
• For users of all levels
• Available in English only
• Tip: you must create a Sibelius Help Center login to post in the forum, but you may read previous threads without a login by clicking the "read the chat page" link to the right of the login box

Avid Sibelius Users Facebook Group

• An official Facebook group run by Avid where users can discuss and ask questions about the software
• For users of all levels
• Available in English only

Horn Hippie Media Sibelius Tutorials Playlist

• Video tutorials (YouTube) created by professional musicians, mainly demonstrated on a Mac desktop
• For beginner to intermediate users
• Available in English only

David McCoy Sibelius Tutorials Playlist

• Video tutorials (YouTube) created by a music teacher, mainly demonstrated on PC
• For beginner to intermediate users
• Available in English only

PhotoScore is a paid music scanning software offered by Neuratron and licensed by Avid, that works with music notation software on Windows and MacOS. It offers scanning of physical scores into electronic formats, and has basic notation editing capabilities. PhotoScore can export directly to Sibelius, MusicXML, MIDI, and NIFF files.

The "Lite" version comes bundled with a purchase of Sibelius. The full version of PhotoScore is available on selected computers at the Marvin Duchow Music Library. 

Neuratron YouTube Channel

• The official Neuratron YouTube channel has video tutorials for how to use PhotoScore
• For begginer users
• Available in English only

Avid PhotoScore Troubleshooting

• Scanner recommendations, tips on scanner settings for clearer scanning results, how to use the software without a scanner.
• For users of all levels
•  Available in English only