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Showing posts from October, 2022

Adding note names to note head

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This blog is in response to a comment from a the previous blog  "Adding note names to notes".    The viewer wants to know how to "A dd note names to note head", which means the letters appears within the note head instead of above or below the notes.   Here goes: Highlight a bar in the score.  In the menu bar select " Notations "  - a list of commands will appear and then choose " Add note names" which is on the right side of the.   A pop-up window will appear with three options.   Whole score, Selected passages and omit sharp and flat signs.   Click ok to populate the score and the note names will appear inside the note head.   But the letters inside the note heads are not clearly visible.   I would recommend that you change the size of the noted head to at least 180% to make the notes visible.      To increase the size of the note head,   goto " Appearance...

Laid to Rest

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  I am truly sad to hear the passing of the Queen Elizabeth II, I have fond memories of the Royal family and had the privilege to perform for them at a garden party hosted by the Queen for the Commonwealth Representatives in London, I was a Student Bandmaster at the Royal Military School of Music, Kneller Hall at that time. I recalled vividly that my march composition “For the people, For the Nation” was selected to kick off the repertoire and and I had the unenviable task of starting the performance. I recalled vividly that I was told to “play” when the Royal family appears. I stood on the podium for 20 minutes and was told to get ready and then to stand down for at least 5 times. When it finally got started, I was so excited that I conducted the march at a fast tempo and it was all over in 2 minutes. It was a short but memorable experience. I would like to pay tribute to Her Majesty, the late Queen Elizabeth II, with my composition “Laid to Rest”. Her poise and elega...

Breakthrough with Attention-Deficit / Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) student

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In this blog post, I would like to share what I hope is a breakthrough with my ADHD music student today. My student is 10 years old diagnosed with Attention-Deficit / Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) .   She is a really bright kid,  speaks well and talkative but very low in confidence.  Every other week, she will have some sort of injury, in fact today she said she twisted her wrist ice-skating and wanted me to sign on her cast.    In some previous lessons, she would be quite spacey and watch her tablet instead of focussing on the music score.  It is likely that she is not interested in the score that I had printed for her, especially, the songs that she is not familiar,  songs that have no lyrics,  songs that are more than one page.    This seems to be the trend for most of my special needs music student.   My observation is that they have no confidence to complete the task because its too long or complicated and not becau...

Adding note names to notes

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In this blog post, I will show you how to add note names to your music score.  I believe that this will help your beginner students to learn the notes of the staff faster and this is especially helpful to students with special needs. I have already made an easy piano arrangement of "Scarborough Fair".   The melody is simplified and the accompaniment is made easy with single note for each crotchet beat.   Using the left hand (LH)to play is always a challenge for beginners.   This LH arrangement is created to get the students to be rhythmically accurate and consistent.  Sibelius : Highlight the entire score using Command + A (Mac)  Control+A (PC) Go to text menu bar  Go to plug-ins   Scroll down to add note names.  A window will appear and you can make your selections.   Inside the window, select technique (There are other choices For eg. Lyrics and expressions) Click Ok .   Note names will be added to the e...