New member

[DBird90]

Hello,

I just joined today, though I’ve browsed this site for some time. I’ve been engraving music for about a decade now, and have been working for a local publishing house for the pipe organ as an in-house engraver (using SCORE) for three years.

I have Asperger’s and have trouble reading certain social cues, especially in person, but may happen in writing as well - I tend to tale things literally.

I transcribe (audio to sheet music, a.k.a. “takedown”) film scores (sometimes game music but mostly film scores, whatever strikes my fancy) as a serious hobby (film scores are some of the best music ever composed IMHO), using Transcribe by Seventh String software. One time, I was listening to Colors of the Wind, following along with the handwritten manuscript, and noticed it didn’t sound quite the same to me. So I began transcribing it several years ago and found (IMO) that it was completely rewritten, with extra parts created from scratch. The casual listener doesn’t notice because it was mixed and mastered so well - each section of the orchestra was recorded separately, as stems, then mixed together (I’ve been talking with a retired session player who played on Pocahontas about this).

Anyway, I’d been arguing about the song in various Facebook groups (Music Engraving Tips (MET), Orchestration Online, Is This Playable, and Harp Notation) and, long story short, got banned for life from all of them for arguing about what music is and isn’t on the song, how it was written, etc. I guess that shows how stubborn and argumentative I am.

I read the rules and will NEVER, ever post or link to any full scores here, but if I have questions about how to engrave something I guess it can’t hurt to post a small snippet.

I do miss MET, but this will have to do. Is this site on par with MET? Are polls done here for multiple choice questions? I’m a perfectionist, so being anal about the details of engraving is fine with me. I have Gould (Behind Bars), Powell, and the 1st edition of Ross. My publisher claims to use Gardner Read, but is picky about sticking to the original (“authoritative urtext editions”), so he does some strange things that no one else seems to do (he claims Gould does some “weird things” and doesn’t trust her or anyone on the internet).

I wish there was an app so I could be instantly notified about new information, like Facebook does (part of why I miss MET). Maybe it’s just my perception but this forum may not be as active or have as many members as MET.

Thanks. You can call me DBird, or Dylan, if you’d prefer.

[jrethorst]

> Is this site on par with MET?

It's just my opinion, that this site's discussions are largely at a higher professional level than Facebook's Music Engraving Tips, although I enjoy following discussions there as well.

> he claims Gould does some “weird things”

I've heard others say that. Gould works fine for me. I have Read's book but haven't made a real comparison between the two, and have never seen Ross's book.

Welcome to the forum!

[DBird90]

Thank you. I use Gould as well but don’t trust everything she says, which is fine, of course. Since I’m new here, does this site have a “like” function, akin to Facebook’s? I guess there’s no “read” indication either. The only way I know if someone replied is to stay logged in, or to check my email.

[jrethorst]

No "like" function or "read" indication that I know of. The forum software seems to have a lot of features, most of which I don't know how to use. Take a look at Notifications (towards the top right) > Settings. I don't know what kind of Notifications it means, but there are a lot of options for email.

[John Ruggero]

Welcome DBird90!

I'd say that the tone of this site is low key, collegial and makes up in quality for what it may lack in quantity compared to some sites. Things are dealt with in some depth, discussions don't become heated and, as far as I know, no-one has been banned for life! There are specialists in various musical areas, so it's a great place to come to share unique ideas and ask interesting questions.

I use Gould and Ross whenever something doubtful comes up, but mostly consult my music library and IMSLP. which I think are even better sources of information!

Look forward to your contributions, DBird.