NoteFlight, Daisy's Bike

     I was pleased to be able to experience open source notation programs this week. A student had told me about MuseScore last year, but I stayed true to my Finale NotePad. Now, as an assignment for Technology for Music Teaching & Learning, I have had some great experience with both MuseScore and NoteFlight. Now, none of these will come close to the experience I had using Finale, full version, for a few years in my teaching practice, but I think MuseScore comes close. Unfortunately, I was irritated by NoteFlight's roundabout way to notate chords in one staff. Perhaps I skipped the part in the video that made it easier for me, but I was using arrow keys to select the pitch, then clicking to add the pitch, then moving on to another pitch. It was tedious.

     However, the online aspect of NoteFlight might outweigh this annoyance since ALL students with a computer would be able to use it. And, I just checked, and you can use it on a tablet! For schools opting to use iPads more and more, this would be a wonderful application for class composition. The screen pops up with the score and a keyboard so students can play the pitch they want to write. Overall, I think notation software has come a long way. Students today need not purchase expensive publishing software. Instead, they can write music at home and share it globally! I could see using the iPad application mentioned above in my class for writing short compositions on recorder or Orff instruments.