Elementary Music/Music Technology Blog

As I utilize notation software in my classroom for my music class arrangements, orffestrations, recorder music, composition projects, etc., I was thrilled to see that Marc E. Schonbrun just wrote Mastering Sibelius 5 published by Course Technology. I had the pleasure of working with Marc at the recent NECC Conference where he presented Sibelius 5 and ProTools and I presented the Groovy Music Series. Marc is well-versed on the topic of music technology and he can explain it clearly.

I know many functions of Sibelius 5, however, as with any software, if you do not work with it often, it is difficult to recall every item. What was nice about Marc’s book is when I forgot how to perform a function, I could easily look it up in the index. When I went to the page number to find the item, Marc’s writing explains it clearly and logically. As I was teaching Technology for Music Teachers at Montclair last week, the participants were creating original compositions or arrangements of music using Sibelius 5. When there was an item that needed clarification, Marc’s book was a perfect resource. I could easily refer to it and quickly assist a participant in need.

If you use Sibelius, or especially if you just started using Sibelius, Mastering Sibelius 5 is the resource to have. It covers everything from A to Z (which in this case would be Accents to Zooming) and includes a companion CD so that you can learn by doing!