> From: "Michael Edwards" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: "Finale" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Date: Thu, 25 Apr 2002 20:12:37 +1000 > Subject: [Finale] TAN: Prospects for obtaining work as engraver.
[snip] Dear Michael, For what it's worth... First step is to become really experienced in the application that you choose. You should be able to do any well, and quickly. Also you need to really know how to do things in the application in the 'standard' way, so anyone else editing afterwards can fix it (for example, a friend of mine had to do extract parts from a Finale score where all the augmentation dots were entered as staccato dots. Unbelieveable, but true. A nightmare to fix up). If I were you, I would choose Sibelius because there is a shortage of good Sibelius engravers in Australia at the moment (for things like part extraction). The other thing to consider in this regard is that the majority of 'serious' composers in Australia use Finale. Of course, it would be best to be "bi", if you feel up to it. No-one in Australia uses Score or Igor. After making your choice, and after you have some good (and varied) examples of your work to show people, then you should join MAGA, and also contact Julie Simonds at Symphony Australia letting her know that you are a great Sibelius copyist. Yes, you are at a slight disadvantage not living in Sydney in terms of proximity to a lot of the movers and shakers, but then again, you would probably have a better quality of life living in Healesville! You should be really careful about sticking to accepted standards of presentation as well. I'm not suggesting that you're not, but the best music processors are the ones that have little or no "personal style" about their presentation (in my opinion). To help overcome any tyranny of distance, you should invest in the full version of Acrobat so you can send .pdf files via email. If you are obsessive about detail, as you say you are, then that's a good thing. I've paid out for jobs to be done, only to have to spend long weekends fixing up all the parts - doing things like removing chords from Horn parts where the parts weren't processed properly. You also should be able to work under pressure and be able to produce good work quickly. FYI, the standard Australian rate for copying varies between $25/hour (this is what Symphony Australia pays) up to $50/hour. A lot of people charge $35/hour - I wouldn't do anything for less than $60/hr, but that's because I don't want any copying work, and particularly not for $25/hour. (These of course are Australian dollars = US0.54!!!). All the best with it, Matthew -- Matthew Hindson - Australian composer [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.hindson.com || N.B. Due to overwhelming SPAM, my email is set up to automatically || reject bcc. email messages. || || If your email to me gets rejected, try sending || it to [EMAIL PROTECTED] instead. || [EMAIL PROTECTED] is still my primary email account || though, and you should send it there first. _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://mail.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
