On 7/14/05 9:08 AM, "Colin Broom" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> I'd be interested in hearing more about Finale in education elsewhere. I've > always had this (probably largely unfounded) idea that Finale is for the > most part still the prominent product in the States, is this true? > > Colin. Based on my personal experiences, Finale still has the edge -- but the distance is shrinking. (I've personally been a Finale user since 1995 or so -- version 3.0.1). At the first high school I taught at (a district on Long Island, NY) we had a computer music lab of about five computers, with Finale installed -- full version, this was before Allegro and PrintMusic etc. etc. The middle school used a few copies as well. Sibelius was around by then, but I didn't see it anywhere. When I went to grad school (large conservatory within a public university) there were a few Sibelius users here and there, but the overwhelming majority used Finale. The school had officially adopted Finale as well (it was installed on all school computers), and students were even required to complete assignments within Finale for a jazz arranging class I took. At my next high school job there were no music department (or music department accessible) computer labs -- so each teacher chose what they wanted for their personal work. I still used Finale, but the Band teacher used Sibelius, mostly because that's what the guy who did his marching band arrangements (the band director at the other high school in the district) used. I believe Sibelius was used by the majority of elementary/middle school music teachers in the district as well. In my current job, we use Finale at the Upper School (9th-12th grades) level, because I'm the only music teacher at the Upper School, and that's what I wanted. The middle school music teachers have chosen Sibelius, although they don't use it with the kids much yet. Many of my colleagues in the area seem to be leaning towards or already using Sibelius. The learning curve on Sibelius sucked for me because I was already so used to Finale, but if the learning curve is that much better for people first coming into computer notation in general, it makes sense that schools are choosing Sibelius. Besides, it's not like elementary, middle, or high schoolers need professional-quality engraving for their projects ... So, mostly personal/anecdotal experience, but over the 10-12 years of my career, I've seen a gradual shift towards Sibelius in education. I'm also a Mac guy, and this market change seems rather similar to the gradual change from Apple towards PC (esp. Dell) in schools. My $0.02. -- Mike _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list [email protected] http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
