At 5:43 PM -0700 8/1/08, Chuck Israels wrote:
BUT, time value selection precedes pitch (and that's the only way it can work in Sibelius), and that is a deal breaker for me. When Finale catches up (as it seems to have done pretty well in Simple Entry) AND provides the same functionality either in Speedy, or in Simple with a pitch before duration option, we may have the best of both worlds. Greg has become fluent in data entry in Sibelius, but he is copying existing manuscripts, so the "thought process" order doesn't matter. He can enter the duration first with no hitch in his thinking. For me, as a composer/arranger, that doesn't work, so I don't get the conventional wisdom that Sibleius is for composers and Finale is for copyists.
You know, I've really tried to understand this particular complaint, and I'm afraid I really can't. When we did everything by hand we all, always, entered duration and pitch simultaneously, right? (Placement on the staff = pitch; note shape/color = duration.) Which means that ALL the computer programs have taken a single act (but one often requiring several pen strokes) and divided it into two separate acts, right?
So why should one way be "better" than the other (whatever "better" means)? It isn't as if we're hardwired by nature to think one way or the other, is it?
Maybe I don't see a problem because I came from Mosaic, in which you selected duration first, and it never bothered me a bit. So although I didn't LIKE Sibelius' entry methods to start with, I had no problem learning and using them.
Maybe it's just something that can't be explained, a disinclination to learn new methods, but heck, everything I DO on a computer forces me to learn new methods!!! Sometimes I even understand them!
John -- John R. Howell, Assoc. Prof. of Music Virginia Tech Department of Music College of Liberal Arts & Human Sciences Blacksburg, Virginia, U.S.A. 24061-0240 Vox (540) 231-8411 Fax (540) 231-5034 (mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]) http://www.music.vt.edu/faculty/howell/howell.html "We never play anything the same way once." Shelly Manne's definition of jazz musicians. _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list [email protected] http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
