How do I insert music notes in stave in Word?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Georgios
  • Start date Start date
Not very effectively - word processing programs aren't designed for such
purposes. You'd do far better to Google for "music notation software" - you
should get nearly half a million hits ranging from free to rather expensive.
If you need to include your composition in a Word doc look for a music app
which can output its content in a compatible (probably graphic) format.

HTH |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac
 
The two main commercial professional-grade music-"engraving" systems
are Finale and Sibelius (they used to be discussed extensively at the
newsgroup rec.music.classical before it fell victim to all sorts of
spamsters and pranksters), and I believe both of them have simplified
versions intended for beginning music students doing their homework.

I got into Finale a long time ago because it was the one sold at the
Juilliard School's bookstore (I have no connection with Juilliard!) at
a steep academic discount, and over the years it's become somewhat
simpler to use and considerably more feature-packed. (Their website is
www.finalemusic.com.)

I've never looked around for music freeware. No idea how sophisticated
(and reliable) such products may be.
 
Sibelius, mentioned elsewhere, does indeed have a student/teacher version,
but the only thing limited about it is the price. Even at that, it's a
considerable expense.

Finale has a product called "NotePad" that costs $19.95. When I tried it a
few years ago, I couldn't make heads or tails of it. Music notation programs
are much like high-end graphics programs. You have to spend a large chunk of
time getting to know them. (I think the Sibelius learning curve is the
easiest.)

And, of course, if you're dealing with an already printed sheet of music
your best bet is to scan it as an image.

Dan
 
NB Finale comes with a bunch of fonts with all the symbols you'd ever
need, in different styles -- engraved, handwritten, etc. Presumably
Sibelius does, too.

There used to be an Adobe PostScript font (does Adobe still sell
fonts?) of music symbols -- I think it was called Carta.
 
Yeah, the problem with those music fonts is placement -- horizontally and
vertically. It would be excruciating to diddle that into place in Word for
all but the simplest of examples. And then you'd insert a paragraph and Word
would re-flow the document, splitting your example across pages. <wild
cackle>

Best to stick with a music notation package when the goal is notation. And
if it's a one-off, pay someone to do it.

Dan
 
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