You and Arpege Music Software – Special program for educationalists – Why a partnership ?

Around Pizzicato, Music education and computer assisted music, Music publishing, Music theory, Special program for education, The world of music industry May 21, 2014

Motivations : they are yours

As your students are also your clients, we can suggest to be a part of your ongoing market strategy : do you want to buy software for your students ? Do you want to suggest to your students to buy software ? Both at special pricing.

We offer special pricing for education (discounts of 50% at least). And so what ? If you do not want to offer your time to make it know, it will not be efficient.

We present features, modern tools to help emerging artists to share and publish. And so what ? If expensive marketing campaigns made by the leaders of the market capture your attention, it is useless. And also if we do not position in a realistic way !

So, the real question maybe is : what is the way you want to drive your school or classroom ? and what may be your motivations ? Do these motivations meet our path or not ?

If your main goal are…

To expand the reputation of your school

To help your students

To make benefits with a view to preparing new projects

To open new ways to own creativity

… and that you are decided to give time and some space to present our music software to your network (first your staff then your clients)…

Then we can help you…

To find efficient and original tools

To share (computer) music knowledge with your classroom

To help other demanding teachers and students

And why not to increase your income (for example by creating a music method with our software)

Is your primary objective not on that list ? Then please, explain it to us. We want to learn from you and especially on these subjects :

What is your professional network and how can we help it in an efficient way and so deserve your confidence ?

What do your students need and how can we help you to support their target ?

Frequently heard questions and remarks…

Often we hear :

A lot of teachers feel insecured in front of music software because they think the tool could replace them. And self-taught musicians do not need tools to learn music.

Our philosophy is to ‘bring music to everyone’ however we do not think that it can happen without teachers. Especially for the learning of classical music, but also for other styles.

‘Make the switch’ and get fun tools for young pupils and students who are ‘over-connected’ and will certainly study much more willingly with ‘fun-but-serious’ tools like ‘Harmony and Counterpoint’, ‘Pizzicato Composition Pro’ and ‘Pizzicato Notation’ for example (more information at http://www.arpegemusic.com/music-education-software.htm).

music teacher and artist

Gwen (Belgium) is a music teacher however she appreciates that Pizzicato professional includes such a complete music course. Chris (Belgium) is an emerging artist (Belgium) who uses ‘Pizzicato’ to compose and he produces albums for his spouse who has a real audience and makes shows. 

Is your software academic and efficient for teachers who are also composers ?

Composers like Blair Ashby – Denver – and Mona Lei – Geneva – as well as many performing ensembles chose ‘Pizzicato’. Recently a professor in Berkeley ordered the program (he is a hobbyist however an academic person). No VIP however real professionals and their number growths.

composers and chorists

Photo : Blair Ashby (USA), Mona Lei (Switzerland) and French chorists who use Pizzicato

What about the quality ? 

Judge yourself :

Encoding Pizzi by pro

Encoded with ‘Pizzicato Keyboard’ by a professional (click on the image and see the scale of 100%), the typesetting is clear and beautiful…

Encoding Pizzi by student

Encoded with ‘Pizzicato Light’ by a student (click on the image and see the scale of 100%), one little step further in music knowledge…

Also, at home, the student can listen to the result without the teacher, so the acquisition of the knowledge is more easy. 

And we offer extraordinary deals for teachers and perfect technical service. That is why we already have 13 000 customers worldwide.

Teachers and students are not interested in software but only in sheet music / instruments. And we help them to find a publisher.

Often it depends on the fact that the use of a software is suggested or not. There is the question of the time and also the question of the space and the material dedicated to computer assisted music courses. If at least one teacher has the motivation to do it, he will get students.

The fact is that musicians do not need us to learn music of course, but sharing is easier with a software today. It can even be a popular way to disseminate music and get an audience when the young composer has some difficulty to find a publisher.

The software does not bring popularity and complete professional achievement in itself, however it can help the teacher and the musician to present decent sheet music books to music publishers, so it is a help to music publishing and licensing. You see here a method (2 books) created with Pizzicato Professional by Mrs. Nathalie Tagrine and published by Les Editions Van de Velde (France) :

Méthode Tagrine

Tagrine piano method (2 sheet music books) : created with Pizzicato music composition and notation software for the greatest joy of children

And for young teachers and artists who often have to produce music on a budget, they will appreciate cheaper (but high quality) ‘solo products’ like ‘Pizzicato Guitar’, ‘Pizzicato Keyboard’ or ‘Pizzicato Percussion’. If they are comfortable financially, ‘Pizzicato Professional’ can really be their personal ‘auto-publisher’ and help them to insert sheet music into numerous online databases.

Our main purpose is to support a music school and we cannot afford  the price of expensive software even with discount…

We have a completely free educational program for our elementary product ‘Pizzicato Light’ and special pricing for 8 products including ‘Pizzicato Professional’, ‘Harmony and Counterpoint’, ‘Pizzicato Notation’ and ‘Pizzicato Composition Pro’. Money is just a way for us to be sure that we can continue to develop quality products.  (more information at http://www.arpegemusic.com/music-education-software.htm)

Now are you motivated to present Pizzicato to your network ? If yes we suggest you to examine page http://www.arpegemusic.com/music-education-software.htm and you can write us at info@arpegemusic.com for more information

Programmers and musicians : a deep affinity

Music and programming, Music industry partnership, The world of music industry May 20, 2014

At Arpege Music Software Development, we are astonished these days to discover how close is the relationship between musicians and coding.

In a general forum we read that it can happen that one top star is a coder and a long discussion is published which tries to determine circumstances and even ‘rules’ to link music and programming. In another forum, a similar long exchanges pretends to explore the ways in which music composition and coding ‘run together’.

On the US National Institutes of Health website, we find a scientific study (by Schmithorst VJ and Holland SK) which confirms that kind of thought and it talks about ‘correlation between musical training and math proficiency’.

Well, it seems difficult to follow strictly these behavioural or cognitivist discussions. We will simply say that both music and programming :

– are systems

– have logic rules

But the connection between passion for music and enthusiasm for coding keep personal and social aspects, related for example to :

– education (what the family and the social context offered during the ‘student age’ of life)

– taste (a mysterious factor, which can qualified by some as a ‘natural’ element of the personality, but others will say that it is all determined)

– … and culture (which is related to countries, we cannot give you ‘big data’ here, however it appears at first serious study that musicians who are alwo programmers will be more numerous in the United States than in other countries, because computer culture is stronger in that country than in any other one).

And we will conclude with the idea that the ‘why’ may be important, however it belong to the personal sphere.

We will conclude this short reflexion by inviting musicians-programmers or programmers-musicians to visit our website http://www.music-software-development.com

They will find there articles related to music software technology (MIDI tutorial, music data structures, etc.). And they can contact us if they have projects and want to share them with us.

SDK main representative cover

At Arpege Music Software Development,

we want to deserve your strategic reflection about your professional targets…

F. Delsaux

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A piano method book for children conceived and written with Pizzicato music software

Around Pizzicato, Music education and computer assisted music, Music publishing, The world of music industry April 28, 2014

If you are searching for a new piano method to suggest to your music classroom, we recommend that you have a look at one published by Editions Van de Velde : ‘Méthode Tagrine’. The first volume was edited in 2012 and had success. Now, for pupils who are a little more advanced, here is the second one. It will help them to learn piano with joy, diligence and keen interest, as says the author, Nathalie Béra-Tagrine, who also revealed to us that she has conceived and written this method with Pizzicato music composition and notation software!

méthode tagrine avec pizzicato

Isn’t it real news ? That success shows – if it is still necessary – the qualities of Pizzicato as an exhaustive and smart music notation software. The one which can help you to plan your own professional publishing project and to be taken seriously by a music publisher. And then, you become someone that students and even other teachers like to follow, founding your own ‘tribe’ or if you prefer ‘augmented classroom’.

And also such a publication shows that, far away from excluding each other, the professional music publisher and the music software developer become more and more linked through different types of musicians and teachers : professors in their own classrooms, professors who want to share ‘beyond academia’, performers, composers.

Of course we want to engage them, all of them, because whatever is the degree of intimacy that exists with the (small?) world of music writing and publishing, Pizzicato can bring something to their work. They will find all answers to questions that they could ask around computer assisted music on our website http://www.arpegemusic.com

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The Infinite Variety of Music

Music styles, Music theory, The world of music industry April 5, 2014

Little introduction : Leonard Bernstein

 

The infinite Variety of Music is a very original and personal music theory book written in 1966 by the American conductor, composer, pianist and pedagogue Leonard Bernstein. L. Bernstein (1918-1990) directed during 15 years the New York philharmonic orchestra and also wrote the famous musical drama ‘West Side Story’.

Some chapters of the book are the exact transcript of telecasts and others are analyses, informal lectures but all thoughts come from observations based on the experience of L. Bernstein (career, public relations, …).

L. Bernstein at the piano (1955)

 

Two and three, opacity and transparency, emotion

 

Let us give an example of L. Bernstein’s ‘observations’  : in a telecast, he talks about rhythm. Not as a teacher in his class : ‘Pulse is everywhere in our lives’ looks like a calling, a powerful affirmation. Like L. Bernstein’s belief that ‘Much music is triple… the 3-concept is alsmost as fundamental as the 2-concept… almost, because 3, basic as it is in music, is not grounded in our biological nature… perhaps that’s part of our finiteness. Three is an invented number, an intellectual… concept.’

It is the same when L. Berstein talks about atmosphere, ‘a general climate, which is not the same as a totality of a work, because that does not involve the formal structure’, ‘however it is an important thing to have conceived’.

Music can be opaque or transparent, in the first case music notes does not refer to anything else than themselves, in the second they refer to ‘non musical things’, for example the viability of an idea. Indeed, the composer chooses an idea even if choice is not always conscient and choice is linked to communicability. The idea behind the music can be non-musical, for example patriotic : for L. Bernstein jazz is ‘sounding American’. It is so true that serious composers as Milhaud and Gerhswin included it in their work.

When he talks about emotion L. Bernstein begins to talk about his own music and says that he never consciously put emotion in his music, but for sure unconsciously.

 

The infinite number of choices for the composer and his relationship with the public

 

L. Bernstein considers that ‘googol’ is the best word to qualify the great number of choices that a composer has because it was invented to shorthand any number consister of a digit followed by 100 zeros. The composer is ‘the mind and heart with something to say, something to communicate through this vast mathematical language’ that is music.

During the baroque, the classical and the romantic periods, the composer had a direct relationship with the public. He was creating pieces of music, he was influencing the public by creating trends : ‘the composer has been the manipulator of musical dynamics, responsible for change and growth, creating the public taste and then satisfying it with the appropriate nutriment ; while the public… has nourished him by simply being interested.’

However this is no longuer true until Debussy, Mahler, Strauss and the early Stravinsky. The situation is now : ‘composer versus public’. And L. Bernstein dares to give his opinion to the ‘why’ of that reality : ‘I cannot resist drawing a parallel between the much-proclamed Death of the tonality and the equally-trumpetted Death of God’. Maybe L. Bernstein did not know for example the work of Arvo Pärt which became clearly christian during the ’80. However L. Bernstein says something about the situation of contemporary music in the first part of the 20th century.

 

Short conclusion : a main target for contemporary music composers

 

He also notices that ‘Pop music seems to be the early area where there is to be found vitality, invention, fresh air’. And here we surely discover the main goal of ‘The Infinite Variety of Music’, which is to build new bridges between contemporary composers and their public. A goal that is still current in the 21st century.

 

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Arpege Music Software Development at Frankfürt MusikMesse

The world of music industry March 13, 2014

At Arpege Music we develop music composition and notation software and we sell them too.

Our business-to-business partners are important for us. Whatever they are distributors or entrepreneurs with innovating projects.

In 2014, we have more meetings than ever and we are thankful.

Indeed, our partners help us to present our software to new customers and when we support their projects ourselves, we are sure that these ones will contribute to renew the landscape of music industry.

In that framework, global music fair ‘Musikmesse Frankfür’t is always a meanful way to reinforce our relationships with our mindful partners.

The fair is also crowded and sometimes we have the joy to meet our ancient customers and friends too, which is always a grace.

musikmesseMusikMesse Frankfürt is the occasion to meet new visionary and innovative partners

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Music Education Expo 2014 – Arpege Music Software

The world of music industry February 27, 2014

For once at Arpege Music Software we decided to go to the United Kingdom and meet music educators.

So we attended to Music Education Expo 2014 on February 7-8.

Everyone of course was busy, professional, and it was not so easy to capture attention.

However we are now establishing contacts with a private teacher who is also a writer for a famous educational magazine in Great-Britain and also with a music publisher known at the global level.

Who knows if these contacts really go further ? But it is such a joy to share with clever people in the music industry and we will let you know.

In France, we have 86 points of purchase and now maybe it is time that we reach Englishmen in addition to our website.

music ed expo 2014

 

Music Education Expo in London : ‘the’ professional music fair in the United-Kingdom

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“Toward a unitary music theory?”

Music data, Music industry partnership, Music theory September 30, 2013

What is the basic common denominator of all music styles? Why do we like some types of music and not others?

Since about twenty years, these questions guide me toward a fundamental research in music. The subject is not new and Pythagoras already determined that the most harmonious intervals were related to simple mathematical ratios (for instance, a perfect fifth is formed by a ratio of 3 vibrations to 2).

If the structure of the harmonics of a sound and the scale intervals are explained in almost every music theory or harmony course under the sun, these mathematical considerations are quickly forgotten by the student for the rest of his curriculum.

But would these concepts of relative proportions have something else to unveil? I strongly believe so. There must be a small number of basic natural laws that could explain and unite the various elements found in harmony, counterpoint, rhythm and orchestration for any music style, whether tonal, atonal, micro-tonal, ethnic, techno or acousmatic.

Such a theory must provide a more subtle and finer analysis of music than is possible today and bring a much better understanding of the musical phenomenon. I called it unitary music theory.

It is one of my goals in life. Even if I am still far from the final results, I have accumulated some interesting elements and I would like to share them with you. I am also open to – and even searching for – any collaboration in this vast and exciting field of research.

The ultimate goal is a practical theory, not a pure academic knowledge. It happens in the frame of the development of a music composition software that would be really intuitive, where the user would not need to be enclosed in a notation system or learn elaborate music theories when his only purpose was to express himself/herself as an artist. Too many theoretical barriers still exist today and musical creativity should be available to anyone.

post1pythagore

Photograph : Pythagoras and Philolaus experimenting musical pipes

Post written by Dominique Vandenneucker (Arpege Music Software Development CEO)

http://www.music-software-development.com

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Bel Canto

Music styles May 21, 2013

Characteristics

Music style where beauty of the pitch and vocal virtuosity are the main goal: recurring presence of singing exercises, trills, rolls, dotted notes, improvised paces; extension of the tessitura). It is centered around the melody. It tries to sublimate the language of the characters and exploits more the mythological themes than the history (while the romanticism wants to reach the psychological and dramatic truth).

History

Its origins are found in the Italian Opera of the 16th century. It is situated between  1680 and 1820 (even if it is still possible to talk about bel canto in Bellini, Rossini or Donizetti’s works). Centered on the individual performance, it is opposed to the polyphonic chant of the Renaissance.

Main composers and singers

From Mozart to Debussy, a lot of classical composers wrote bel canto… Ex. Donizetti (Lucia di Lamermoor)

For the singers, we can quote Alessandro Moreschi (castrato from early 20th century), Maria Callas, June Anderson and Leo Nucci (contemporary artists)

Videos

June Anderson and Leo Nucci : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0bNZkBFgFbI

Maria Callas (singing a piece written by Donizetti) : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BpJ2u1MiE7E

maria callas

Photo : Maria Callas

Post written and published by Françoise Delsaux (Arpege Music Software Development)

Be bop

Music styles April 30, 2013

Characteristics

Music style based on dissonant chords, chromatic ascents, very quick tempo, frequent harmonic changes (at least once in every measure).

Interpretation needs 4 to 8 musicians (combos) who use the following instruments: piano or guitar, double bass, drums (for the rythmic section, the first three ones also enrich the harmonic section), saxophone (alto and/or tenor), trumpet, trombone (for the melodic section).

History

Be bop is born because some musicians wanted to express themselves in a different way than traditional jazz orchestra (big bands) and also swing (which is a dance music) and knew its golden age between 1940 and 1950.

Main composers

Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, Charles Mingus

Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91dolWWdetI

(Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie)

Charles Mingus

(Photo : Charles Mingus)

Post written and published by Françoise Delsaux (Arpege Music Software Development)

Barcarolle

Music styles April 30, 2013

Music characteristics

Classic piece which tries to reproduce the chant of the Venitian gondoliers. It has a ternary form 6/8, 9/8, 12/8 and the accompaniment is regular (as the movement of a rowing boat).

History

This is a style of the romantic period (19th century).

Main compositors

Mendelssohn (Romances without Words, «Venitianisches Gondollied»), Chopin, Offenbach, Tchaïkovsky

Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGOI1JgcfOE

(Mendelssohn)

Offenbach

(Painting : Offenbach, by Grünewald)

Post written and published by Françoise Delsaux (Arpege Music Software Developmen)

Ballade

Music styles March 15, 2013

Characteristics

Popular music inspired by the medieval French poem called “ballade”. The content is the story of a person or precise events. The main instrument is the guitar.

History and main figures

During the Middle Age, the French poet François Villon is the main figure of the ballade

During the 19th century, that style inspires to the famoust pianist Chopin some great pieces.

In the 20th century, the form is adapted by some main artists like Elvis Presley (or Serge Gainsbourg in France) to their own music styles.

Video

Elvis Presley : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZBUb0ElnNY

elvis presley

Photo : Elvis Presley

Post written and published by Françoise Delsaux (Arpege Music Software Development)

Bacha

Music styles March 15, 2013

Characteristics

Romantic music from the Dominican Republic which is associating percussion and brass instruments.

Origin

Origin is to find in the most poor fractions of the Dominican Republic society during the sixties with Jose Manuel Calderon. From 1991, the style is well known in the whole world due to the success of Juan Luis Guerra with the famous song  « Burbujas de Amor », and it has joined salsa and other dances in dance school.

Main figures

Jose Manuel Calderon, Juan Luis Guerra

Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5s-bNisOBjo (Juan Luis Guerra)

juan luis guerra

Photo: Juan Luis Guerra

Post written and published by Françoise Delsaux (Arpege Music Software Development)

Axé

Music styles March 15, 2013

Musical characteristics

Axé comes from condomblé, an afro-bresilian religious movement based on dance. Musically speaking, this style is mixing synthetics rythms with traditional ones and wants to express merry and entertaining feelings.

History

Bahia, eighties, carnaval context

Main figures

Netinho, Daniela Mercury, Ivete Sangalo

Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGbK2zMJEGY (Daniela Mercury)

Post written and published by Françoise Delsaux (Arpege Music Software Development)

Music style : aubade

Music styles January 28, 2013

Characteristics

Singing with instruments with a romantic purpose, played on the outside and in the morning.

History

Aubade has its roots in the poems sung by the “troubadours” in Provence (France) during the Middle Age.

Later, on the 17th century, the word is used to qualify a less romantic music style produced by brass bands which use trumpets and drums. It is still played in the morning, but for a military or civil personality instead of a fiancée !

During the romantic period, the style comes back to its roots while inserting in art music.

Examples of composers

Wagner, Lalo, Bizet, Poulenc

Video

You can hear and see a music piece written by Poulenc at page: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDiAjCpx5Zk

Photo

Here is a painting which represents aubade in its romantic version (author : Jules Fontanez)

aubade

Post written and published by Françoise Delsaux (Arpege Music Software Development)

Music style : Ambient

Music styles January 7, 2013

Characteristics

Ambient is an electronic music which can be defined by the desire to create an environment which is characterized by a lack of technically beat and uses the layers (sounds produced by synthesizers and wave instruments called synthetic strings), which give an impression of sound interference.

The many ambient substyles merge sometimes to the point that uses the generic term “downtempo”. However, we can distinguish for example: industrial tempo (“Biosphere”), techno tempo (“Aphex Twin”), etc.

History

The pioneer of that style is Brian Eno (UK), who from the 1970s, composed background music (Music for Airports) which are said “hovering” (characteristic of early ambient, even if the classical minimalist also comes close – cf Erik Satie).

Examples

Brian Eno, Biosphere, Aphex Twin, Robert Scott-Thompson

(On the photo you can see Geir Jenssen from “Biosphere”)

Ambient - Geir Jenssen

Post written and published by Françoise Delsaux (Arpege Music Software Development)

Music style – Court air

Music styles November 27, 2012

Music characteristics

Poem written to be declaimed with the luth. The music writing follows the words, as in plain chant. There are polyphonic pieces as well as solo pieces.

History

France, 16th century.

Main interpreters today

Pierre Guédron, Claude Lejeune, Antoine Boësset, Pierre Moulinié

Example to hear and see

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Na8TjMTOguE

Photo : Pierre Guédron playing luth in the piece “Adorable Princesse”

Post written and published by Françoise Delsaux (Arpege Music Software Development)

Music style : Acid

Music styles November 14, 2012

Musical characteristics

The word acid means different musical genres including electronic is the main acid house.In terms of musical characteristics, the use of a sampler and synthesizer Roland TB-303 bassline (producing sounds called “acid”) next usual rock instruments is characteristic of acid house, as well as the repetitive side of this music.

History

Anglo-Saxon style born in the 1980s and which has ramifications to the 21th century. Acid is an electronic music which unhappily has been or may be associated with the use of LSD. Acid techno, acid trance, break acid and acid core come from acid

Main examples (music trend/composers/music pieces) :

Acid Dreams (band)

Luc Vibert (modern acid house)

Photo : Acid Dreams band in concert

Post written and published by Françoise Delsaux (Arpege Music Software Development)

Music style : “A(lla) cap(p)ella”

Music styles November 3, 2012

Musical caracteristics :

Expression of choral chant which needs no instrumental accompaniment, but only uses human voice.

History :

Until the 18th century, the word “A cappella”, born in Europe, nominates a liturgical piece for 4 mixed voices, which uses simple harmony, strict counterpoint or imitation.

During the 19th century, the “A cappella” chant is not any more used in sacred music area and is related to any polyphonic vocal practise without instrument (like madrigal).

In the 20th century, “A cappella” is also used to qualify popular vocal music.

Main examples (music trend/composers/music pieces) :

Gregorian chant

Lotti, “Missa brevis”

Link : 

http://www.s-clements.org/AudioFiles/05Eastertide/Kyrie_Massfor8Voices.mp3

Post written and published by Françoise Delsaux (Arpege Music Software Development)

Pizzicato software presented for the third time at MusikMesse Frankfürt 2012

Around Pizzicato May 7, 2012

Pizzicato was presented in version 3.6 in March 2012 at MusikMesse Frankfürt in association with Neumasoft Company, who has created Music Typing Keyboard (MTK), the first keyboard conceived to encode computer music.

Image

Projects to traduce the 11 versions of the software in Polish, Spanish and Italian will soon end and new prospects will be able to discover it during year 2013.

Image

Post by Françoise Delsaux (Arpege Music Software Development)

 

 

Musicians love helpful software

Around Pizzicato January 29, 2010

Blair Ashby (Denver, Colorado, United States) – Music producer and sound engineer.

 “I like that Pizzicato is so different from a midi sequencer that it makes me think different about music and my compositions.  Thank you, I think Pizzicato will help me get to the next level.  I finished composing three different CDs in December and realized I was bored with my musical style so I started looking for a program which would make me think different.  I am glad I purchased yours. On Friday last week a small record label asked me for three songs and I am going to try to do the the foundation work in Pizzicato.”

Philip Thomas (East Dummerston, VT, United States) – Lead music engraver Oxford University Press, New York Office, 1999-2005. Currently working as a freelance engraver for the finest classical music publishers in the U.S. and Europe.

“Anyone looking for affordable music notation software will find that Pizzicato has powerful and comprehensive features. But what really sets Pizzicato apart is its vast array of compostion tools which are simple to use yet profound in scope and depth. Dominique Vandenneucker has designed a brilliant program which is sure to grow in stature and popularity as more users around the world spread the word about this remarkable software.”

Roy Galloway (Lake Country, BC, Canada) – Chorist

“I have been intending to write this letter for some time now to tell you how much I enjoy my beginner’s version 3.3.1 of the Pizzicato program. I sing with a men’s 4 part choir. Since I don’t sight read music I surfed the internet to find a program that would allow me to type in the music that I was to sing, and play it back so that I could more easily learn my part. I really didn’t think that I would find anything suitable.

Then voila, your web site with demos of your wonderful program, showing what it would do and how that it does it. I have now typed in nearly all of my music and I easily learn my parts by listening to the tireless piano player that you have given me. The versatility and ease of use of this program never ceases to amaze me and the fact that a manual and a complete music course accompanies it is just super. I am also, so pleased with the quick and accurate answers that you have given me to the very few questions that I needed to ask. I also enjoy the free newsletter.

The choir, now has good copies of their music in all 4 parts and I have been able to make CD’s to facilitate them in learning their parts. I just wanted you to know that your program has made learning to sing so much easier and more enjoyable for me and my choir mates. Thank you !”

Alain Philibert (Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Canada) – Author-composer, guitar and piano.

“I am playing and composing music for years. I took piano lessons during 5 years between 11 and 16. When I was 18 years old I learnt guitar on my own. At this time I composed my first songs, music and lyrics. To conserve my music, I wrote songs on paper, lyrics and chords, and recorded them on tracks. At the end of the nineties, I searched for a software which could help me to write my scores. The only ones I found were unaffordable. Then I discovered Pizzicato. At first use, I was dazzled ! And for this period, I have always appreciated improvements of the software.”

Zlatoje Pajcic (Germany) – Zlatoje Pajcic is a composer and publisher in Hamburg.

 “I was born in 1957 in Sombor (Yugoslavia), where I started my musical career studying harmony, counterpoint and composition with Prof. Milos Lalosevic, later studying the Tamburitza with Prof. Lazar Malagurski in Subotica, as well as playing clarinet in middle school. I have several TV-performances with Tamburitza orchestras I have organized, and in 1987 I had a 6 month engagement in Copenhagen. Since 1991 I have been a freelance musician living in Hamburg, and I am currently working on an extensive series of tutorial books for Tamburitza, played alone and in groups. I have so far completed 10 volumes. I am also writing arrangements and transcriptions for these instruments, and have founded “Tamburitza Publications” to publish sheet music for Tamburitza.

Pzzicato is an expert system. We have 3 levels of scorewriting programs:

1. Scorewriter – These programs are for writing notes and publishing, but no generating of anything or processing of musical data. Some of them can recognize the chords. None have graphical editors.

2. Scorewriter -scorewriting, and composing-arranging features – These programs can have some intelligent functions like chord recognition, intelligent paste on simple basis, for example to “split voices”. But we must duplicate the stave or other elements so many times or be so careful not to delete something that it is annoying.

3. Expert systems – That is the highest level of full musical workstation seen from all aspects. Pizzicato is one of them. Only two such software we can find on the market. Pizzicato is the most modern software for: scorewriting, composing, music editing, music processing, experimenting, chord recognition, generating the score based on chord recognition and using the custom libraries, easy combining of several scores to play together on the same chord progression, very big scores with unlimited number of staves, playing ornaments and grace note, graphical editors, work with many documents at the same time, very good manual, very accurate MIDI, up to sixteen MIDI in/outs supported and much more…

I think, Mr. Dominique Vandenneucker should warn the people who just purchased Pizzicato with the words “If you just purchased Pizzicato, don’t forget to eat something and get some sleep in advance because you will not be able to leave it quickly!”

 

 Mona Lei (Switzerland) – Composer, born in Bucarest (Rumania). Mona Lei has been living for more than 20 years in Geneva. She is a professional musician. In the eighties, she obtained the music teacher certificate (music theory, harmony, counterpoint, etc.) at the Music Conservatory of Bucarest.

“While searching for a music notation software to transcribe the manuscript of one of my classical compositions, I was informed about the existence of the website http://www.arpegemusic.com, by a friend working in computers. For my first experimentations with Pizzicato I realized that it had a lot of qualities: fast access to music writing technique, practical aspect of this technique, easy to use and in the same time a real possibility to exploit musical richness.

Really, what I immediately appreciated (compared to other softwares I used before) was the natural of Pizzicato. It was like using a paper music sheet, a pencil and an eraser. The big advantage is that the further I advance in my creation, the further I can modify the structure of my work, adding or erasing measures, staves, pages, instruments, etc. I have total freedom and I feel grateful to Pizzicato for that.

Now I work without keyboard, because I compose by playing piano. Then, I transcribe and listen to the result on the computer. Using this technique I recently wrote the cantate “To Jean-Sébastien” (18 minutes), a work which was interpreted in September 26th 2005 in Zürich under the aegis of UNICEF by the Terpsychords quartet, the OSR 1st oboist, Jerome Capeille, the pianist Anne Boëls and soloists of the Zürich Great Orchestra.

P.S. : For those who still have difficulties to write triplets and other rhythmic sequences, I had some difficulties too, but after some days of practice, there was nothing to it.”

Published by Françoise Delsaux (Arpege Music Software Development)

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