Pinnacle Systems Sibelius First 8.7 Reference Guide
Sibelius® | First Reference Guide
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Guide Part Number 9329-65902-00 REV A 9/17
ii
Contents
Introduction 1
The story of Sibelius ............... 3
About this Reference Guide ......... 5
Working with the ribbon ............ 9
Undo and Redo .................. 15
Connecting external MIDI devices . . . 17
1 File tab 19
1.1 Working with files ............. 21
1.2 Sharing and emailing files ....... 25
1.3 Sharing on the web ............ 29
1.4 Starting a new score ............ 31
1.5 Opening MIDI files ............ 35
1.6 Opening MusicXML files ....... 39
1.7 PhotoScore Lite ............... 43
1.8 AudioScore Lite ............... 57
1.9 Printing ..................... 65
1.10 Exporting audio files .......... 73
1.11 Exporting video files .......... 75
1.12 Exporting graphics ............ 79
1.13 Exporting MIDI files .......... 81
1.14 Exporting MusicXML files ..... 83
1.15 Exporting to previous versions . . 85
1.16 Exporting to Avid Scorch ...... 89
1.17 Exporting Scorch web pages .... 95
1.18 Exporting PDF files ........... 99
1.19 Preferences ................ 101
1.20 Display settings ............. 103
1.21 Keyboard shortcuts .......... 105
2 Home tab 107
2.1 Selections and passages ........ 109
2.2 Ideas ....................... 115
2.3 Instruments ................. 121
2.4Staves...................... 125
2.5 Bars and bar rests ............. 127
2.6 Color ...................... 129
2.7 Filters and Find .............. 131
2.8 Hiding objects ............... 133
2.9 Sibelius | Cloud Sharing ....... 135
2.10 Plug-ins ................... 137
3 Note Input tab 143
3.1 Introduction to note input ...... 145
3.2 Keypad ..................... 147
3.3 Mouse input ................. 151
3.4 Alphabetic and step-time input . . 153
3.5 Keyboard window ............ 161
3.6 Guitar tab input .............. 163
3.7 Fretboard window ............ 165
3.8 Guitar notation and tab ........ 167
3.9 Triplets and other tuplets ....... 171
3.10 Transposing ................ 175
3.11 Note input options ............177
3.12 Input Devices ............... 179
3.13 Flexi-time .................. 187
3.14 Voices ..................... 193
3.15 Arrange ................... 197
3.16 Transformations ............. 199
3.17 HyperControl™ ............. 203
4 Notations tab 207
4.1 Clefs ....................... 209
4.2 Key signatures ............... 213
4.3 Time signatures .............. 215
4.4 Barlines .................... 217
4.5 Lines ...................... 219
4.6 Hairpins .................... 223
4.7 Slurs ....................... 225
4.8 Symbols .................... 229
4.9 Noteheads .................. 231
4.10 Percussion ................. 235
4.11 Beam groups ............... 239
4.12 Beam positions .............. 243
4.13 Importing graphics ........... 245
4.14 Brackets and braces .......... 247
4.15 Accidentals ................. 249
4.16 Arpeggios .................. 251
4.17 Articulations ................ 253
4.18 Grace notes ................ 255
4.19 Jazz articulations ............ 257
4.20 Repeat bars ................. 259
4.21 Stems and leger lines ......... 261
4.22 Ties ....................... 263
4.23 Tremolos .................. 265
iii
Contents
5 Text tab 267
5.1 Working with text .............269
5.2 Common text styles ............275
5.3 Figured bass and Roman numerals 281
5.4 Instrument names .............283
5.5 Typography ..................287
5.6 Lyrics ......................291
5.7 Chord symbols ...............297
5.8 Edit Chord Symbols ...........305
5.9 Rehearsal marks ..............307
5.10 Bar numbers ................309
5.11 Page numbers ...............311
5.12 Wildcards ..................313
6 Play tab 317
6.1 Working with playback .........319
6.2 Playback Devices .............321
6.3Mixer.......................331
6.4 Live Tempo ..................341
6.5 Live Playback ................343
6.6 Interpretation of your score ......345
6.7 Performance .................349
6.8 Repeats .....................353
6.9 Video .......................357
6.10 Timecode and hit points .......361
6.11 Sibelius First Sounds .........363
6.12 MIDI for beginners ...........365
6.13 Virtual instruments for beginners 369
6.14 Working with virtual instruments 375
6.15 ReWire ....................381
6.16 MIDI messages ..............385
6.17 SoundWorld ................393
7 Layout tab 397
7.1 Document Setup ..............399
7.2 Title pages ...................403
7.3 Staff spacing .................405
7.4 Magnetic Layout ..............409
7.5 Auto Breaks ..................413
7.6 Breaks ......................415
7.7 Layout and formatting ..........419
7.8 Attachment ..................423
7.9 Working with parts ............425
8 Appearance tab 429
8.1 Music engraving ..............431
8.2 House Style ..................437
8.3 Note spacing .................441
8.4 Music fonts ..................445
10 Review tab 447
10.1 Annotations .................449
10.1 Comments ..................451
10.2 Highlight ...................453
10.3 Versions ....................455
11 View tab 457
11.1 Document view ..............459
11.2 Zoom ......................463
11.3 Invisibles ...................465
11.4 Panels .....................467
11.5 Window options .............469
Glossary 471
Keyboard shortcuts 481
Visual index 489
Index 497
iv
Introduction
1
Introduction
2
The story of Sibelius
The story of Sibelius
Twins Ben and Jonathan Finn first began work on Sibelius when they were students in 1987,
and spent six years of their spare time developing a vast range of sophisticated features, with
an intuitive user interface and built-in intelligence that had never been seen in previous music
programs. In 1993, after graduating from Oxford and Cambridge Universities, the Finns
started their own company to sell the program, unsure of what to expect.
Sibelius proved to be an instant success, and over the course of the following decade the
Finns’ company grew beyond all expectations, with offices in the USA, UK, and Australia,
and customers in more than 100 countries worldwide.
In 2006, Sibelius was acquired by Avid, makers of Pro Tools, Media Composer and other
industry-standard products for digital media production and music creation, and continues to
go from strength to strength. In fact, it’s the world’s best-selling music notation software.
Sibelius First itself was introduced in 2008. A simplified version of Sibelius suitable for home
use, it produces the same beautiful scores as its big brother, but with some of the more esoteric
or advanced features removed.
Who uses Sibelius?
Famous Sibelius users include conductor Michael Tilson Thomas, composer Steve Reich, choral composer John Rutter, rock guitarist Andy Summers, jazz musician Jamie Cullum, and the
Royal Academy of Music, London. Top publishers such as Hal Leonard, Music Sales and
Boosey & Hawkes use Sibelius both for traditional publishing and to deliver music via the
Internet straight to a customer’s printer.
Sibelius First is designed to make writing and sharing music as easy as possible, for every kind
of musician—aspiring composers, arrangers and songwriters, students, instrumental teachers,
and more besides.
3
4
About this Reference Guide
About this Reference Guide
This Reference Guide is a comprehensive guide to all of Sibelius First’s features. For explanations of Sibelius First’s more basic features, and when familiarizing yourself with the program,
you will probably find it easier to refer to the tutorials, which you can find in File Help within
the program.
Chapters and topics
This Reference Guide is divided into 10 chapters, corresponding to the 10 tabs at the top of the
Sibelius First window, containing smaller topics. You will find a list of all these topics in the
Contents, though you will probably find the Index even more useful for finding information
on specific areas of the program. Check the Visual index if you know how you want something
to look, but you don’t know what it’s called. The Glossary explains musical and technical
terms.
On-screen reference
To start the on-screen Reference Guide, click the button at the right-hand end of the
ribbon tab bar, shown on the right, find it within Help in the File tab, or type the shortcut F1 or ?.
Whichever application your computer uses to view PDF files will open—on Windows this is
normally Adobe Reader, and on Mac it is normally Preview—and the on-screen Reference
Guide will appear. To navigate the on-screen Reference Guide, you can use the bookmarks and
Edit Find features built in to Adobe Reader and Preview.
Bookmarks are like a table of contents that you can have open beside the document you’re
reading, allowing you to jump to any chapter, topic, or even sub-heading in the Reference
Guide. To show bookmarks:
In Adobe Reader, choose View Navigation Panels Bookmarks; a panel like that shown
below left will appear at the left of your screen.
In Preview on Mac, choose View Sidebar Show Sidebar; a panel like that shown below
right will slide out of the right-hand side of the window.
5
To search within the on-screen Reference Guide, use the Edit Find feature, or alternatively:
In Adobe Reader, you can simply type into the Find box on the toolbar shown below left,
then use the next and previous result buttons to skip forwards and backwards.
In Preview on Mac, you can type into the Search box in the drawer, shown below right, then
click in the list of results to skip forwards and backwards.
Typography and cross-references
Names of computer keys, menus and dialogs are written like this.
The main way in which you find commands in Sibelius First is via the ribbon, a wide band of
command buttons that appear at the top of the screen when you click a tab like File or Home.
Each tab describes a related set of commands (Note Input, Notations, Text, Layout, etc.); when
you click a tab, the ribbon changes to show the buttons that let you use those commands. Each
ribbon tab contains a number of groups of related commands.
As a quick way of describing how to access a particular command, this Reference Guide uses
the following format: “choose Home Instruments Add or Remove” means “click the Home
tab, look for the Instruments group, and click the Add or Remove button.”
The ribbon is explained in greater detail on the following pages, so if this all sounds mysterious to you, don’t worry.
4.1 Clefs means “see the Clefs topic at the start of chapter 4 of the Reference Guide.”
Basic terminology
Most of the computer terminology used in this Reference Guide will be understood by almost
all readers, but has been included in case one or two of the terms are unfamiliar:
Some keys are labeled differently on different keyboards, particularly on Mac. For the pur-
poses of this Reference Guide, these are the conventions:
Mac symbol Mac name Windows equivalent
Command Ctrl (“Control”)
^ Ctrl None
Shift Shift
Option Alt
Return Return
Enter Enter (on numeric keypad)
(on main keyboard)
6
About this Reference Guide
Notice how, somewhat confusingly, the key labeled Ctrl (or sometimes Control, depending
on the model of your keyboard) on Mac is not the same as the key labeled Ctrl on Windows.
Mac shortcuts using Ctrl are very rare in Sibelius First, but where they appear, they are written using the symbol ^ (as it appears in menus etc. on Mac) to avoid confusion for Windows
users.
Sibelius First is almost identical on Windows and Mac, but where there are differences,
mainly in keyboard shortcuts, the Windows convention is listed first. For more information
on the differences between Mac and Windows keyboard shortcuts, Keyboard shortcuts at
the end of this Reference Guide, which lists all keyboard shortcuts available.
“Type Ctrl+A or A” means hold down the Ctrl (Windows) or (Mac) key and type A.
Even though A is written as a capital letter, don’t type Shift unless explicitly told to do so.
Similarly, for standard shortcuts like Ctrl+? or ? where both / and ? exist on the same key,
you actually type Ctrl+/ or / without using Shift.
Similarly, “Alt+click or -click” means hold down the Alt (Windows) or (Mac) key and
click.
To click something means to move the mouse arrow over it and click the left mouse button.
To right-click something means to point at it with the mouse and click the right mouse but-
ton. If you are using a MacBook or other portable Mac, to achieve the equivalent of a rightclick, hold the Ctrl key and click the trackpad.
To drag something means to point at it with the mouse, and then click and hold the left
mouse button while moving the mouse. To finish dragging, just let go of the mouse button.
A dialog is a window with buttons on. Some dialogs are divided into several pages and have
labeled tabs at the top, or a list box at the left-hand side, which you can click to switch
between pages of the dialog.
The numeric keypad is the rectangle of numbers and other characters at the very right-hand
side of your computer keyboard. (Notebook (laptop) computers usually don’t have a separate numeric keypad— Keyboard shortcuts for more information.)
“Return” is the large key to the right of the letter keys. On some keyboards it is labeled with
“Enter” or a special arrow symbol, but we always call it Return.
“Enter” is the large key at the bottom right of the numeric keypad. On some keyboards it is
unlabeled, but it still means Enter.
Less well-known terminology is in the Glossary at the end of this book.
American and British English
Sibelius First and this book use American English, but for the benefit of readers in other countries, some non-American terms such as “crotchet” are included in parentheses.
British readers may be interested to know that in America, both “bar” and “measure” are used
(so for universality we’ve opted for “bar”), and “staff” means British “stave.” Any British
readers who are offended by the American spelling of “center,” “color” and so on will just
have to use a pen on the screen.
7
8
Working with the ribbon
Working with the ribbon
The ribbon is the wide band of command buttons that appears at the top of the Sibelius First
window, housing all of the features of the program, organized according to task. In addition to
the ribbon, every Sibelius First document window also contains other useful controls.
The Sibelius First window
The picture below shows a typical Sibelius First window, so you can see where the ribbon is,
and several other useful controls at the top and bottom of the window:
Ribbon tabs
The ribbon
Document tabs
Quick Access Toolbar
(Windows only)
Information
read-outs
Title bar
Status bar Zoom controlsDocument view
Find box
buttons
Window buttons
(at top left on Mac)
Help button
Minimize ribbon
Switch tab
Open new tab
Here’s a quick guided tour to the Sibelius First window, starting at the top and working our
way down:
Quick Access Toolbar (Windows only): this has three important buttons: Save, Undo and
Redo. The Undo and Redo buttons also have menus attached to them, allowing you to
quickly undo or redo to any point since you opened the score. (On Mac, these options are
found in the File and Edit menus respectively.)
Title bar: this shows the filename of the document, and the name of the current dynamic part
or version being viewed (if applicable). On Windows, you will see an asterisk (*) after the
filename if the score has unsaved changes. (On Mac, you will instead see a black dot inside
the red close button at the top left-hand corner of the window.)
9
Window buttons: the title bar contains a set of buttons for working with the current window.
On Windows, these buttons appear at the top right-hand corner, while on Mac, they appear at
the top left-hand corner.
Minimize is the first of the three buttons on Windows, and the middle of the three on Mac.
Click this to make your score window disappear from the screen without closing the file.
Restore down/Maximize (called Zoom on Mac) is the second of the three buttons on
Windows, and is the third of the three buttons on Mac. This button resizes the document
window. Clicking this button toggles your window between maximum size or its previous
size.
Close is the third of the three buttons on Windows, and the first on the Mac. As the name
suggests, clicking this button closes the current window.
Find box: type one or more keywords into this box to see a list of suggested controls on any
of the ribbon tabs; very useful for finding something if you can’t remember exactly where it
is. As you type, Sibelius First shows a list of matching controls: use / to choose the one
you need, then hit Return to be taken there. Sibelius First helpfully highlights the control for
you.
Minimize Ribbon: the ribbon (described below) takes up a reasonable amount of vertical
space. If you want to see more of your score as you work on it, click the Minimize Ribbon
button. When you do, the ribbon disappears, leaving only the ribbon tabs across the top of
the screen. To make the ribbon reappear, click the button again to make the ribbon reappear
permanently, or simply click whichever tab you want to use to make the ribbon reappear
until you have finished making a choice from it, at which point it disappears again.
Help: click the ? button to open this Reference Guide in its on-screen form. You can find
further help in the File tab of the ribbon.
The ribbon: discussed in more detail below.
Document tabs: you can open multiple different views of the same document—e.g. a full
score and individual instruments’ parts—inside a single window, and switch between them
using these tabs. When you start a new score, only one tab will be shown, labeled Full Score.
You can open new tabs using the + button at the right-hand side of the document tab bar, or
through other options that switch the view (e.g. hitting W switches between the full score
and the dynamic part corresponding to the current selection).
Open new tab: this + button shows a menu that allows you to open a new tab containing a
different view from the current score, including dynamic parts and saved versions. You can
also choose New Window, which opens the current tab in a new window. You don’t have to
click the button itself to open the menu: simply right-click anywhere along the document tab
bar to do the same thing.
Switch tabs: if you have many tabs open at once, you may not be able to see all of the names
of the tabs clearly across the width of the tab bar. Click this button to show a menu listing all
of the open tabs in the current window, allowing you to quickly switch to any of them.
Status bar: the status bar runs along the bottom of the window, which gives you information
about the current document and has some useful buttons for quick access.
Information read-outs: at the left-hand of the status bar is a series of useful read-outs. From
left to right: the current page and the total number of pages; the total number of bars; the
instrument on which the current selection resides, if there is one; the range of the current
selection, if there is one; the timecode of the current selection; the pitches of the selected
notes (or the first note or chord of a passage if you have a range of music selected); the harmony of the chord made up by all of the selected notes at the start of the selection, displayed
as a chord symbol; a description of the current operation (e.g. Edit Passage or Edit Text);
whether or not the current view is currently displayed at concert (sounding) pitch or trans-
10
Working with the ribbon
posing (written) pitch; whether Layout Hiding Staves Focus on Staves is switched on;
whether or not Magnetic Layout is enabled or disabled for the selected objects; and/or the
font and point size of the selected text object.
Zoom controls: at the right-hand end of the status bar is a slider with—and + buttons at either
end that allow you to change the zoom level of the current view quickly and easily. To the
left of the slider is a read-out of the current zoom level, expressed as a percentage.
Document view buttons: to the left of the zoom controls is a set of buttons that allow you to
switch between different types of view quickly, for example between showing the pages of
your score laid out horizontally and Panorama view. These buttons are also found on the
View tab of the ribbon.
The ribbon tabs
The ribbon itself is split into 10 tabs. The first tab, File, is unlike the other tabs: clicking it
hides the score altogether and instead shows you a special view called Backstage, which contains everything you might want to do with a file (as opposed to what you might do to a file,
which is what the other nine tabs are for). From the File tab you can create, open, save and
close files, import and export them in different formats, print music out, share your music
online, get detailed help, and more. (The first chapter of this book is devoted to the operations
you can perform from the File tab.)
The other nine tabs are ordered roughly according to the order in which you typically perform
tasks while working on a score, so as you make your way from the start of a project towards its
end, you will typically work your way through most of the tabs of the ribbon from left to right.
(This book is likewise ordered according to the order of the tabs.)
These nine tabs contain the following kinds of commands:
Home: basic score setup, like adding or removing instruments and bars, plus key editing
operations, including clipboard operations and Sibelius First’s powerful filters.
Note Input: commands relating to alphabetic, step-time and Flexi-time input, plus note edit-
ing operations, compositional tools such as explode/reduce, and transformations such as retrograde, inversion, and so on.
Notations: all of the basic markings other than notes, rests and text, including clefs, key and
time signatures, special barlines, lines, symbols, notehead types, etc.
Text: font style and size controls, choice of text styles, plus lyrics, chord symbols, rehearsal
marks, and bar numbering options.
Play: choice of playback configuration, mixer, transport (playback) controls, options for how
Sibelius First should interpret your score during playback, and features for writing music to
video.
Layout: document setup options such as page and staff size, staff spacing, hiding staves,
Magnetic Layout, plus some formatting controls.
Appearance: options that affect the visual appearance of your score, including note spacing
and instrument name format, plus commands to reset or change the design or position of the
objects in your score.
Review: add sticky note comments or highlights and create and view multiple versions of the
same score.
View: change the layout and size of the music on the screen, show or hide various “invisi-
bles” and other helpful markings that provide useful information about your score, hide or
show extra panels for advanced operation, and arrange or switch between the open document windows.
11
Groups and controls
Each ribbon tab contains a number of groups, which organize related commands together. The
name of each group is shown below the names of the individual commands in gray text, and
groups are separated from each other by a vertical line:
The picture above shows the Common, Lines and Symbols groups from the Notations tab.
Each group contains one or more controls of various types, including buttons, buttons that
open menus, split buttons (where half the button is a regular button and the other half opens a
menu), checkboxes, combo boxes and galleries, which are menus with special features. Galleries come in two flavors:
Drop-down galleries: these may look a lot like normal menus, displaying their contents as
text, or they may display their contents graphically. Unlike regular menus, galleries typically
list options organized by category, which can then be filtered (see below). An example of a
textual gallery is Home Select Filters. All of the buttons in the Notations Common group
shown in the picture above use drop-down graphical galleries.
In-ribbon galleries: these galleries are embedded directly in the ribbon, allowing you to see
the first few items in the gallery without opening it. In-ribbon galleries allow you to scroll up
and down the list using the scroll arrow buttons at the right-hand end, or to open the gallery,
making it appear like a drop-down gallery. Notations Lines and Notations Symbols both
contain in-ribbon galleries, shown in the picture above.
Depending on the width of the window, the ribbon will do its best to display as many as possible of the controls in all of the groups on the current tab. Some controls may be stacked vertically to save space, or perhaps even hide their textual description. If space gets very tight,
some groups may end up collapsed, which means that instead of showing each of its controls
directly on the ribbon, all of the controls are collapsed behind a single button, which shows the
whole contents of the group below the ribbon when clicked, like this:
In the picture above, several of the groups on the Layout tab are collapsed, and the Staff Spac-
group has been opened by clicking the button that represents the collapsed group.
ing
Sibelius First has so many commands that in order to ensure every group on every tab is not
shown collapsed, your screen display has to be at least 1920 pixels wide!
12
Working with the ribbon
Keyboard access
The ribbon includes a number of time-saving features to help you to learn and get around the
program quickly, chief among them the ability to access every command via the keyboard
using key tips. Key tips are special shortcuts that take you straight to a command, whichever
ribbon tab it is on.
To show key tips, simply hit Alt (Windows) or Ctrl (Mac): you don’t need to hold the key
down. A small overlay appears below each tab’s name:
To access a tab, simply type the key tip shown for that tab. For example, type L to switch to the
Layout tab:
Now type the key tip shown (usually two letters) for the command you want to use.
Once you have set the focus into the ribbon by hitting Alt (Windows) or Ctrl (Mac), you can
also navigate around the tabs and the controls in each tab using the arrow keys or Tab and
Shift-Tab, then use either Space, Return or Enter to activate the button or other control that is
currently in focus.
Screen tips
Every command in the ribbon also has an extended text
description, which appears if you hover your mouse over
it for a moment. These descriptions are called screen tips,
and they provide useful additional context on each command.
On the right, you can see the screen tip for Home
Clipboard Select Graphic
. Notice how a keyboard shortcut is shown in parentheses after the name of the command. Unlike key tips, which can only be used in
sequence after hitting Alt (Windows) or Ctrl (Mac), this
kind of keyboard shortcut can be used from anywhere,
and furthermore you can customize them if you want to.
Launching related dialogs
Some groups in the ribbon have a small extra button in the
bottom right-hand corner called a dialog launcher button,
which when clicked, you will be surprised to learn, launches
a dialog containing further options relating to the commands
in that group.
In the picture above, the mouse pointer is over the dialog launcher button in Layout Document
, which launches the Document Setup dialog, in which you can change the page size,
Setup
orientation and margins with additional options over and above those on the ribbon.
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Saving your working environment
Sibelius First automatically keeps track of the arrangement of windows and tabs while you are
working on your score, so that it can restore them the next time you open it. When you re-open
a score you have worked on before, Sibelius First will:
Open the document window to the same size and position you had used when you last closed
it.
Open all the tabs that were open when you last closed it, and bring the last-used tab into
focus.
Set the zoom level and type of view to the same as those used when you last closed it.
Restore the settings on the View tab of the ribbon for which “invisibles” (useful things that
display on the screen but are not normally printed out) should be shown.
Open the panels (such as the Mixer, Ideas panel, etc.) that were open when you last closed it.
Notes for upgraders
If you have upgraded from Sibelius 6 First, Sibelius 6 Student or earlier, you may be a little
disorientated when you first run your new version of Sibelius First and see that the old menus
and toolbar have been replaced by the ribbon. But don’t worry: you’ll soon get used to it, and
before long you’ll find it much clearer than before. The Find in ribbon box at the top right-hand
corner of the ribbon is an invaluable tool in searching for features that you have temporarily
mislaid.
Here, broadly speaking, is how to find things in the ribbon according to the menus used in earlier versions of Sibelius First:
File menu items are now found in the File tab.
Edit menu items are split between the Quick Access Toolbar (for undo and redo), Home tab
(for selecting, filtering and coloring), Notations tab (for multiple voices) and the Text tab (for
chord symbol settings). You can still access a cut-down version of the Edit menu by rightclicking on a selection in your score, just as in previous versions of Sibelius First.
View menu items are found in the View tab.
Notes menu items found in the Note Input tab.
Create menu items are split between the Notations and Text tabs. You can still access the
Create menu by right-clicking on the score window with nothing selected, just as in previous
versions of Sibelius First.
Play menu items are found in the Play tab.
Layout menu items are found in the Layout tab, except for Reset Design and Reset Position,
which are on the Appearance tab.
Plug-ins: the most useful ones appear individually on the ribbon next to related features of
the program. The Home tab also has a dedicated Plug-ins gallery with even more plug-ins.
Window menu items are found on the View tab.
Help menu items are found in the File tab, in the Help pane.
As far as possible, keyboard shortcuts are the same as in previous versions of Sibelius First, so
power users who have memorized a lot of shortcuts should feel right at home.
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Undo and Redo
Undo and Redo
Two of the most important features in Sibelius First are undo and redo, which allow you to
move backwards and forwards through the edits you have made since you opened the score
you’re working on. How you access undo and redo is, unusually, different in the Windows and
Mac versions of Sibelius First.
Windows users
On Windows, undo and redo are found on the Quick Access Toolbar, which appears in the top left-hand corner of each Sibelius First
document window, as shown on the right.
To undo the last thing you did, click the left-pointing arrow, or type
the shortcut Ctrl+Z. You can click the menu part of the button to
show the undo history menu: click on any item in the menu to undo
directly to that point.
To redo an operation you didn’t mean to undo, click the right-pointing arrow, or type the shortcut Ctrl+Y. As with undo, you can click
the menu part of the button to show the redo history button. The
most recent operation you undid is at the top of the list, so click the
top item to redo one step, the second item to redo two steps and the
bottom item to redo everything you undid and get back to where
you were. (If you see what I mean.)
Mac users
On Mac, undo and redo are found in the Edit menu. Choose Edit Undo, or type the shortcut
Z to undo the last thing you did. The Edit menu tells you what the last thing you did was, in
case you have a very short memory. (Well, it tells you the last thing you did in Sibelius First—
it won’t say Undo Sneeze, entertaining though that might be.)
Edit Undo History (shortcut Ctrl+Shift+Z or Z) lists all the recent operations you’ve done,
and lets you hop back to a particular earlier point in time. The most recent operation is at the
top of the list, so click the top item to undo one step, the second item to undo two steps and the
bottom item to undo as far back as you can go.
To redo an operation you didn’t mean to undo, choose Edit Redo, or type the shortcut Y.
Again, the Edit menu tells you what it was you just redid.
Edit Redo History (shortcut Ctrl+Shift+Y or Y) is like Undo History, but lists all the things
you can redo after you’ve done a load of undoing.
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Connecting external MIDI devices
Connecting external MIDI devices
There are three steps to setting up your external MIDI devices: connecting the hardware,
installing the necessary software (if any), and then setting up MIDI in Sibelius First. This topic
takes you through the first two steps, and the last step is described in 3.12 Input Devices on
page 179.
Connecting MIDI devices to your computer
MIDI stands for Musical Instrument Digital Interface. It is a standard, not a thing—the universal standard for connecting electronic musical instruments together. MIDI keyboards, synthesizers, sound modules, samplers and other electronic music gadgets can all be plugged into one
another with MIDI cables, and can also be plugged into your computer. Virtual instruments
and software synthesizers are also MIDI compatible, and as they’re already in your computer
you don’t need to attach cables at all in order to play music back.
All modern MIDI devices, such as controller keyboards, have USB connections, enabling you
to connect your MIDI keyboard directly to your computer using only one USB cable.
For older MIDI devices without direct USB connections, you can connect a separate MIDI
interface to a USB port on the back of your computer, and plug your MIDI device into the
MIDI interface using MIDI cables.
Connecting MIDI devices directly via USB
All new MIDI keyboards and other devices can connect directly to your computer’s USB
sockets without the need for a separate MIDI interface. To install one of these devices, simply
connect a USB cable (which may be provided with your device) to your computer, and follow
the on-screen instructions to install the necessary driver software, if any.
Once any required drivers are correctly installed, you can set up input and playback in Sibelius
First— 3.12 Input Devices.
You should switch on the power on your USB-connected MIDI devices before running Sibel-
ius First. Failure to do so may result in Sibelius First not correctly detecting your MIDI device
when it loads. Be aware that some bus-powered devices, meaning devices that have no separate power supply unit and draw power directly through the USB cable, will only work reliably
if connected to a USB socket on your computer, not on an external device such as a USB hub
or, say, your Mac’s keyboard.
Connecting MIDI devices via a MIDI interface
A MIDI interface is a small box that sits between your computer and your external MIDI
devices, sending MIDI data back and forth. MIDI interfaces usually connect to a USB port on
your computer. You would only need a MIDI interface if your external MIDI device doesn’t
have its own direct USB connection.
MIDI interfaces often require additional driver software, which will be supplied by your
device’s manufacturer.
We’ll assume your MIDI interface connects via USB, and
show you a common MIDI setup. Connections between MIDI
devices all use standard MIDI cables, pictured on the right.
To plug in just a MIDI keyboard, connect its “Out” socket to the MIDI interface’s “In” socket.
This means that music played on the keyboard will go out of the keyboard, along the cable and
in to the computer.
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To make the computer play back music into the keyboard (e.g. if the keyboard has sounds built
into it), also connect the MIDI interface’s “Out” to the keyboard’s “In.”
If your keyboard has two “In” or “Out” sockets, it usually doesn’t matter which you use—
they’re just convenient duplicates of each other.
So connecting up such a keyboard looks like this:
If you want to connect just, say, a sound module, rather than a keyboard, simply connect the
MIDI interface’s “Out” to the sound module’s “In.”
Once you’ve connected your MIDI devices to your computer, you can set up input in Sibelius
First— 3.12 Input Devices on page 179.
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File tab
File tab
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1.1 Working with files
1.1 Working with files
This topic explains saving scores in Sibelius format, and (for more advanced users) how to
access files containing custom Sibelius First settings (e.g. house styles). The other topics in
this chapter will tell you how to share files with other people, whether or not they have Sibelius First, and how to import and export files in various formats.
Creating a score
There are several ways to start a new score in Sibelius First— 1.4 Starting a new score.
File size
Sibelius files typically occupy around 20K plus 1K per page (excluding any imported graphics), even for band or orchestral music. This means you can fit literally millions of pages on
your hard disk, and even huge scores can easily be sent by email. So even if your name is J.S.
Bach, disk space is unlikely ever to present a problem when using Sibelius First.
Saving
Saving works just like in any other program, using File Save As (shortcut Ctrl+Shift+S or
S) and File Save (shortcut Ctrl+S or S). In addition to being able to save Sibelius scores,
you can also export other formats, such as MusicXML, MIDI, audio, video and PDF; for more
details, see the relevant topics in this Reference Guide.
A convenient place to save is the Scores folder that Sibelius First has helpfully created for you.
On Windows, the Scores folder is created inside your My Documents folder; on Mac, it is inside
your user Documents folder.
When you next open the score after saving, it will open at the point at which you were working
on it when you saved, with the window in the same position, the same panels and windows visible, and even at the same zoom factor.
Auto-save
Sibelius First can automatically save your score at timed intervals so that, should your computer crash, the most work you can lose is a few minutes’ worth. Rather than saving your
actual file, Sibelius First makes a copy of your score and saves it into a special hidden folder.
If Sibelius First doesn’t shut down correctly (for example, if your computer crashes or there is
an interruption in power), the next time you start the program, it checks the special folder, and
if it finds any scores in that folder, you will be asked if you want to restore them.
When you close Sibelius First normally, it deletes all the files in the special folder—so it’s
essential that you don’t save any files in there yourself!
Backups
Each time you save, the score (with a version number added to the name) is also saved in
Backup Scores in your Scores folder. If you ever accidentally delete or mess up a score, look in
this backup folder to get the latest version you saved, or earlier versions too. This folder stores
the last 200 scores you saved; older copies are progressively deleted to stop your disk from
filling up, so don’t use this folder to store your own backups!
Backup scores are created when you save manually, not each time Sibelius First auto-saves;
but unlike auto-saved scores, backup scores are not deleted when you close Sibelius First.
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Catalog information
The File Info pane can be used to enter information about your score, such as its title, composer, arranger, copyright, and so on, which is automatically used when you publish your score
on the Internet ( 1.17 Exporting Scorch web pages). You will find that several fields are
already filled in if you specified title, composer, etc. at the time you created your score.
The right-hand side of File Info shows you useful details about your score, such as the date it
was created, when it was last saved, how many pages, staves and bars it contains, and so on.
The values you enter into the fields in the File Info pane can also be used as wildcards in text
objects throughout your score. For details on wildcards and how to use them in Sibelius First,
5.12 Wildcards.
User-editable files
The standard files included with Sibelius First are non-deletable; you should not change anything inside the installation folder itself (or the application package—sometimes known as a
“bundle”—on Mac), which is where they are stored.
Your own (user-editable) files are stored in specific folders inside your user account’s applica-
tion data folder of your computer, the location of which will differ depending on the operating
system you are using:
Windows: C:\Users\username\Application Data\Avid\Sibelius\
MacOSX: /Users/username/Library/Application Support/Avid/Sibelius
On Windows, you can go quickly to this location by clicking the Sibelius First (User Data)
shortcut in the Sibelius First program group in your Start menu. The application data folder is
hidden by default and will not be otherwise visible in Windows Explorer. If you wish to access
this folder via Explorer, go to Control Panel and click Folder Options from any open Explorer
window. Click the View tab and from the Files and Folders list choose Show hidden files and
.
folders
Inside the Sibelius First application data folder you will find various folders whose names
indicate the content they contain. (On Mac, it is possible for there to be no folders at all, as
they are only created when you create or edit a file that is saved in that location.)
You can copy any appropriate file to the user area directories and Sibelius First will use it
when you next start the program. Files you have added or created can also be deleted with no
ill side-effects.
Scorch templates and textures
You can create your own Scorch templates and paper/desk textures. Place them inside the rele-
vant folder in the application data folder, and Sibelius First will detect them. Scorch templates
go in the folder called Scorch templates, and textures (in Windows BMP format only) in the
folder called Textures.
Quick Look (Mac only)
Quick Look is a feature built in to Mac OS X that allows you to preview instantly the contents
of your documents directly from the Finder, without having to wait while you open the applications that created them: simply select the document in the Finder, and hit Space. Many documents also show thumbnail previews on the desktop and in Finder windows, and if you set
Finder windows to use Cover Flow, you can flip through folders of documents very quickly.
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1.1 Working with files
Sibelius First fully supports Quick Look, so instead of the usual document icon, you will see a
thumbnail of the first page of the score: select it and hit Space (or click the Quick Look icon in
the Finder) to see a larger preview of the score. You can scroll through pages by grabbing the
scroll bar at the right-hand side of the preview.
Spotlight (Mac only)
Spotlight is Mac OS X’s built-in search engine. Simply click the Spotlight icon at the top righthand corner of the screen, or type the keyboard shortcut -Space, and type the search term
you’re looking for. You can search for Sibelius scores using Spotlight, simply by typing the
filename, or indeed any bit of text you know is contained within (e.g. title, composer, lyrics,
instrument names, and so on). Once you’ve found one or more scores, simply hit Space to preview it using Quick Look (see above), or double-click to open it in Sibelius First.
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1.2 Sharing and emailing files
1.2 Sharing and emailing files
It’s easy to share music you have written in Sibelius First with other people.
To learn more about how you can easily publish and share your music online (including as
audio tracks or videos), see 1.3 Sharing on the web.
Sharing files with other users of Sibelius
If the person you are working with also has Sibelius or Sibelius First, then simply send the file
by email (see below), or on removable media such as a USB flash drive or CD-R.
Find out what version of Sibelius the person you’re sending files to is using. If they have the
same or a later version of Sibelius as you, you can simply save your file as normal and send it
to them. If, however, they have an earlier version of Sibelius (or are using an earlier version of
Sibelius Student or Sibelius First), you will need to export your score in an earlier file format
before emailing. Fortunately, Sibelius First makes this very easy—Sending files via email
below.
Sharing files with people who don’t use Sibelius First
If the recipient doesn’t have Sibelius First, there are a number of other means of sharing files
with them:
Share scores with Sibelius | Cloud Sharing— 2.9 Sibelius | Cloud Sharing.
If the recipient has an iPad, ask them to download and install the Avid Scorch app. Save and
attach your score to an email for them to open on their device— 1.16 Exporting to Avid
.
Scorch
Ask them to download and install the trial version of Sibelius First from www.sibelius.com,
then send the file to them. After the trial expires, it can only print a single, watermarked
page, so if you want them to be able to print your score, this isn’t the best way.
Publish the music on your own web site— 1.17 Exporting Scorch web pages.
Export a PDF of your score and send it to them— 1.18 Exporting PDF files.
If the recipient has another music program and wants to listen to and perhaps edit your
music, send them a MIDI file ( 1.13 Exporting MIDI files) or, preferably, a MusicXML
file ( 1.14 Exporting MusicXML files).
If you want to send your music to somebody else so they can hear it, but you don’t need
them to see the score, you could also export an audio file from Sibelius First and then either
burn it to an audio CD or compress it into an MP3 file and send it via email—
1.10 Exporting audio files.
If you want to send your music to somebody else so they can hear it, and you do need them
to see the score, you can export a video file from Sibelius First— 1.11 Exporting video
.
files
If you want to publish your music online for people to view and print—or use a video- or
audio-sharing service—Sibelius First can export a suitable file and upload it directly to your
Score Exchange— 1.3 Sharing on the web.
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Sending files via email
Sending files by email is very easy, using Sibelius First’s built-in emailing feature. Simply
choose File Share Send Using Email and enter your email address at the top of the pane, then
type the email address of the person you want to send your score to, along with any message
you wish to send, and click the Send Email button:
By default, Sibelius First also sends a copy of the email and attachments to your email address,
which allows you to keep track of emails you’ve sent previously—if you would rather not
receive copies of the emails you send in this way, simply uncheck Send me a copy of this email.
Using the various options above the message details, you can choose to send any combination
of:
A Sibelius First score, which is also fully interchangeable with Sibelius.
A file for opening in a previous version of Sibelius.
PDF files of the score and or parts.
By default, Sibelius First sends a Sibelius First score and a PDF file (of the score only).
If you choose to send a file for opening in an earlier version, you can choose which version (as
far back as Sibelius 2) from the drop-down list. When you send the email, Sibelius First
exports a copy of the score in the earlier format and attaches it to the email.
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