Musette+Music

**Citation and General Information**
Title: Musette Music/Song Editor ([]) Author: Don Rowe (Canzona Music) [] Publisher: Canzona Music Copyright Date: 2003-2007 Platform: Windows 95 or higher Grade: Middle School, High School, College, Adult Type of Class: General Music, performance ensembles (director use), music theory class, composition/arranging class

Teacher Support
Musette Music/Song Editor is a free music notation software for download. The website listed provides a comprehensive video tutorial (requiring Windows Media Player) which discusses how Musette can be used (see Instructional Content). Its fundamental application is creating and editing notation of MIDI files, and the author has provided links to several sites where quality MIDI files of various genres can be found. This software is not explicitly educational and is not accompanied with lesson plans or student booklets. The author, however, does provide links to a number of sites which provide some instruction including a detailed document on standard notation (voice ranges, rhythmic durations, ledger lines, accidentals, etc.) by Donald Byrd of Indiana University. The site is also linked to //Music Essentials// which provides biographies and descriptions of musical styles, eras, composers, and also a glossary of 200 musical terms.

Instructional Content
The program is designed to teach students how recordings translate into printed notation. The user starts the program and opens some form of audio (i.e. MIDI). The program asks what the standard unit of rhythmic length is in the piece (i.e. half note, quarter, 8th, etc.) and a notated version of all voices being played in the song file appears on the screen. The student can then adjust the piece in any way he/she chooses. The "Draw All" palate appears to the left of the screen and includes every symbol associated with standard notation including all note values, bar lines, staffs, key signatures, time signatures, accidentals, dynamic markings, embellishments, and musical instructions (fermata, DS al Coda, etc.). All of these symbols for notation can be easily manipulated and, hence, taught through using this program. Students can also notate from a blank document using Musette.

National Standards Addressed: 2. Performing on instruments, alone and with others, a varied repertoire of music. 3. Improvising melodies, variations, and accompaniments. 4. Composing and arranging music within specified guidelines. 5. Reading and notating music. 6. Listening to, analyzing, and describing music.

Instructional Design and Pedagogical Soundness
This program would be useful for the educator attempting to provide his/her students with opportunities to compose. Students with home computers could possibly download the program themselves as it is completely free. The performance ensemble director could also use Musette to arrange songs for a school band, orchestra, or choir. For example, the director listens to a recording of a piece that would be suitable for his/her school jazz band, he/she opens the MIDI file from Musette and begins to use Format to indicate what parts are needed. The director can then rearrange any of the standard notation on the screen simply by clicking on the symbols and moving them. Notes and bar lines can be moved, and ties and beams can be adjusted in this fashion. The "Draw All" palate (available through File>Draw All) sits in the foreground the entire time and the user simply has to click on the item needed from the palate and drag it into the appropriate location. Musette does not attempt to edit the space between note durations so that they are equal. The user places the notation where it appears easiest to read. Cutting and pasting small or large sections of music is also very easy. An interesting application to Musette is that an entire passage can be selected and then resized as if it was its own image. Because of this simple manipulation, most young students will not struggle using this program if they understand the notated symbols. The downside to this is that the program is not capable of creating the types of documents that Sibelius 5 or Finale are. Musette can also transpose an entire piece or just one part. The zoom in and out function is also readily available at the bottom of the screen. The program also allows the user to select how many staffs (or grand staffs) are shown on one page, and individual measures can be manually moved to another line. By clicking File>New, Musette users can also create a new document to write music on. Students can simply use the Draw All palate to click on the note value they need and drag to to its appropriate location on the staff. Notes are easily moved and also deleted. By clicking "Sing" on the Draw All Palate, students can type in lyrics and adjust them to their appropriate location. This program is user friendly and easy to play with for young students. Musette clearly illustrates learning through discovery and no pacing is provided by the program. The teacher will need to provide specified guidelines for composition or arranging assignments to determine the pace of student progress.

Record Keeping
Students can save their compositions onto a computer or onto a disk (as a .mus file). Projects could be e-mailed to the teacher. An inventory of MIDI files could also be shared among a class through e-mail.

**Overall Rating**
Again, the Musette's interface is very simple and the writing process occurs through a manual click and drag format. Even young middle school students would be able to use the program with some instruction from the teacher. The website is extremely informative and even includes descriptions of what each new version of Musette has provided. The author is currently on V2.911. He is interested in user feedback in order to create a quality product. He accomplishes this by allowing users to download a new experimental version before it has been released ([|http://www.musettemusic.com/beta.shtml)] and then providing a [|Message Board] for comments. The teacher may want to consider creating basic compositions (or opening a preexisting MIDI file) through Musette before students begin working with the program from scratch. In this way, students could be given shorter tutorials which slowly help them discover how they can manipulate standard notation in order to compose or arrange music. Students can be given the freedom to use more creativity in subsequent tutorials. The fundamental hindrance of Musette is that the program cannot be used to create complex sheet music documents, especially if the user is inputting notation from scratch. However, educationally, Musette could be a great resource in showing students how music is created. It is designed to be "quick, easy, and fun," as described by the author. Overall Rating: *** (3 of 4 stars) Reviewed by: Damon Harvey 10/31/2009