Sibelius 7 Reference Book Sheet music

But what can I expect? It's just what it states--a reference book. It's meant to be accessed when I have questions. It's to be used as a handbook when needed, not read on a floating lounge in the middle of a pool with an umbrella and pina colada. I definitely think it has everything you could possibly ever want to know about Sibelius 7. Unless, of course, you authored this book.More helpful for me was watching the introductory tutorial in the Sibelius 7 software and diving into projects, learning as I went. Save your $40 unless you're getting a doctorate in this software...or if you really need to know Sibelius inside and out. As a commercial music major in college, I haven't needed more than the tutorial. I use this software daily sometimes. I'm sure I'll use the book at some point. But that hasn't come yet.

This book was written for a person with a much higher degree in music. I am an engineer and got a minor in music. Thought I would try to write some music since I retired. I use the software and was hoping for a much more basic approach to using the software. The book is good but a bit too advanced for my limited knowledge.

I don't know how anyone survives without this. I use it constantly and it is very helpful. It doesn't answer everything however, so some occasional frustration remains.

Nice to have a printed book in addition to the pdf available in the software.

very necessary book if you have Sibelius, you need this book.The chapters are laid out very well and the content is engaging.

Just what I needed! The delivery was earlier than I expected.

Great price for excellent product.

One of the very great strengths of Sibelius is the reference manual, written by Daniel Spreadbury, the longtime product manager. The reference manual ships with Sibelius 7 as a PDF file--this book is the printed text. So if you're comfortable reading the PDF file, this book won't give you anything more.But--one of the magical things about Sibelius is how much you learn about all types of music beyond what instruments you play. And how much more you learn about notation and composition (and theory of music) about your own instrument. And--at least for me--a lot of that discovery has come from sitting down with the manual and paging through it.Because this is not your typical user's manual.Daniel Spreadbury writes extremely well, and with a delightful sense of humor. This isn't a compendium of meaningless gibberish--it is the kind of book from which you post quotes to your Facebook wall. Example: Sibelius works with MIDI--a music industry standard for connecting instruments, computers, software applications, and all sorts of things. In theory it's easy--in practice, not so much. Here's how the Sibelius Reference introduces the subject:"MIDI is that most rare of beasts, a standard set by a number of different manufacturers that is universally implemented and supported. This sounds too good to be true, and it is, because in order to understand exactly how MIDI works, you need to be able to speak Martian."The manual then goes on to spend 7 pages on the most cogent, useful explanation of MIDI messages that I've ever seen.The best feature of the Reference (and it's in the PDF version, too) is the "Visual Index"--a series of scores with callouts showing the name of the notation item, and where you can read more about it. This is terrific when you're confronted with a piece of music you're not familiar with--and there are odd squiggles above the staff that you don't recognize. Flip to the back of the book, find the particular squiggle in question, and then flip to the appropriate section--where you'll learn what that squiggle means.I've been a Sibelius user for 10 years--I cannot recommend this Reference highly enough.

Really clear and easy to use. If only the Sibelius software came supplied with this rather than a PDF it would make life so much easier!