Danish version
On this site you'll find choir rehearsal files with accompanying sheet
music in PDF format of various choral works.
I am an amateur singer (second bass
in Chorus Soranus, Sorø, Denmark). For my private rehearsals I primarily use my
computer.
Rehearsing
I have previously used Cyber Bass but found it cumbersome and
user unfriendly - especially for Mac users. Searching for an alternative I first
looked at professional music notation programs like "
Finale" and "
Sibelius"
however both of them are pretty expensive. Finally I came across an impressive
piece of software: the Open Source program "
MuseScore" which to me has proven to
be more intuitive in use than the professional counterparts.
MuseScore
MuseScore has an
excellent online manual, a very friendly and helpfull user forum, introduction
tutorials on YouTube and finally -- it's free.
The program is available for
both Mac and Windows.
MuseScore has a comprehensive list of features
for
creating and editing music scores, too comprehensive to be covered here, so
suffice to say: As an amateur singer I have found these features invaluable:
- During playback you can simultaneously follow text and music
- You may
temporary change (lower!) the tempo at any time
- You may change the volume of
each individual voices and accompaniment - usually I amplify my own voice
- You
may continually repeat sequences of meassures
"
Hvordan bruges MuseScore" is a
very brief introduction to the above - so far only in Danish.
Sheet music and rehearsal files
You can access the MuseScore files I've made from
the Danish home page of Cafe Puccini. Generally I have created a separate page for composers represented by more than one score.
Some scores are entered in MuseScore from the original score, others are constructed based on MIDI files available on the web. Unfortunately for the latter the accompaniments are not always satisfactory, however I have prioritised to get the choral parts in the scores correct.
Several scores are created from
Finale files created by Leif Møller who is tenor of Chorus Soranus. Leif has done a tremendous job creating a major part of Chorus Soranus current repertoire in
Finale. However
Finale is required for using these files and you'll need the full version if you really want to have control over the playback of the scores. This you get for free in MuseScore. I have chosen to convert the
Finale scores via XML to MuseScore. With Leif's permission, I have made the
Finale files available as well.
All scores are available in PDF format for printing without using MuseScore. For some larger works I have created a single PDF file of the entire work - just to print out for your choir.
Proofreading isn't what it used to be, so I'd love to receive feedback of errors found in the scores. Please contact me at: jw (at) cafe-puccini.dk.
Giacomo Puccini
Finally: I've made a page (alas only
in Danish) about one of the greatest opera composers
Giacomo Puccini. The page
is intended as an easy introduction to his operas with suggested
"highlights" for beginners not familiar with his works.
Sorø, February 2017.