NOTION Music Forum

Check out this great blog post by Jonathan Savage:

http://jsavage.org.uk/?p=3457

Why Notion should be the first choice for music notation (and other) software for your school …

The commercial world of music notation software in the UK has been dominated by two giants: Finale and Sibelius. But times are changing. Finale has no interest in the education market in the UK; Sibelius, since being bought by the US firm Avid, have neglected the UK education market and I’m hearing numerous stories of unhappy teachers struggling with expensive site licences and little, if any, customer support.

But there is an alternative – Notion Music. Notion have a fantastic piece of music notation software that has gone down a storm in all the Roland Champion Schools that have used it over the last few months. It is easy to install on a school network, it has a fantastic sound library and, get this, it is supported by a superb range of mobile applications that integrate seamlessly into the main software itself. Furthermore, all the old Finale or Sibelius files that you have can be imported simply into Notion.

These things are impressive. But there is a more important reason why I think that Notion’s software should be the first choice for music educators in the UK. It comes down to people. Notion have a committed team of educational staff based in the UK to help you with your use of the software. They are at the end of the line, or just an email away, should you need technical or pedagogical support. I know this is a fact. I’ve seen it working. Teachers have been delighted with their support. So, for this reason (and all the other benefits that the range of Notion products have), I think that music teachers should abandon their loyalty to Sibelius (and, to a lesser extent, Finale) and embrace a third way – the Notion way.

In preparation for this post, I asked Richard Llewellyn (the education director for Notion in the UK) to send me an update of the latest work being done by Notion to integrate their main software packages with mobile technologies. I’m pleased to attached that file here. Please have a read through and, more importantly, seriously consider purchasing Notion for your school. You will not regret the move. And you’ll have a team of dedicated educators there to support you should you need it.

I am very pleased with the acquisition of N3. The value is excellent! However, too many requests remain unanswered.

This is the weak point of the organization.

There is a lack of availability or perhaps a lack of dynamism. (?) I give up sometimes report difficulties because I do not like my posts go unanswered ...

I just stopped using Notion and changed to Sibelius because there was no improvement for one year. I don't believe that I can get it work with Reaper. In my opinion Notion has the best user interface and a good sound library, but Sibelius has much more functionality (for nearly the same educational price!).
My feeling of the difference between Notion and Sibelius (which I bought two weeks ago) is that Notion is more a sort of a toy and Sibelius is more a big monolithic application with all advantages and disadvantages.
Maybe I will return to the beloved Notion interface after the next update for PCs in 2045 -- or did somebody mention a real ETA?

klushund wrote:I just stopped using Notion and changed to Sibelius because there was no improvement for one year. I don't believe that I can get it work with Reaper. In my opinion Notion has the best user interface and a good sound library, but Sibelius has much more functionality (for nearly the same educational price!).
My feeling of the difference between Notion and Sibelius (which I bought two weeks ago) is that Notion is more a sort of a toy and Sibelius is more a big monolithic application with all advantages and disadvantages.
Maybe I will return to the beloved Notion interface after the next update for PCs in 2045 -- or did somebody mention a real ETA?

I can assure you the update will occur before 2045.....

You're really going out on a limb there Kyle

wcreed51 wrote:You're really going out on a limb there Kyle

Just doin' my job

First choice for music EDUCATION? Probably so; I would agree both Finale and Sibelius have indeed seemed to steer away from this focus. The uses that Notion has in the classroom are limitless and Notion Conducting is really top notch; the possibilities are scary. Music NOTATION? I'm sorry, but comparing N3 with Fin/Sib as 'Notation' programs is still apples and oranges. Although N3 has made and still makes improvements to the engraving aspects of the program, it still would be very difficult to produce printed parts that meet professional engraving standards (M.O.L.A. standards for instance).

tubatimberinger wrote:First choice for music EDUCATION? Probably so; I would agree both Finale and Sibelius have indeed seemed to steer away from this focus. The uses that Notion has in the classroom are limitless and Notion Conducting is really top notch; the possibilities are scary. Music NOTATION? I'm sorry, but comparing N3 with Fin/Sib as 'Notation' programs is still apples and oranges. Although N3 has made and still makes improvements to the engraving aspects of the program, it still would be very difficult to produce printed parts that meet professional engraving standards (M.O.L.A. standards for instance).

I would argue that producing notation solely for engraving use is far from it's only application. That's like saying that if a car can't compete in a NASCAR race it isn't a car.