Hello! This week I am on the road, but my live events will still be their regular schedule - just using my "mobile" setup.
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In ​Practical Counterpoint​, we are continuing our work on Renaissance forms and language by beginning the process of creating our own motets.

Mastering MuseScore

If you are interested in getting the most out of the world's most popular music notation software, join our community with a Mastering MuseScore membership for the most comprehensive training & expert support available!

MuseScore Café

This week in the MuseScore Café with Marc Sabatella, I showcase my favorite customizations. From keyboard shortcuts to templates to toolbars to palettes to special-purpose workspaces, I've set up a few things to help me work efficiently. You might find some of the same customizations useful, or you might get ideas for things that will work better for you, but either way, I hope you are inspired to optimize your own workflow!

Tip of the Week

When new versions of MuseScore are released, they can always read files created in older versions. But the reverse is not always true. When a new "major" update comes out - going from MuseScore 1 to 2, or 2 to 3, or 3 to 4 - it's to be expected that older versions cannot read files created in newer versions part of why the major version number changes in the first place. We don't usually expect "minor" updates - from 4.1 to 4.2 to 4.2 to 4.3 - to create these sorts of incompatibilities, but sometimes they do. The recent 4.3 update is such an example: files saved in this version can't be opened in 4.2. Normally that isn't an issue since there is no reason not to simply update, but occasionally you might need to save a 4.3 score in a format that someone who is using 4.2 can open. In this video post, I show you how to hack the score in a way that will allow this when necessary. Not something most people will ever need, but if/when you do, you'll be glad to know how!

Musicianship

If you are serious about learning music - theory, composition, improvisation, and more - become a Gold-level member and receive access to all of our music courses and workshops, as well as exclusive benefits like my weekly Office Hours, in addition to our acclaimed Mastering MuseScore resources.

Music Master Class

This week in the Music Master Class with Marc Sabatella, we discuss the motet as a form and look at some example openings and the process of creating them.

In Theory

Many Renaissance forms such as motets, masses, and madrigals make extensive use of imitation and polyphony in ways that can make it difficult to see what is going when first looking at a score. In this video post, I show how to quickly get a sense of the overall structure of a motet or similar form.