Notion For iPad

Music notation programs make so many things easier – saving, editing, and sharing charts, transposing with one click, consistency in the look, and formatting of charts, and so much more! I use Notion on my iPad, and Dorico on my desktop (although I still have versions of Sibelius and Finale active as well).

Notion is a tool that I use almost daily. I compose, arrange, build worksheets, and provide examples for students using the app on my iPad. While I am much more fluid at inputting my ideas on Dorico now than I was before, I still love the option to work when I’m not in my office.

Here’s how I chose Notion.

When I was in college (2005-2008), in both my composition, and arranging classes, all of my assignments were done by hand – no computers. We had copying parties – bringing in beer, and pizza to the first, and second year students to copy our big band scores, or our arranging assignments, and then playing through the arrangements to make sure it was done properly (because hand written charts have no automatic playback button. Haha!). It was all done by hand. I still love composing, and arranging with pencil on paper, and I feel like my ideas flow more naturally, I can keep track of my voicings, as well as see the “big picture” of the score.

Over time, I transitioned the bulk of my music for both teaching, and gigs, to my iPad, and eventually (after I upgraded to my iPad Pro, and Apple Pencil), started composing, and arranging using Notion.

Notion was an attractive app for me, because of the handwriting function (which is a paid feature). It allowed me to continue to “write” my music out. I could feel more connected to the ideas that I was inputting, because of the pencil, and paper idea, not inputting by keystrokes. It also saved me a step – I didn’t have to write everything out, and then slowly enter it into the computer (Sibelius, or Finale, and later Dorico). Also, as I mentioned above, the portability of the iPad with good notation software is a win for me (writing duets for students on the couch late at night has become a regular occurrence for me).

Notion’s purpose for me is strictly input. After I have the bulk of the work done in the app, I will then transfer it to Dorico, and format the piece. I like viewing the piece on the large monitor, and I can customize the formatting however I see fit. The XML transfer between Notion, and Dorico is pretty good – the pitches, rhythms, articulation, and dynamics all transfer well, but make sure that you’ve filled out all of your empty bars with rests, because the desktop programs don’t recognize empty bars. If you don’t, it’s a huge copy, and paste job into a new document.

Overall, the app has paid for itself several hundred times over, not just in arranging, and composing commissions, but in time saved. The ability to feel comfortable with the Apple Pencil, and the accuracy in which the program translates to Dorico keeps me using it while I’m away from my office.

I can definitely recommend it as a tool for someone who prefers to write charts by hand, or who need to work on the go frequently.

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