Creating a Lead Sheet Using Logic Pro X and Sibelius

Transcription

1 Creating a Lead Sheet Using Logic Pro X and Sibelius As part of your composition portfolio, you are required to create a lead sheet for your song. This guide explains how to complete the process 1. Create Melody Open Logic Pro X and record in the melody line of your song, to a metronome click. - Remember, it doesn t need to be the whole melody, just the first verse and chorus should be enough 2. Quantize and prepare your melody for export First, double click on the MIDI region you have created (green block) to bring up the piano roll. It should look something like this Now click in the space just to the right of the vertical piano

2 type cmd+a to select all the notes. They should all become highlighted, as below Now hit the Q button to quantize the inputted notes. You should notice them all subtly shift; now they all line up perfectly to beats in the bar. The default is set to 16ths (semiquavers). Go through the MIDI data and check if any notes are too short, or if any overlap Go through and shorten and lengthen notes as required.

3 Once you have finished editing the MIDI information in the piano roll, export selection as a MIDI file. Once this is done you can save and quit Logic Pro X 3) Import the MIDI into a new Sibelius document Launch Sibelius, once you are greeted with this screen, click on import

4 Select to import from a MIDI file Then locate your MIDI file. You will next be greeted by this screen; All the defaults should be fine, but make sure the use multiple voices option is unchecked. Then hit OK.

5 5) Correct the Sibelius file Your file will look something like this. There are things you can fix straight away, such as the title of the piece You may also find the tempo marking is very strange Next put the notation into the right instrument. Hit the i key on the keyboard to bring up the instrument menu. Locate the voice and hit add to score and OK.

6 Select the first bar of your imported notation Then hold shift and locate the final bar and select it Type cmd+c to copy the notes and select the fist bar of the voice instrument Then type cmd+v to past the notation onto the voice instrument It will look something like this

7 Now open up the instrument menu by typing i again This time select the original instrument (in this case it is called solo) and delete from score If your score has many notes above or below the main stave, than you need to either bring it up or down by an octave. Again, select the first bar then hold shift and select the final bar. Now by using the arrow keys on the keyboard, tap up or down seven times, to adjust by an octave.

8 In the process of correcting the information in the file, look for any notes that have been played in as too short. Here are two such notes REMEMBER the purpose of a lead sheet is to make a simple and quick to read document to inform musicians of the key information, so removing unwanted rests is a key task. Select the note that needs to be changed in rhythmic value. Next, click on the new value on the keypad This has neatened up and simplified the notation

9 Lastly, if you composed in a key/scale other than C major, you will need to put the correct key signature at the start of the piece. This piece is in D major, to add this in right click into a blank area on the page, then right click (or ctrl+click if you don t have the right click set up) and select Key Signature A range of options will be displayed. Find your key and left click upon it Your cursor will turn blue. Click at the top of the first bar

10 Now the correct key signature will display. Repeat this process if your piece has any key changes; obviously by clicking in the bars where the key changes. 6) Adding lyrics and chords To complete the lead sheet, you must add the lyrics of the song and the chord sequence. Once again, right click in the space on the page and and select lyrics line 1 Next click under the first word and begin to type Every time you hit space bar the flashing cursor will move onto the next note Be aware that some words have two syllables and that some notes get split in half and tie across the middle of bars or between bars When a word has more than one syllable like many in this example, break the word up with hyphens (-). When a word or syllable stretches across tied note values, like roads and man, hit a spacebar after typing the word to ensure the next word in the lyrics matches the right note.

11 You are only required to have the first verse and chorus of the piece notated, so you need to add the remaining lyrics underneath the score. You do this by right clicking in the blank space again and selecting Block lyrics Click under the score to create a box, then either type in or paste in your lyrics and format them.

12 Lastly, you need to add chords above the melody and lyrics You do this by clicking on the first note of the melody and typing cmd+k Type in the corresponding letter, in this case D. The chord will appear above the score. If it is a minor or 7 th chord etc. Sibelius will recognise this format it correctly. Continue through the piece and add all chord changes. If there is a rest in the melody where the chord change happens, simply click on the rest and type cmd+k to add the chord. At the end of the process, go through the whole piece to check for errors. You can click and hold to move elements around, incase it looks too crowded. For example, going from this to this

13 You should end up with something like this: Export the file as a PDF to submit with your work.