Special notations in Sibelius

How to notate every kind of music

Many different forms of music notation have evolved over the past ten centuries. With Sibelius, you can create scores in any of these styles.

Avant garde notation

Sibelius handles modern notations such as quarter tones (which play and transpose), complex tuplets (with multiple nesting), feathered beams, colored markings, extreme note values, music in multiple keys, and special note designs. To cover all eventualities, you can import graphics for invented notations and graphic scores.

Avant garde notation – all automatically handled

Guitar tab & chord diagrams

Guitar tab with Sibelius couldn’t be easier. You can input tab just like other music (using MIDI, mouse or keystrokes), or you can instantly convert notation to tab, or tab to notation.

Sibelius has comprehensive support for markings such as bends, slides, hammer-on and vibrato bar. These too automatically convert between notation and tab. You can even write tab for any fretted instrument (mandolin, banjo, lute, dobro...), in any tuning you like.

To get a chord diagram, just name the chord you want, and pick the frame from the choice given. In fact, Sibelius calculates all possible positions for any standard chord. And like tab, Sibelius produces chord diagrams for any fretted instrument, in any tuning.

Choosing chord diagrams; automatic guitar tab notations

Jazz, commercial & rock music

Chord symbols, drum sets, slashes and other popular notations are all included – plus the special Inkpen2 font to make your printouts look handwritten!

Jazz music using the special Inkpen2 font, to emulate handwriting

Early music

For early music, Sibelius easily notates ossias, figured bass, numerous ornaments, incipits, all C-clefs, special barlines (e.g. Mensurstrich), stemless notes and longs. It even writes and plays back lute tablature.

Early music