Notations

Video narrated by Daniel Spreadbury, Senior Product Manager for Sibelius.

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Slurs

Sibelius now has the most beautiful and controllable slurs of any program. Not only is their default design and position even better in all kinds of situations, but you can adjust their shape using no fewer than six handles, and alter their thickness individually.

New Engraving Rules options also let you control the default height and shoulder for different slur lengths.

Cautionary accidentals

Sibelius now adds cautionary accidentals all by itself wherever they’re needed, so you’ll get fewer wrong notes in performance. It should do just what you want by default, but as usual we’ve included various options you can tweak: these include where to use cautionary accidentals (e.g. up to the end of the next bar, between different octaves or voices, or when tying notes between systems), and whether to draw them in parentheses.

Repeat bars

You can now add 1-, 2- and 4-bar repeats from the Keypad, which now play back just like anything else. Multiple repeat bars can also be automatically numbered (without using a plug-in), so performers won’t lose their place.

Jazz articulations and slashes

Scoops, falls, doits and plops can now be added to notes quickly from the Keypad – no need to use symbols. Like other articulations, they are automatically positioned and transpose with the notes, but you can also move them individually. Jazz articulations even play back on suitable MIDI devices (e.g. Garritan Jazz and Big Band).

Slashes now stay put when the rest of the music transposes, making rhythm charts quicker to produce. Other jazz improvements include enhanced chord symbols, which you can input faster than ever from your computer or MIDI keyboard).

Modern notations

Sibelius now includes optional stemlets (‘half-stems’) for rests in beamed groups. You can either use stemlets throughout the score, or add them to individual rests from the Keypad. There are various other improvements and options for beamed rests too, even without stemlets.

Sibelius 6 also has automatic ‘feathered’ beams, for showing brief accels/rits. Again you choose them from the Keypad, and they even work on two-note tremolos.

In addition to Schoenberg-style Hauptstimme and Nebenstimme lines, you can now create extreme tuplets with ratios between 1:4 and 4:1 (previously limited to 1:2 and 2:1), which is useful for special cases.

 

Other notations

Wiggly arpeggio lines can be added to spread chords instantly, straight from the Keypad. They’re attached to notes, so room is automatically allowed for them, and they transpose with the notes too. Use a normal wiggly line, or one with an up- or down-pointing arrow.

You can now make ties break across time signatures (see picture), by being drawn behind them. In fact, you can make any object go in front of or behind any other, like in many drawing programs. This is particularly useful for putting imported graphics in front of or behind staves.

Articulations are positioned better than ever – among various improvements, they’re automatically drawn inside or outside slurs or tuplets depending on the situation, with a host of subtle new options. You can also reposition multiple articulations on the same note individually rather than all at once.

Finally, Sibelius 6 includes over 40 new instruments, including several unusual trumpets and flutes, and many General MIDI instruments from Rock Organ to Tinkle Bell, plus improvements to existing instruments.

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