Noteflight Composition

           Above is my transcription of "A Bicycle Built for Two" using the online music notation program- Noteflight. Noteflight was very easy to use and quite intuitive. Notes on the staff may be entered by using the mouse or by typing the letter name. I liked the fact that I could change the rhythm of a note by holding the mouse button and dragging the note to make the note value longer or shorter. This was convenient because each note value did not have to be preselected before inputting the note. It was easy to add measures to a song by clicking the + symbol at the end of the measure. It was also very easy to add dynamics, lyrics, and chord symbols to a song. The little palette box had all these musical features plus it tells you the shortcut to access them such as typing the letter K in order to input chord symbols. In order to add anything to a particular note such as staccato, slurs, or accidentals you just had to be sure that the particular note was selected. The user guide was also helpful to look up any additional questions about notating the music. The free subscription provides the user with 10 free scores, the use of 15 instrumental parts, and the ability to share and print the scores. For the price of $49.00/year or $7.95/month the user may create unlimited scores, print individual parts, and have access to midi note entry and audio mixing. There is also a teacher, classroom, and studio subscription in which students may be added and have access to all the features of Noteflight.
           It is inconvenient to download any computer program at my school because we have to request administrative access to our computer from the technology specialist, who is usually quite busy. Since Noteflight is an online application that does not require downloading I was able to use it at my school last week. One of my students is currently trying to create an orchestral arrangement of the Metallica song "Orion." On Friday I allowed this student to use my computer and input the musical notation using Noteflight. His response to the program was that it was very easy to use, it was a lot neater than handwriting, and it helped him to hear the music so that he knew what it was going to sound like and if any changes were needed. Since I do not have frequent access to a class set of computers I would use this program at school for students to create their final copy of their compositions.  Not only would it give their compositions a professional look but they would be able to share it with others online and I could print a copy for each student. Also, with the printed copies students could learn to play each other's compositions. Next week I am going to  introduce my students to Noteflight and demonstrate how it works. Interested students will then be able to sign up and explore the program further on their own. In the future I would love to use this program as a composition tool in which students would be able write music for two or more instruments. I will also be using Noteflight myself in order to create tablature songs for my guitar class and simplified orchestral parts for the beginning orchestra classes.