This weekend I finally got a chance to take the music notation software LilyPond for a spin. I had heard of the open source project and was anxious to try it out. As a former Finale and Sibelius user I must admit to being a bit skeptical about its capabilities. I was pleasantly surprised to find the documentation and examples on the website helpful in getting started. For my first attempt with the software I kept it simple. Since my eight-year-old son is now taking piano lessons, I decided to compose a simple Minuet in the Baroque style. Here is an excerpt of the beginning of the Minuet that LilyPond created:

To create a piece you simply need a text editor. Being a programmer I chose my favorite editor TextMate. Before beginning to create my masterpiece (ahem) I did a quick check to see if there was a TextMate bundle for LilyPond. Low and behold there was. An hour-and-half later I had completed the piece and was impressed by the results. LilyPond creates a MIDI file for you as well if you tell it to. Getting it to follow the repeats took a little work, but once I found the right command, it worked fine. Below are all of the Minuet files:

Minuet in G (.ly)
Minuet in G (PDF)
Minuet in G (.mp3)
Minuet in G (MIDI)

The .mp3 file was created by importing the MIDI file into GarageBand, selecting two different MIDI instruments, and exporting. Check out the PDF link above to see the final output. Then take a look at the .ly file to see how LilyPond and Textmate make beautiful music together.

Tags: composing, lilypond, Music, notation, notation software, review, software, textmate