I pleased to announce that the Second Edition of my book, Sibelius: A Comprehensive Guide to Sibelius Music Notation Software, is now shipping. See below for how to order a desk/reference copy from the publisher, Hal Leonard.

New Features
The new edition includes dozens of new graphics, text and examples of how to use features introduced in Sibelius 5 and 6 including:

• Using the Ideas Window for composing and arranging
• Entering and editing chords and notation with the onscreen keyboard and fretboard.
• Using Magnetic Layout to save time formatting parts and scores
• Inputting a Live Tempo, so the score tempo follows the one you play in real time
• Working with Sibelius Sounds for enhanced playback of your scores
• Syncing Sibelius with Pro Tools and other DAW software to work with notation and audio simultaneously.

The book, co-authored with Vince Leonard, is designed for beginning and experienced Sibelius users. The book is the result of teaching Sibelius in workshops over the past six summers. The unique aspect of the book is that each chapter features a complete musical example that the user enters.

Each chapter gets more and more complicated covering virtually all of the basic and not- so-basic Sibelius features. There is a complete index and the book covers a wide range of examples from single staves to a full score with video. Several users of the first edition tell us that they use the book as their general index to Sibelius because the index is complete and comprehensive.

Companion Website
There is a companion website designed to be used with the book atwww.sibeliusbook.com which is being updated with the new files for the chapters. From the site home page, you can download the complete table of contents and a sample chapter (Chapter 2). The website includes many files that can be useful when teaching courses on Sibelius, such as partially completed files for most chapters.

Request Desk Copy
If you are teaching a course that involves Sibelius and considering using the book as a text, you can request a review/desk copy from the publisher, Hal Leonard by going to their website:

http://halleonardbooks.com/deskCopies.jsp

Information you will need to supply includes:

Title: Sibelius a Comprehensive Guide
Publisher: Hal Leonard (March 2011)
Paperback, 460 pages
Language: English
ISBN 978-1-4234-8847-7
Retail Price: $29.95

The book is also available from music companies and resellers and onwww.amazon.com. They also offer a Kindle version of the book and you can download the first chapter for free on the Kindle. Note that currently the “Look Inside” Amazon feature has not been updated from the first edition, but if you order it from Amazon, you will receive the Second Edition.

I welcome your feedback on the new edition.