Music Scanning

Tips 'n' Trix

Tip:
Scan music, then transpose and print it out in the new key, quickly and easily.

The issue:
This is the number one request from the average user. This falls under the Fair Use provision of the Copyright Act if you own the music you are scanning and there is no commercially available piece in that key. We'll use SharpEye for scanning, then either Finale or Sibelius to transpose and print.

Start SharpEye. Use the "Acquire" function under the File menu to scan directly into SharpEye if the scanner is hooked up to your computer. Or use the "Open Image" function under the File menu to open a TIFF music graphic you may have scanned and saved on another computer.

Select "Read" from the "Read" menu in SharpEye. SharpEye will then interpret the picture of the music into something that can be edited.

Select "MusicXML>Save As..." from SharpEye's File menu and give it a filename. The file extension "XML" will be added to it. Make a note of which folder you saved it into so you can find it later.

If you want to send it to Finale for transposition, select MusicXML>Import from Finale's File menu and open the file you saved from SharpEye.
If you want to send it to Sibelius for transposition, select "Open" from the Sibelius "File" menu and open the file you saved from SharpEye.
To transpose the music in Finale, select Finale's Key Signature tool and double-click the first measure of the piece, then select the new key. Now you're ready to print!
To transpose the music in Sibelius, select the entire score, then select "Transpose" from the Notes menu, and be sure that the "transpose key signatures" checkbox is checked.

Visit the SharpEye page on Tempo's website

Index