Written by Katrina Proctor, content manager at Midnight Music.
A brand new major overhaul to MuseScore, MuseScore 4.0, was released late last year as a result of a new team in charge of development. This new version of the still completely FREE music notation software includes several major redesigns and exciting new features for musicians and music educators. In this blog post, we’ll explore seven of the most exciting changes in MuseScore 4.0 that music teachers need to know about.
From an updated look and feel, new ways to create beautiful scores, reimagined input, and even brand-new digital instrument voices, MuseScore 4.0 is a pretty brilliant redesign that’s especially exciting for potential use with your older students. So whether you’re a beginner yourself or a long-time user of MuseScore, and especially if you’ve tried it and written it off in the past, you’ll definitely want to read on to learn more about what’s new in MuseScore 4.0!
Just a quick note: MuseScore is only available on Macs and PCs. There is no currently available app version of MuseScore.
MuseScore 4.0 has a new, sleek visual interface
Maintaining a modern, easy-to-navigate interface is essential in any program but especially one that needs to be accessible for everyone, from professional musicians, music teachers, and even students! With the release of MuseScore 4.0, the user experience is now better than ever before! This new version has incorporated not only a sleek visual interface but also light and dark modes, personalized accent colors, plus an updated high-contrast accessibility mode for better visibility.
Additionally, the layout of menus and panels has been completely redesigned using feedback from hundreds of musicians — drastically increasing ease in finding what you’re searching for. The best part? All of these features make creating music easier (and more fun!) than before!
MuseSounds: Brand new sample plugins and lifelike sample libraries for more realistic instrument playback in MuseScore
If you’re a music teacher, then you know how important a good set of instruments and playback can be for you or your students. It’s the difference between a score sounding “ok,” to a score sounding incredible – an incredible motivator! With the new MuseSounds plugins in MuseScore 4.0, you can now choose from a larger variety of realistic-sounding orchestral plugin sounds and sample libraries. MuseSounds are a fantastic way to enhance your playback experience and open up new possibilities for your music!
MuseScore 4’s new audio engine and playback system
MuseScore 4.0 brings exciting new potential to the classroom and studio with its redesigned audio engine. This system allows for enhanced VSTi plugins – virtual studio technology instruments – which means you now have the added ability to fine-tune the three-dimensional sound and effects of instrument voices to make playback even more authentic and lifelike!
If you’re interested, check out this video of film excerpts being played in MuseScore 4:
MuseScore 4’s improved selection tool is now more powerful than ever
As music teachers, many of us know the pain of not being able to find relevant settings for elements after we click them! It’s been frustrating in the past to have to constantly sort through menus and tool panels to find the thing we are trying to edit. No more!
One of the most exciting new features that MuseScore 4.0 has to offer is the redesigned “Inspector” panel that is now called “Properties.” This feature allows you to easily select one or multiple elements within a score, and then, depending on what you click on or multi-select, will change what options are available in the properties panel like magic!
Overhaul of input, engraving, and tempo recognition
The new version of MuseScore boasts a comprehensive overhaul of its input and engraving system (how accents, notes, measures, and systems align). This update works hard to ensure better spacing, especially between beams, slurs, ties, and horizontal spacing of measures. Overall, there is now a more aesthetically pleasing overall appearance and an intuitive layout to a score that enables users to make the most out of their score’s space which makes it easier than ever to get work looking exactly how you want.
Additionally, tempo markings and tempo lines like ritardando and accelerando are now more easily playable and recognized in MuseScore 4.0!
New easier ability to edit parts within a score
MuseScore 4.0’s new “Parts” panel allows you to delve into an individual part and make changes quickly – no need to create a separate project. Whether it’s rearranging voices, modifying settings, previewing an individual part with accompaniment, or linking staves together (such as for guitar tablature), the “Parts” panel allows you to preview each part to look as it should in individual and full-score views.
Saving files to the cloud
MuseScore has also finally added better and more reliable (and FREE!) cloud storage for scores. When you go to save your score, you’ll now have the option to save scores locally (on your computer) or into the cloud. This is not the same as sharing a score publicly! Each cloud account is private and allows you to save scores to work on later, share with others, or eventually publish on the MuseScore website, but it leaves the decision to you when the time is right.
Conclusion
MuseScore 4.0 is an incredible upgrade to the already powerful music-scoring software, and it’s filled with features that will make creating beautiful scores easier than ever before! With its redesigned audio engine, selection tool, input engraving system, and tempo recognition capabilities, this version of MuseScore has truly been overhauled with the musician, educator, and beginner (even students!) in mind. If you’ve tested out MuseScore before and found it too “clunky” to use, I highly suggest taking another look at this completely free software before automatically defaulting to a paid program.
In the end, it’s still not quite on par with the advanced features of paid programs like Dorico, Finale, or Sibelius, but with this major update, it’s a LOT closer than before! And for teachers, especially, MuseScore is a really incredible free platform for your older student composers, especially those just starting out (and way more cost-effective for your budget).
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About the Author
Katrina Proctor is the Content Manager at Midnight Music and is also a former music teacher from Colorado, USA. She taught middle school music for nearly 10 years in northern Colorado, where her passion is low-income students in Title 1 schools. Katrina has taught 5th-8th grade chorus, advanced-level chorus, class piano, general music, band, and orchestra. She has her Bachelor’s Degree in Music Education & Master’s Degree in Music Education-Choral Conducting from the University of Colorado at Boulder. You can connect with Katrina on Facebook or via her website, She The Teacher.
Looking for More Resources for Music Teachers?
Hello! I’m Katie Argyle – an Australian music technology trainer and consultant with a passion for helping music teachers through my business Midnight Music.
I’m a qualified teacher but no, I don’t currently teach in a school. I help teachers through my online professional development space – the Midnight Music Community – where there are tutorial videos, courses, links and downloadable resources.
I like to focus on easy ways to incorporate technology intowhat you are already doing in your music curriculum through a range of creative projects. I also run live workshops and have presented at countless conferences and other music education events.
If you want simple, effective ideas for using technology in music education, I would LOVE to help you inside the Midnight Music Community.
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3 Comments
I like how you described the improved selection tool, the overhaul of input, engraving, and tempo recognition, and the new ability to edit parts within a score. I’d like to try free cloud storage option for scores. Thank you!
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