::sigh:: The music, Clarice, the music...
/Yesterday I finally moved “EXPORT MUSIC!” from the TO DO column to the DOING column on my kanban board.
Background: Finale, the music program I have used since version 1.0, pulled the plug on its own life support system back in August. They have been very good about supporting all of us veterans as we scramble to move our music into another program — a topic to which we will return soon enough — up to and including allowing anyone with an earlier version to upgrade to Finale 27 so that (and this is the important part) they can export all their Finale files into a universal file format called .xml or .musicxml, files that can then be opened in another program.
Ugh.
I started at the top of my music folder and just started opening every single file, exporting each and every one.
First the good news: Finale showed a willingness to open files that were so old that they didn’t even show a Finale icon any more.
More good news: I found sketches and ABORTIVE ATTEMPTS that I did not remember at all, and more than a few were quite cromulent. I’ve moved them to a project folder to inspire me to start working seriously on that project. (It could happen.)
I also discovered pieces that I realized did not need to make the transition to the Next Life. We salute them for whatever it was they hoped to be.
A bit more good news: I found as I opened each file that updating the instruments used in the piece (from one sound file to another) produced much better .aiff exports.
Having said that, it was a pain in the tuckus to do all that, particularly since Finale has a menu item allowing you to define the parameters of an .xml export, including the option to set a preference to export as the uncompressed .musicxml, and yet every export required me to reselect that format in the dialog box.
Ugh.
You see the rest of the folder? I have to get all that updated and exported fairly soon, because Finale told us that the program would still work as long as it worked — and then announced in September that Apple’s new OS would break it. So rather than set up some Byzantine tech thingie where I run an outdated OS to get all this done, I’m just waiting until I get all the music squared away to update.
Besides, having to learn and then execute such a tech plan successfully is just unearned TASK AVOIDANCE.
All in all yesterday, I managed to get 63 files updated and exported. That got me to the Christmas Carol folder, and that’s where I started drinking.
Last note: The two programs I am sniffing around are Steinberg’s Dorico and MuseScore, an open-source program. After I exported one hefty work, I opened the file in both programs, and both opened them quite well. I also tested the difference between .xml and .musicxml files in terms of accuracy and sound quality, and I couldn’t really tell. I stayed with the uncompressed file format just to be on the safe side.
Embarrassing update: Before anyone gets ready to inform me smugly, I finally discovered the option to convert an entire folder of Finale files to .musicxml files. The actual conversion is going much more rapidly, although of course I’m not getting to update instrument/sound files or perhaps create better .mp3s for distribution. Oh well. Turn, turn, kick, turn — yes, it will work!!
