Carla Hennes, MakeMusic employee and vocalist with the Elizabethan Syngers.
Season’s greetings from your friends at MakeMusic. To celebrate the season, we’ve created a collection of holiday music — available as Finale 2012 files — as our gift to you. It’s our hope that you can use this gift to share the joy of music this season.
Anyone can download these files and enjoy them with the free Finale SongBook (our iPad app that’s perfect for caroling) or play and edit them with the free Finale NotePad. Prefer to use Finale? You’ll want to upgrade to Finale 2012 (if you haven’t already) to access this music.
Building upon holiday collections we’ve provided in the past, this year’s additions include classical guitar arrangements and a selection of carols formatted specifically for use in SongBook. (They even play back to assist melodically-challenged carolers like me.) Don’t have an iPad? We’ve also included the same pieces formatted for letter-sized paper. All lyrics use a new lyric font optimized for use on the iPad. (If lyrics look funny to you in Finale, download the new Mac font pack.)
Not sure how to move files from your computer to your iPad? Here are three options:
- Use e-mail. Select the Finale files you want to use on your iPad, attach them to an e-mail addressed to yourself and send. Open your e-mail on the iPad, click on an attached Finale file and, when prompted, open the file with SongBook.
- Use DropBox. Select the files you want to transfer and drag them to your computer’s DropBox folder. Go to the DropBox app on your iPad and choose a Finale file you want to use. When DropBox says “Unable to view file,” tap the “open-in” icon in the upper right-hand corner of the screen and select “Open in SongBook.”
- Use iTunes. Connect your iPad to your computer and open iTunes. In iTunes, click the Apps tab, then scroll down to “File Sharing.” Select “SongBook” in the Apps menu. You can now drag your Finale files to the “SongBook Documents” window. Hit the “Sync” button and all of your files will be transferred to your iPad. The advantage to this method is that many files can be transferred with just a few clicks.
Once you’ve downloaded your files to the iPad, I suggest setting up a caroling set list. For tips, look in the SongBook library for a document titled “3. How to create and edit a SongBook Setlist.”
I also suggest you check out all of the holiday pieces. In addition to the vocal and guitar selections, you’ll find many piano pieces, from pre-reader to advanced, as well as instrumental solos, duets, and trios.
Finally, I’d like to share one more holiday-themed music opportunity. On December 8, Trombone Christmas will magically appear in Anaheim, California. There’s still time to preregister to join the performance, or to simply make plans to attend. Details at: http://www.trombonechristmas.com/