Welcome to the blog where I share techniques that help you work faster and more efficiently with Sibelius, so that we can do less and do it better.
Project Management 103
Now it’s time to look at the next piece of the setup: the project note. This is where I track conversations, decisions, preferences, and everything that doesn’t belong on a checklist—but is too important to leave in my head.
When a new project enters my system, a dedicated project note is created automatically.
Like with the to-do list, this isn’t about which app you use. Use whatever tool you like—the Notes app, a Google Doc, a physical notebook if that’s your thing. I use Obsidian, mainly because it lets me link notes together in a flexible way. But again: this post is about the system, not the software.
What’s Your Territory?
There’s a quiet joy in having a room where things are just mine.
Not mine to own, but mine to work in.
In The War of Art, Steven Pressfield calls this your territory – a place you return to, not for applause, not for permission, but for sustenance. Arnold Schwarzenegger had the gym. A painter has the studio. A runner has the trail. A monk has the mat.
I have the score.
Project Management 102
If you’re working on a creative project—whether it’s an orchestration, a concert arrangement, or a full score prep job—your instinct might be to just sit down and start writing music. And sure, the music is the core. But over time, I’ve learned that if I don’t manage the before, during, and after of a project properly, I pay for it later.
So let’s talk about the humble to-do list—and why it matters more than you think.
Espresso, Orchestration, and the Discipline of Small Things
There’s a saying I keep coming back to: The way you do anything is the way you do everything.
At first, it sounds like motivational fluff. But over the years, it has quietly become one of the most practical ideas in my life. Not a rule, not a pressure – just a lens. A way to see the connection between the small and the large. The trivial and the meaningful.
This post is about how I’ve come to believe in that connection – through shirts, espresso, phrasing, and a few burnt collars.
Project Management 101
In my line of work, a lot of what people notice happens at the very end — the clean score, the successful session, the files that arrive exactly as expected. But the real foundation for all that happens long before any notes are written. It begins with how I set up the project.
This Year, I’m Not Writing a Symphony Before Breakfast
There’s a particular kind of January optimism that smells like cinnamon, brand-new calendars, and overly ambitious to-do lists. Each year, we sit down and declare war on our bad habits. This year, we say, I’ll wake up at 5am. I’ll run. I’ll meditate. I’ll write a symphony. Sometimes all before breakfast.
Year’s End Reset
December is noisy: deadlines, shopping, family logistics. But once the concerts are played and the cookies are eaten, there’s a pocket of silence. Everyone has their out-of-office set until the first Monday of January anyway, so the world slows down. Those quiet days are my favorite time for a “Year’s End Reset.” It’s not a reinvention. It’s more like defragmenting a computer—clearing the buffer so future projects run smoothly.
🎬 Proofreading Checklist: What the Score Hides (and the Parts reveal)
Every orchestrator knows this moment: the score looks perfect — but once you extract the parts, things fall apart. Missing dynamics, unclear slurs, or a mute marking that never made it across.
That’s why I treat the split/condense process as more than housekeeping. It’s a built-in proofreading step. Below is some of my personal checklist — three things I always double-check when moving from score to parts:
Fast Dynamics in Sibelius
Typing dynamics in Sibelius is fine… until you realize you’ve typed ⌘E more times than actual notes. Select the note, create expression, type pp, escape twice—by bar 50 you’re basically a stenographer.
Finale users love to brag about their “one-touch” dynamics. Fair enough—they’ve had it for years. But Sibelius doesn’t have to be slower. With a few macros and a smarter setup, it can be just as quick—sometimes quicker.
Here’s the system I use:
When the Arrangement Clears the Way
In previous posts, I’ve written about how orchestration isn’t just about color—it’s about clarity, hierarchy, and making sure the right thing is heard at the right time.
This time, I want to show how much of that clarity can already be built into the arrangement itself.
And how, with just a bit of orchestration, you can make a score balance itself.
Getting Tempo Markings Right (Without Lifting a Pinky)
I got tired of messing it up.
Every time I tried to type a tempo change in Sibelius, I’d forget something: bold in the wrong place, a period instead of a dot, or lowercase when my house style clearly prefers Title Case. None of it was catastrophic — but each tiny fix meant another round of zooming in, selecting, retyping, or nudging things into place. And honestly, I’d rather not.
So I built a Keyboard Maestro macro to take care of it. It asks for the details, formats everything exactly the way I like it, and enters it like a well-trained assistant — no Manuscript Language, no Sibelius plugins, just fast, clean keystrokes.
Clarity by Register: Orchestrating Strings Like Schumann
When orchestrating for full orchestra, we often rely on color to do the talking: clarinets smooth things out, horns give nobility, trumpets bring presence. But when you’re working within a string ensemble — especially in exposed chamber-like passages — color is off the table.
What you do have is register.
And if you learn to control it well, you can create clarity, balance, and direction without needing to touch a single fader.
Shortcut Symphony: Orchestrate Your Workflow with Ease
One of the easiest places to start with automation when you already have a Mac is with the built-in app Shortcuts. It was introduced to iOS and macOS after Apple acquired the Workflow app, which was built around a similar structure.
At first, I didn’t see the use of it for myself, since all the example shortcuts felt gimmicky—things like ‘Remind me at work,’ ‘How many days until…,’ and ‘Send the last photo as an email.’ These didn’t add much value to my workflow. So, in this post, I’ll take you through some Shortcuts I actually use on a regular basis.
Templates 105: The Hidden Power of the Global Clipboard
Now that you’ve been crafting your own templates, setting up custom lines with special shortcuts, you’re probably flying through heaps of scores in no time! People are starting to look at you in awe, and suddenly, everyone wants you on their project. For a chance to break through, you should definitely accept every offer that comes your way.
Don’t Bow Out: Mastering Bowing Input with Automation in Sibelius
I recently found myself in a situation as rare to an orchestrator as Halley’s Comet to the human eye: I was tasked with putting bowings into the parts. Mind you, I already had the bowings from a previous performance, so all I needed to do was input them for the next one. The catch? Everything had to be done in the same Sibelius file as the score, and the score already contained some bowings—added at the orchestrator’s discretion. That meant I needed a (smart) way to insert a whole lot of symbols that could be easily hidden in the score.
A Touch of Genius: Automating Fourth Harmonics in Sibelius
Despite the extensive discussion of string harmonics in orchestration books, 60% of the time, the straightforward “touch 4” artificial harmonic is always used for session recordings.
In practical terms, this means stopping the string at a pitch two octaves below the desired note and lightly touching the harmonic node a perfect fourth above. When notated, this technique produces the same pitch.
Spotlighting Conflict: Keyboard Maestro’s Bar Line Palette in Sibelius
You’re in the middle of crafting your next great opus. The bassoon ventures a little high with ledger lines? No problem! Just press Q to navigate to the tenor clef and hit Return. Your need for bitonality has vanished, and you want the key signature of D major? Easy peasy! Press K, type ‘d ma,’ find it, and press Return. You’ve settled on a hymn for the final section? No problemo! Press T - 4 - Tab - 4 - Return to quickly insert 4/4 time. You want the last section to repeat; no problem… Wait, there’s no shortcut for barlines?
Sib-Sub: Precision Window Control with Keyboard Maestro
Now that you’re practically playing the keyboard as if Alex Acuña were an accountant, you’re probably eager to take things to the next level. You’re programming everything you can, yet still finding yourself reaching for the mouse in unexpected situations.
Templates 104: Custom Lines
One of the great things about creating your own custom template is that you can make choices regarding the aesthetics of the score and parts, establishing a consistent house style. Reading some of the excellent books and manuals on engraving can provide you with valuable insights into what to look out for. One aspect that can greatly improve the appearance of the score and parts is the design of the octave lines.
Hyper Key to Harmony
BetterTouchTool is by far the smallest app that does the heaviest workload, yet I spend the least time thinking about it. It’s an incredible bridge between input devices and the Mac, serving as both a macro app and a key ingredient in getting Shortcuts to work.