Re: lilypond

[D Josiah Boothby]

> These days I'm a composer and I use Sibelius 4 as a composition tool, and the 
> thought of learning a new language is rather daunting.

This may or may not be helpful, but it is not a difficult language, as 
languages go.

> Do composers use Lilypond as their primary work system?

I do, and I suspect others do. Granted, my needs are fairly easy to meet, 
since I'm not doing very much with nonstandard notational practices. 
However, in my experience with Finale, there's a point at which the 
advantages of the computer (neatness and time savings) are outweighed by 
the needs of the notation, and at that point, it is best to work by hand.

> It seems to me that one needs to have a piece already written, on paper 
> perhaps, and then input it to your program. Or am I off track here?

Since I've never been able to use Finale or Sibelius as anything more than 
a typographical tool (I can't compose directly into them... I am very 
rarely capable of composing at the computer), I would give the same advice 
for lilypond as for anything else. Have it on paper, at least one draft, 
then put it into your program of choice. This is just the way I work, 
though, so I don't know if it works for you.

Josiah