Toys to Organize

I used to spend hours upon hours hand writing out musical lead sheets; which is one way I now know how dang old I really am. Just recently I decided to do a Google search for songwriting tools and found a program that really is going to fit the bill for me - Finale Songwriter 2010.

The picture here shows on the right the handwritten lead sheet from the 80's. On the left, my first attempt with the new software. I'll bet I spent about 6 hours getting this noted down, this includes the fact that I haven't done this stuff for many years and I didn't have much of a clue as to how to use the software. Very cool.

I've still got a lot to learn with this new organizational tool, as I've just scratched the surface, but man, so far I love it. I figure a package to put together to submit to publishers needs to include a professional looking lead sheet along with a clean recording (not elaborate, just clean enough to get the song across and not distract) and a lyric sheet.

I'm learning from many sources, but a book that I'm finding helpful to get me into gear and hopefully in the right direction is "Songwriter's Market" 2009 edition that I bought on Amazon. I'm sure I'll get the 2010 soon to get up-to-date source information.