This course will open for Fall enrollment in July 2025.
This course is designed to provide you with comprehensive training in music notation and score preparation using Dorico Pro. Over the span of 12 lessons, you will develop the skills to create professional-quality scores, lead sheets, and parts that meet modern music publishing standards.
In Music Notation Using Dorico Pro, we will emphasize efficient notation entry using multiple input methods, including mouse and keyboard, as well as step-time and real-time input via MIDI controllers. In addition to mastering the fundamentals of notation, you will explore advanced formatting techniques, including shortcuts to optimize workflow and enhance the speed and accuracy of the engraving process.
You will also gain proficiency in instrument-specific notation techniques, ensuring you can confidently notate for a wide range of instruments, including piano, guitar, drums, and ensembles of various sizes.
Throughout the course, Berklee Contemporary Music Notation, the required textbook, will serve as a key resource to reinforce industry-standard practices and guide the development of your professional notation skills.
By the end of this course, you will have created a portfolio of scores, including a lead sheet, small ensemble score, large orchestral score, and a custom template. You will also learn how to create audio mock-ups, share your work in various formats (PDF, audio, MIDI, MusicXML), and apply best practices for score layout and preparation. You will leave the course confident in your ability to independently use Dorico Pro for your own music projects.
By the end of the course, you will be able to:
- Input notation using the mouse, computer keyboard, and MIDI keyboard
- Utilize and incorporate all standard notation symbols, including notes, expressive markings, articulations, dynamics, phrasing, and considerations for score preparation
- Develop proficiency in instrument-specific notation techniques for keyboard, guitar, drums, and other instruments
- Apply the current best practices of notation principles in scores and parts
- Apply shortcuts to speed the engraving process
- Create and edit scores, including a lead sheet, a small score (4–6 staves), a large score (15–25 staves), and a custom template, integrating knowledge of notation and layout
- Use Dorico to create an audio mock-up of a score
- Share Dorico files via a variety of methods, including PDF, audio, MIDI, and MusicXML
Enrollment for this course will open soon.
Syllabus
Lesson 1: Notating Single-Line Melody: Point-and-Click and Alphabetic Entry
- History of Music Notation
- Dorico Overview
- Entering with Point-and-Click
- Computer Keyboard Entry
- Page Layout (Engrave Mode)
- Notation Practices (Force Duration)
- Assignment 1: Creating a Single-Staff Melody
Lesson 2: Creating a Lead Sheet: Lyrics, Chords, and MIDI Entry
- MIDI Note Entry
- Lead Sheet Score Setup and Auto Save
- Triplets and Slurs
- Entering and Editing Lyrics
- Entering Chord Text
- Berklee Chord Customization and Analysis
- Chord Text Playback
- Layout Options
- Assignment 2: Creating a Lead Sheet with Chords and Lyrics
Lesson 3: Real-Time Note Entry with MIDI
- Real-Time Overview
- Starting a Dorico File without the Hub
- Setting Up the Score for Real-Time MIDI Recording
- Changing the Default Note Beaming and Real-Time Performance Playback
- Generate Chord Symbols from Notes
- Changing the Playback Sound
- Flows
- Assignment 3: Creating a Melody Using Real-Time Note Entry with MIDI
Lesson 4: Time Signatures, Key Signatures, and Performance Information
- Score Setup in Dorico
- Time Signature and Key Signature Changes
- Entering Articulations, Fermatas, and Grace Notes
- Adding Dynamics and Hairpins
- Adding Slurs, Tempo Marks, and Playing Techniques
- Instrumental Parts
- Changing Color and Transposing
- Assignment 4: Creating a Single Staff Score
Lesson 5: Roadmaps and Polyphony (Voices)
- Repeats and Endings
- Rehearsal Marks
- DC al Fine and DS al Coda
- Polyphony (Voices)
- Cautionary Accidentals, Editing, and Cross-Staff Beams
- Assignment 5: Polyphony (Voices)
Lesson 6: Instrument-Specific Notation
- Guitar Notation
- Guitar Tablature
- Piano Fingerings and Pedal Markings
- Instrument-Specific Notation: Strings
- Instrument-Specific Notation: Brass
- Assignment 6: Instrument-Specific Notation
Lesson 7: Drum Set and Percussion Notation
- Percussion Staves Overview
- Drum Set Notation: Overview
- Drum Set Notation: Step-Time Entry and MIDI Keyboard Use
- Drum Set Notation: Repeats, Slashes, and Cues
- Editing Drum Maps and the Berklee Drum Map
- Metronome Marks and Swing Playback
- Customizing Bar Numbering and Reusing Percussion Kits
- Assignment 7: Drum Set Notation
Lesson 8: Small Ensemble Scores
- Creating a Score with Multiple Staves
- Viewing and Managing Staves in Setup Mode
- Viewing Modes and Transposition Options
- Creating and Editing a Multi-Part Score
- Note Colors for Pitch Ranges
- Downloading Published Scores
- Assignment 8: Creating and Notating a Small Multistave Score (4-5 Staves)
Lesson 9: Score and Parts Formatting
- Inputting Text, Brackets, and Rehearsal Marks
- Repitching and Instrument Changes
- Adding Multiple Articulations, Slurs, and Hairpins
- Automatic Positioning and Manual Adjustments
- Formatting and Exporting Parts
- Assignment 9: Score and Part Formatting
Lesson 10: Large Scores
- Score Order
- Creating Title and Instrumentation Pages
- System Objects and Rehearsal Marks
- Bar Numbers in Scores and Parts
- Hiding Empty Staves and Adjusting Staff Sizes
- Importing MIDI Files
- Exploding, Reducing, Divisi, Condensing, and Inputting Across Multiple Staves
- Assignment 10: Creating a Large Score
Lesson 11: Audio Mock-Ups
- Setting Up the Playback Environment
- Loading and Managing Virtual Instruments
- Setting Up Playback Templates
- Adjusting the Mixer for Balance and Editing
- Creating Articulations and Dynamics for Realism
- Working with Tempo and Humanization
- Automating Volume and Effects
- Exporting the Audio Mock-Up
- Troubleshooting Playback and Performance Issues
- Assignment 11: Audio Mock-Up Submission
Lesson 12: Video, Sharing, Graphics, and Templates
- Scoring to Video
- Importing and Exporting Graphics
- MusicXML and MIDI Import/Export
- Sharing and Exporting Scores
- Engraving Options: Developing Personal Formatting Standards
- Selling Your Music on ArrangeMe
- Creating and Exporting Custom Templates
- Assignment 12: Final Project - Post Your Custom Template
Requirements
Requirements coming soon.General Course Requirements
Below are the minimum requirements to access the course environment and participate in Live Classes. Please make sure to also check the Prerequisites and Course-Specific Requirements section above, and ensure your computer meets or exceeds the minimum system requirements for all software needed for your course.
Mac Users
PC Users
All Users
- Latest version of Google Chrome
- Zoom meeting software
- Webcam
- Speakers or headphones
- External or internal microphone
- Broadband Internet connection
Instructors
Author & Instructor
Dr. Tom Rudolph is an adjunct instructor for Berklee Online, the University of the Arts, Central Connecticut State University, VanderCook MECA, and the Rutgers Mason Gross School of Music. He has authored multiple online courses in music technology and music history. His books include: The Musical iPad, The iPad in the Music Studio, Finale: An Easy Guide to Music Notation (Third Edition), Sibelius: A Comprehensive Guide to Sibelius Music Notation Software (Second Edition), Teaching Music with Technology (Second Edition), Recording in the Digital World, YouTube in Music Education and Finding Funds for Music Technology. He was one of four co-authors of the TIME publication, Technology Strategies for Music Education. Rudolph is the co-author of the Alfred Music Tech Series that includes: Playing Keyboard, Music Production and MIDI Sequencing, and Composing with Notation Software. He has published many articles on music technology that have appeared in the Music Educators Journal, The Instrumentalist, and DownBeat magazine. In addition to his work in music technology, Dr. Rudolph is a trumpet performer in the Philadelphia area and performs with a group called Gaudeamus. His compositions and arrangements have been published by Neil Kjos and Northeastern Music Publications, Inc.
Author & Instructor
Vincent A. Leonard, Jr. is a versatile producer, composer, and orchestrator whose works have been premiered both nationally and internationally. His compositional credits span film, radio, television, and stage. These include the feature film Running on Empty Dreams, music for the Captain Courteous radio series, and theme and event music for TUTV (Temple University Television). He has written extensively for theater and corporate media, and has orchestrated world premiere productions including Redwall (Opera Delaware), Elliot and the Magic Bed, Isabell and the Pretty Ugly Spell, and The Little Princess (Upper Darby Summer Stage). He is also recognized for his work as a copyist/engraver and arranger, having collaborated with artists and ensembles such as Peter Nero, the Philly Pops Orchestra, the No-Name Pops Orchestra, Doc Severinsen, the London Symphony Orchestra, Chuck Mangione, Jeff Tyzik, Leslie Burrs, and on musicals by Duke Ellington, Alan Menken, Kurt Weill, and Mitch Leigh.
What's Next?
When taken for credit, Music Notation and Score Preparation Using Dorico Pro can be applied towards the completion of these related programs:
Related Certificate Programs
Related Music Career Roles
Employers look for skills learned in this course, when hiring for the following music career roles:
Questions?
Contact our Academic Advisors by phone at 1-866-BERKLEE (U.S.), 1-617-747-2146 (INT'L), or by email at advisors@online.berklee.edu.
