Music notation is a system which represents music in a written form by using musical symbols. For a musician to be able to read, understand, and play music, the composition must be in written form. A system of notation is essential for musicians to be able to play music as intended by the composer.
It is widely acknowledged that Sibelius and Finale are two software packages that are heavyweights in the music notation field. Unfortunately, these software applications are expensive and their developers have no plans to open source their projects. Fortunately, the vast majority of budding musicians and composers will never need the functionality offered by Sibelius and Finale.
The software featured here is released under freely distributable licenses, all are available to download at no charge, and can produce music scores which are engraved with traditional layout rules.
Here’s our recommended free music notation tools for Windows.
| Music Notation Software | |
| Lilypond | Music engraving program, devoted to producing the highest-quality sheet music possibl |
| MuseScore | Create, play and print beautiful sheet music |
| Denemo | Uses LilyPond which generates beautiful sheet music to the highest publishing standards |
| TuxGuitar | Multitrack tablature editor and player writen in Java-SWT |
| Impro-Visor | Music notation tool for producing monophonic lead sheets |
| Frescobaldi | LilyPond sheet music text editor |
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Lilypond is truly amazing software