We love music notation software and related products and technology, so that’s what we cover here. You’ll find timely news, in-depth coverage about the field, a...
Holding court with Brian McBrearty, forensic musicologist
If you hear the term “forensic musicologist” and conjure up detectives with fingerprint dusters and a magnifying glass, well, metaphorically you’re not far off. The job of a forensic musicologist is to apply musical knowledge to questions around copyright, explain musical facts, and put them into context so that a court can arrive at a decision with the best information available.
Brian McBrearty is a forensic musicologist, and he joins Philip Rothman and David MacDonald to discuss real-world cases of music infringement and the multi-dimensional approach that he takes in his analyses. We tackle the question of music notation and how it plays a role in Brian’s process, and talk tech — including the acceleration in artificial intelligence, both as a potential means of forensic analysis, and as a creator of potentially infringing content.
More on Scoring Notes:
The rights stuff, with Jim Kendrick
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54:00
NAMM 2025: An interview with John Barron
At the 2025 NAMM Show, we interviewed representatives from the businesses in our field of music notation software and related technology.
This podcast episode is a conversation Philip Rothman had with John Barron, the international product specialist for Dorico. NAMM offers representatives like John the opportunity to meet with customers from both the notation and audio sides of the music community. We spoke about the new Dorico-powered score editor in Cubase that appeals to a large cross-section of users, and how Dorico fits into the wider world of Steinberg and Yamaha products. We also discussed industry developments and what he’s hearing from Finale users as they explore the officially-endorsed migration path to Dorico.
Be sure to check out our other conversations from the NAMM Show from earlier this month. And as always, if you like this podcast episode, there’s plenty more for you from Scoring Notes — be sure to follow us right in your podcast player.
More about the 2025 NAMM Show from Scoring Notes:
NAMM 2025: On the scene
NAMM 2025: Decondensing Sibelius with Avid’s Sam Butler
NAMM 2025: Imbibing transcribing with Oriol López Calle
NAMM 2025: Musing on software and design with Martin Keary
NAMM 2025: On with the show with Steinberg’s John Barron
NAMM 2025: An interview with Avid’s Sam Butler
NAMM 2025: An interview with Oriol López Calle
NAMM 2025: An interview with Martin Keary
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29:23
NAMM 2025: An interview with Martin Keary
At the 2025 NAMM Show, we interviewed representatives from the businesses in our field of music notation software and related technology.
This podcast episode is a conversation Philip Rothman had with Martin Keary, the head of software for Muse Group. Martin spoke with me about the conversations he had at NAMM about some of the exciting possibilities for MuseScore collaborations and integrations with other app makers in the future. More practically, we also discussed recent MuseScore development efforts and some of the new features we can expect to see in upcoming releases, as well as the role that industry changes like the end of Finale played in the road map for the software.
Come back next week for more conversations from the NAMM Show. And as always, if you like this podcast episode, there’s plenty more for you from Scoring Notes — be sure to follow us right in your podcast player.
More about the 2025 NAMM Show from Scoring Notes:
NAMM 2025: On the scene
NAMM 2025: Decondensing Sibelius with Avid’s Sam Butler
NAMM 2025: Imbibing transcribing with Oriol López Calle
NAMM 2025: Musing on software and design with Martin Keary
NAMM 2025: On with the show with Steinberg’s John Barron
NAMM 2025: An interview with Avid’s Sam Butler
NAMM 2025: An interview with Oriol López Calle
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35:23
NAMM 2025: An interview with Oriol López Calle
At the 2025 NAMM Show, we interviewed representatives from the businesses in our field of music notation software and related technology.
This podcast episode is a conversation Philip Rothman had with Oriol López Calle from My Sheet Music Transcriptions, a service that he founded in 2011 that has since grown to employ dozens of people and serve tens of thousands of customers. Oriol told us about his company’s approach to their work, which includes not only transcribing but a full range of music preparation tasks. We also discussed technological innovations that have already transformed the business and those that we expect to do so in the future.
Come back the next couple of weeks for more conversations from the NAMM Show. And as always, if you like this podcast episode, there’s plenty more for you from Scoring Notes — be sure to follow us right in your podcast player.
More about the 2025 NAMM Show from Scoring Notes:
NAMM 2025: On the scene
NAMM 2025: Decondensing Sibelius with Avid’s Sam Butler
NAMM 2025: Imbibing transcribing with Oriol López Calle
NAMM 2025: Musing on software and design with Martin Keary
NAMM 2025: On with the show with Steinberg’s John Barron
NAMM 2025: An interview with Avid’s Sam Butler
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32:30
NAMM 2025: An interview with Avid’s Sam Butler
At the 2025 NAMM Show, we interviewed representatives from the businesses in our field of music notation software and related technology.
This podcast episode is a conversation Philip Rothman had with Sam Butler, Avid’s director of product management. Sam talked with us about the new decondensing parts feature in Sibelius that Avid previewed at NAMM, and he celebrated the award that his team received for last year’s release of the Android app. He also shared his thoughts on the industry’s developments over the past year, the direction that he anticipates for the future, and what it all means for Sibelius customers.
Come back the next few weeks for more conversations from the NAMM Show. And as always, if you like this podcast episode, there’s plenty more for you from Scoring Notes — be sure to follow us right in your podcast player.
More about the 2025 NAMM Show from Scoring Notes:
NAMM 2025: On the scene
NAMM 2025: Decondensing Sibelius with Avid’s Sam Butler
NAMM 2025: Imbibing transcribing with Oriol López Calle
NAMM 2025: Musing on software and design with Martin Keary
NAMM 2025: On with the show with Steinberg’s John Barron
We love music notation software and related products and technology, so that’s what we cover here. You’ll find timely news, in-depth coverage about the field, and honest reviews about products you use every day. You’ll learn about the interesting people in our field and find out our opinions on ever-changing developments in the industry.
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