Sheet music

Editors

• Editors should upload sheet music for songs if this may be done without violating the copyrights of others, if they have the means to do so.

Creating Sheet Music, for free

• Anyone can create sheet music for free and post it up on this site (provided the sheet music is hymn-related). How? one might ask. Try LilyPond: LilyPond website. It's free software for typesetting music. Now, you can always buy something for hundreds of dollars to do it (like Finale or Sibelius), and those have graphical interfaces. LilyPond works much like a computer programming compiler (i.e. you type out your sheet music in text and compile it with LilyPond; then, you get your sheet music files as a result: pdf, midi, ps, dvi, tex, etc.)
• There are other ways to make free sheet music for free. ABC is one language to use, though this will only allow melodies (it's great for lead sheets). There are some others.
• There will likely be some LilyPond templates for creating sheet music for hymns in the near future. Until then, you can learn about LilyPond, and then take a look at the LilyPond source for some hymns (i.e. Let the Holy Spirit Guide (Edwin F. Parry) has an example). Remember that a percentage sign (%) means that everything after it on that line is just a comment (or commented out code for future use) and does nothing while the % is there.

Users willing to help you learn LilyPond (add your handle if you are one):

• Veramet

Creating Sheet Music, at a cost

• By far, it seems, the leading commercial programs for making sheet music are Finale and Sibelius. Noteworthy Composer is another popular one. Many people prefer these since they have graphical interfaces (they're point and click programs), though it is said one such as LilyPond is faster if you can type at a reasonable speed.

File Types

• One may upload most file types related to sheet music, on HymnWiki: pdf, mid, midi, ly, nwc, zip, Finale and Sibelius formats, abc, etc. Be sure to include copyright information! Do not upload anything of which you are unsure, with regards to copyright.