Last year I bought Dorico for my church job. It’s a relatively new music notation software that my colleagues have been raving about. The church didn’t own notation software already, so I decided to take the plunge and buy it instead of Finale.
Here’s the Verdict Up Front
It’s great for my church music purposes. And it’s great because it looks so good. The scores look much better than anything I ever created with Finale.
My Background with Finale
I’ve used Finale since the early 2000s. I felt very confident using Finale to make functional scores for small ensembles and solo work. However, I never learned how to finesse the scores to make them look professional. And I didn’t use Finale for major compositional projects or large ensemble works.
How Long It Took to Learn Dorico
It took about 10 hours for me to get comfortable making typical church scores—things like a short handbell arrangement, or a 4-part hymn setting to be used in a printed bulletin.
The first hymn setting I did took several (kinda frustrating) hours, but I kept telling myself the frustration would probably be worth it. Each score has gotten exponentially easier to make as I’ve gotten used to the layout. (It’s a simple layout—just takes time to remember where everything is, especially since I don’t make scores that often.)
Here’s one of the first scores I created with Dorico last fall, if you’re curious what it looks like.
Does It Save Time?
A couple days ago I made a score with a melody line + lyrics for a bulletin. I timed myself and it took 18 minutes from opening the program to emailing a pdf to our administrator. I’m sure it will take significantly less once I’m truly comfortable with Dorico’s layout.
My colleagues who’ve raved about Dorico have said they save a lot of time using it versus Finale or Sibelius. I’m not sure that I’ll save time with the kinds of simple scores I create. But the end result looks so much better than anything I created with Finale, so I’m sold.
If You Want to Try Dorico
Here’s a link to the Dorico website to read more about the software. If you’re curious, I bought the $99 Elements version of the software—it’s the one marketed to church musicians. (And no, this isn’t an ad—I’m just glad I made the switch.)
And here’s an awesome tutorial for Dorico—it’s “A Beginner’s Guide to Dorico.”
