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Technical Page

Technical Requirements for Jam School Activities

Operating System - Windows 95 or later,  or a Windows-emulated system. Should be able to handle extended filenames. I think that this is available on all computers with a 486 or higher chip.

Browser - Should work well with plug-in programs, that are used in the activities here. Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0 and 5.0 appear to have at least a little advantage over Netscape 4.7 in this area. I have not had the chance to experiment with AOL's browser, but I understand that it's a derivative of MS Internet Explorer. Acrobat and Noteworthy Composer files do okay on Netscape versions as early as 3.0, but Sibelius seems to favor MS Internet Explorer.

Warning - MS Internet Explorer versions 6.0 & later may not support plug-ins. This may also be true of AOL 6.0. Sibelius is working on a new version of Scorch to be compatible with IE, and I don't know what's up with Noteworthy Composer. Anyone having experiences with this situation please email me if you either have problems or find a solution.

Sound Files - MIDI (musical instrument digital interface) files will probably be Type-1, and should be playable on most PC and Mac soundcards. Some MP3 files may be used, and they should play on any standard MP3 player.

Plug-In Programs - note that all of these are freeware programs and carry no cost to the user. Click on the icons to download the programs.

•   Noteworthy Player - Used for most playable examples in the Jam School and Master Theory sections. This is the freeware reader for Noteworthy Composer, an outstanding shareware music notation program. Using this plugin, you can see the music, hear it, and see the individual notes turn red as they are played. It will also import, display and play MIDI files. I recommend keeping the most recent version. File extension is .nwc and MIME type/subtype is application/nwc on this website. Most NWC files on this site are in version 1.55, but I am now using version 1.70. Get the most recent version of this program today! More info available on the Jamschool Noteworthy Composer and Noteworthy Player Page.

•   Scorch is the freeware reader/player for Sibelius, a professional music notation program that I use for larger scores and instruction sheets. Scorch will display the music from Sibelius files and will play them as MIDI on your soundcard. You can also transpose the piece to any key that you want. While Scorch will also allow you to print Sibelius files, I may not have that capability here due to high licensing fees. You can, however, find all sorts of things using Scorch on a new website called Scorch Music. It is operated by the makers of Sibelius as a place for individual users to publish their scores. You will soon be able to purchase sheet music online from J.W. Pepper using this program. Most of my scores are done in Sibelius 1.22, so you'll need Scorch 1.45 or later. File extension is .sib, and MIME type/subtype is application/X-Sibelius-Score

• Adobe Acrobat Reader is used to produce music and instruction sheets that come to your computer ready for printing. A typical file size is about 250kb, due to the need to imbed music notation fonts from Sibelius. All acrobat documents are produced using version 4.0. Almost all browsers should support this file type.

MIDI Activities - Students using the 'Virtual Band Using MIDI' pages should have a 16-track MIDI 'mixer' program. A number of these are available for download, and some may already be in your computer. Some brands, such as Packard Bell, have such a mixer already installed in their consumer PC's.

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