Hello! Musicians love to tell jokes poking fun at their profession, so here's one honoring the day:

Q: How many singers does it take to sing "My Funny Valentine"?
A: All of them, apparently.

As with many of these jokes, it can be told a bunch of different ways (e.g., how many trumpeters does it take to play the Haydn concerto), but this is how I heard it first.

The point of the joke is there are certain pieces of music that are considered to be overplayed. But I think that's unfair. After all, it's not my fault that a ton of other pianists love to play "Stella By Starlight" too...

Mastering MuseScore

To unlock access to the full MuseScore course and the notation projects, see Mastering MuseScore 4.

MuseScore Café - Score of the month

This week in the MuseScore Café with Marc Sabatella, we continue our third-Wednesday "score of the month" series with the choral score from this month's notation project. If you haven't done so already, I encourage you to check out the demo and try it yourself!

The free MuseScore Café is live on Wednesday at 12:30 PM Eastern (16:30 GMT, or 17:30 during the winter months), and you can access past episodes in the archive.

Notation Project (enrolled students only)

This month's project is a choral score I created especially for the Mastering MuseScore 4 course. Check out the demo and try some of the techniques out before the Café if you're able, and we can discuss your experiences during the session. See the full post here.

Tip of the Week

Parts in MuseScore 4 are more powerful and flexible than they were in MuseScore 3. One of the big improvements is the ability to add and remove instruments within parts (via the Instruments panel), and another is the ability to easily open and close parts without losing the formatting work you've done (close them via their tabs, open then via the Parts dialog). But, what if you want to reset a part and start over with your formatting? There are a number of commands in the Format menu that can be useful, and some additional controls are coming soon. But there is one powerful new command in MuseScore 4 that is easy to miss...

For more on this topic, see the full post.

Musicianship Skills Workshop

To unlock access to all music courses and projects, as well as the exclusive weekly office hours, see Gold level membership.

Music Master Class

This week in the Music Master Class with Marc Sabatella, we look at music submitted by community members.

The free Music Master Class is live on Thursday at 12:30 PM Eastern (16:30 GMT, or 17:30 during the winter months), and you can access past episodes in the archive.

Musicianship Project (Gold level members only)

The first lesson for the month is up - practice your thirds and sevenths using an actual song. See the full post here.

In Theory

The standard My Funny Valentine is a great example of a common phenomenon - songs that start out in a minor key and end in the relative major, or vice versa. Autumn Leaves, Blue Skies, and many more - how many can you name?
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When playing these songs without written arrangements in live performance, it can often be confusing to talk about the key. For instance, if a singer says they want to do My Funny Valentine in G, do they mean, starting in G minor and ending in Bb major, or starting in E minor and ending in G major? Add to this the fact that if someone says "let's do it in G", it be hard to hear on a stage in a loud venue if they said "G", or "D", or "E", or "C", or even "B". Luckily, musicians who work in this type of setting often have worked out a clever system for uniquely identifying keys...

For more on this topic, see the full post.