Mark Adler is the music editing and engraving supervisor at MakeMusic.
A seasoned professional trumpet player, Mark received a BM in trumpet performance at the Manhattan School of Music, and taught trumpet privately for 25 years. Prior to joining MakeMusic, he also worked as a freelance music editor and engraver.
This summer I interviewed Mark for the September SmartMusic Newsletter, and today I plan to shamelessly repurpose some excerpts of that conversation here, giving myself more time for holiday shopping. In the newsletter he explained exactly what a “music editing and engraving supervisor” does, and provided a glimpse of his background:
“Much of SmartMusic’s large ensemble titles were published before computers were used for music engraving. These pieces need to be re-engraved in Finale in order for the corresponding SmartMusic accompaniments to display music on-screen and provide students with assessment when they perform with SmartMusic.
I supervise a team that makes certain the new engravings match the original printed parts exactly. Over the last two years this team has engraved several hundred pieces for concert band and string orchestra.
In addition, I contribute to the development of Finale, both in working with our developers to further enhance Finale’s superiority on the printed page, and to produce special projects. For example, I was responsible for creating the music education worksheets found in Finale as well as the “Finale AlphaNotes,” “Finale Percussion,” and “Finale Mallets” fonts.
Finally, I also edit or create all the music notation that MakeMusic displays, including music that appears on our website, product boxes, brochures, and the music icons that display on-screen in SmartMusic.”
What do you like best about your work here?
“I like the large variety of projects that come my way: One day I may be working on creating a new font for Finale, the next I may be asked to write a piece of music to display on our website.”
Are you a long-time Finale user?
“I have used Finale professionally on a daily basis for almost 20 years. I’ve always been drawn to the power of Finale and its ability to notate anything I, or a client, may want.”
As a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?
“I wanted to be a professional trumpet player when I grew up. Yes, an obvious oxymoron, since as the joke goes, you can’t do both.”
In addition to the aforementioned music fonts, Mark also contributed to the Broadway Copyist font, the design of the Capo Chord feature, and the creation of several holiday-themed Finale files (packaged for Macintosh and Windows users) which we’re providing to Finale users as a gift.
On behalf of Mark and myself, we hope you get a chance to use these files with your students, family, and/or friends this holiday season. With that, both the Finale blog and I are on holiday; we’ll both be back on Tuesday, January 4, 2011. I wish you all happy holidays, safe travels, and an excellent new year!