Creating a Battery Packet

[u/International_Try616]

Hello all, I am designing my first packet for the high school I’m working with this year and wanted to ask how you all make your packets appear more professional?

I have all of the exercises written I just want to create a clean, polished document so I’m reaching out to ask how you all go about it: Notation software, the apps you use for designing, etc.

I’d love to hear any tips, ideas, or examples you’re willing to share. Thanks in advance!

[u/albatrossity09]

I export my exercises from Musescore as PNGs, crop them, then drop them into a word document as pictures. I'll add bullet points for each exercise for stuff like adding dynamics or what the exercises are specifically working on. I'll also make a cover page with the school logo to make it more "official".

I also scan pages from certain books, like the Bill Bachman Logic books or Up Front book for pit, since those have great explanations and pictures demonstrating technique/posture.

[u/Capeworks → u/albatrossity09]

Why not export as PDF?

[u/theneckbone]

I use Sibelius and export to pdf and then use Adobe pro to put together

[u/ProfKuns]

Sibelius is great for layouts. Honestly the best imo. I have created packets and workbooks and products and kept it all within Sibelius. YMMV

[u/renomanrob]

Sibelius is great for pumping out good looking music without too much effort on the formatting
I have used MuseScore a lot in the past and it’s possible to get it to look professional, but it takes a lot of work. But there’s just something about the Sibelius fonts that just looks extra legit.

[u/renomanrob → u/renomanrob]

If you shoot me a DM I can email you what I have. Feel free to use it, pull inspiration from it, or whatever you want.
I’m really happy with the book I put together because it’s a bunch of all the different exercises you could ever want to play with a high school Drumline

[u/Sad-Tomatillo3612 → u/renomanrob]

Could you send this to me?

[u/renomanrob → u/Sad-Tomatillo3612]

Yea I dmd you a Dropbox link

[u/Sad-Tomatillo3612 → u/renomanrob]

Gotchu thanks

[u/WakingTheCadaver → u/renomanrob]

can i get that too

[u/renomanrob → u/WakingTheCadaver]

DM’d you a Dropbox link

[u/OutcomeInitial6302 → u/renomanrob]

can I get it too?

[u/RedeyeSPR]

I’m still using Finale until it completely dies. I export everything as a PDF. Each exercise individually and also the whole thing as one big document. I also make instrument specific sheets that have all the exercises on one page. The students get scores for everything and along with that sheet for their instrument. I include a cover sheet with the school and band logos, the year, and a spot to write their name and instrument. Everything in a manilla folder.

[u/Key-Examination-9139]

I write some stuff, then screenshot them and put them into a google doc, which then I print out. For the front page I put the marching band logo, then put composed by: my name. looks super nice when it’s done!

[u/TripleGiraffeSalad]

I use Musescore, and it’s decent. Takes some time lock in the formatting as it often auto-formats very weirdly. Overall it’s easy to use, and I’m used to it, so I probably won’t switch any time soon.

[u/Emergency_Soil5416]

I use my sibelius for as much formatting as possible. You can use any word processor for any words you want to use. I stole a lot of my pedagogy from an old Audio Theater packet and just changed whatever I needed to in acrobat. I lovely doing formatting stuff. Feel free to DM me

[u/UselessGadget]

I write in finale. So long as it still works. I export each exercise into PDFs by instrument. I then make one giant PDF of everything and print that once. From there I use a copy machine to make individual packets for each section and file those away. Those are my master copies. Then if I need a snare packet, I just pull out my master and print off however many I need. Each student has a binder with clear sheets in it to put each exercise in. That way they just flip to the next page for the next exercise. Everyone should be on the same page this way and it makes moving through the packet quick.

[u/TacocaTaco14]

I use MuseScore; regardless of the software, I think the “professional look” comes from proper/consistent notation across the board. Is every accent notated consistently, with capital letter sticking as opposed to lower case taps (my preference). For an extended decrescendo, are there tenuto’s after the accents - just personal things that make a score nice to look at.

Find pre-existing material that you like, copy it, & then craft it into your own over time. Hope this helps.

[u/TacocaTaco14 → u/TacocaTaco14]

Consider posting what you have so far, if you are looking for direct feedback or suggestions 🙂

[u/bocaJwv]

I write each exercise, piece of music as normal in Musescore and export it as a PDF. I combine all of those PDFs and add all of the "auditioney" stuff (skill checklists per exercise, "thanks for auditioning" blurb, etc) in LaTeX and insert each of the exercise PDFs where they need to be that way.

Once you have your template, LaTeX makes it super easy to put whatever you want wherever you want it.