Meet the MuseScore Contributors
MuseScore would never become the incredible software without the invaluable efforts and insights of our contributors. While many of you know some of our contributors only by nickname, we would like to introduce them so you may know them more personally.
Original Founders
The "founding trio" retired from MuseScore in 2019 and are no longer actively involved in the project.
Werner Schweer (@wschweer, @werner)
Former Lead Developer and BDFL
Thomas Bonte (@thomasbonte, @thomas)
Former CEO and Webmaster
Nicolas Froment (@lasconic)
Former CTO and Community Manager
Current In-house Team
Need to contact the in-house team? If so then you should join MuseScore's Discord Server. Alternatively, you can send a message to our Community Ambassador Peter Jonas (shoogle) via his contact page and he will reply via email.
Martin Keary (@Tantacrul)
Product Owner and Lead Designer, since March 2019
Vasily Pereverzev (@bootincat, @pereverzev_v)
Lead Developer, since November 2019
Peter Jonas (@peterjonas, @shoogle)
Community Ambassador, developer, designer and accessibility specialist, since February 2021
Daniel Ray (@danieljray, @daniel)
Product Strategy, since August 2017
Igor Korsukov (@igorkorsukov, @igor.korsukov)
Software Architect and CI Engineer, since March 2020
Simon Smith (@oktophonie)
Engraving Expert, since June 2020
Jessica Williamson
UI Designer, since June 2020
Bradley Kunda (@bkunda, @bradleykunda)
UX/UI Designer, since May 2021
Roman Pudashkin (@roman_markov, @rpudashkin)
UI Developer, since July 2020
Elnur Ismailov (@Eism_Ui, @eismailzada)
UI Developer, since July 2020
Casper Jeukendrup (@cbjeukendrup)
Developer, since February 2022
Zac Jansheski (@zac)
Percussion Specialist & MuseScore Drumline, since September 2019
Vyacheslav 'Slava' Shalkevich AKA François Marie Arouet (@EpicStore1, @EpicPointer)
Product Tester, since October 2020
Code contributors
Joachim 'Jojo' Schmitz (@Jojo-Schmitz)
(Above you see the usual punishment for making really stupid coding mistakes 😉)
What about MuseScore causes you to get engaged?
Joined a choir in November 2009, that choir, founded 1972 as a youth choir (meanwhile the average age is 50), had a pretty large repertoire of songs (mainly modern church music, gospels, Taizé, etc.), quite many as copies of copies of copies... of a bad handwriting or blurred foto, the 'old' members knew them mostly by heart and needed them only to have something to hold on to, or for the odd word in the lyrics, while I needed legible notes and texts. So I started looking for free score writing software on the internet, detected lilypond, found it to complicated, got hold of an illegal copy of a commercial software, found it too complicated and also not right, then found MuseScore, 0.9.5 at the time, immediately became addicted and transcribed my first song with it in February 2010. First and foremost just for myself, but soon it became apparent that it would be useful for other choir members too. Meanwhile I've transcribed far more than 500 scores, plus an entire songbook of some 400 scores.
I came for the software and stayed for the community,
My involvement with MuseScore as a contributor began with answering questions in the forums, translating the software and the handbook and eventually led to code contributions.
What do you like most about MuseScore?
- Free and OpenSource, IMHO a perfect match to a voluntary and non-professional choir.
- Available in German, very important to me at the time, being a musical lay person (except for some recorder lessons on early childhood, all forgotten since long)
- Easy to use
What is your favorite feature of MuseScore 3?
The ability to be able to place lyrics above staff and also to be able to extract voices from a closed score SATB, along with the option to have channels for the voices for rehearsal.
What would you like to see happen with MuseScore in the coming year?
- Really looking forward to seeing much more frequent releases.
- Meeting at FOSDEM!
- Hunting down and fixing bugs, making stupid mistakes along the way. 😉
Marc Sabatella (@MarcSabatella)
What about MuseScore causes you to get engaged?
Working on MuseScore integrates several different aspects of who I am and what I do - my interests and skills in music, and education, and software. For all my adult life, I have worked in one or more these areas, but never in a way that involves them all so completely.
What do you like most about MuseScore?
The open source nature of MuseScore is what got me involved, and I probably wouldn't have switched over to it from what I was using before otherwise. The sense of community that results is also very gratifying. But in day-to-day use of the application, it's the combination of simplicity and power that I appreciate most.
What is your favorite feature of MuseScore 3?
Automatic placement for sure. I have to admit I was skeptical at first and figured there would be many cases where I disagreed with its decisions and that it would make it more difficult to get the results I wanted. The reality is, it's usually doing something very sensible, and it's easy to override it when I want. I know that this feature will save me much time on everything from initial entry of music to editing parts to creating transposed lead sheets.
What would you like to see happen with MuseScore in the coming year?
I want to see us make a major outreach to schools. We know students are already choosing MuseScore for their own work, and now their teachers are beginning to see the value in supporting their students in this. I also want to see us do everything we can to improve our accessibility story and finally become a viable choice for blind musicians.
Eric Fontaine (@ericfont)
What about MuseScore causes you to get engaged?
After years of playing in lots of bands around Atlanta, I'd get frustrated with bandleaders not providing good charts (and if they did have charts they'd be unlegible handwritten charts, or might not be transposed to my saxophone key). Their excuses for not making a chart were that they couldn't afford notation software, or that the existing software was too complicated. I personally didn't like wasting time in rehearsal dealing with reading bad charts or trying to remember the songs from memory, so I'd often become the scribe who notated the charts for them. I've been using MuseScore since ~2010 for this, which I chose because I'm a Linux user (and even though version 0.9.6 was limited, it was better than any other notation editor on Linux). I started fixing MuseScore bugs in 2015 to help contribute back to the open-source community, and because I want more people around the world to be able to more easily make music. Every time I hear or play with other musicians who wrote their scores in musescore, I feel happy that I indirectly helped them, even if it was as minor as them not experiencing a trivial glitch.
What do you like most about MuseScore?
ericfont: It's open-source, cross-platform, multi-lingual, free, and relatively easy to use. That allows anyone around the world with any amount of money to make any score, big or small, on any computer, and easily share their scores online.
What is your favorite feature of MuseScore 3?
ericfont: The faster rendering engine speed which facilitates writing larger scores. Previously in MuseScore 2, when I'd write a very large score (many-instrument, multiple movements), I'd have to wait a noticable delay after every input was visible on the screen. That was because MuseScore had to re-render the entire score for every minor edit. But with MuseScore 3, the rendering engine is smart to know that it only has to re-render measures affected by each individual edit.
What would you like to see happen with MuseScore in the coming year?
ericfont: I'd like to be able to use real instruments as input, such as by incorporating a real-time audio-to-midi tool. And to input by playing in free-form (including with both hands on a piano), and have the raw unquantized midi be displayed in realtime on a piano roll alongside MuseScore's real-time notation guess (with barlines synced up), along with ways to help to notation translation interpret the input. Also a way to link MuseScore with external DAW programs (like Ardour) so I can record real audio tracks that are lined up and linked to their notation. Also an integrated assistant for transcribing recorded audio.
Isaac Weiss (@IsaacWeiss)
What about MuseScore causes you to get engaged?
My engagement level spikes every time there's some vigorous debate about a development decision. 😉 In all seriousness, the ability for users to directly communicate with the core developers, and have their thoughts seriously taken into account, is what first hooked me in back during the 2.0 Beta period. (I wrote a blog post about this a couple of years ago). Every polished release comes out of people's sweat and tears behind the scenes, and I get to be a part of it—how cool is that?
What do you like most about MuseScore?
Its kindness. It makes music creation possible for everyone, with no strings attached. When Ultimate Guitar took over development, I feared the commercial web platform would be more forcefully integrated into the libre and gratis desktop software, poisoning MuseScore's beauty. Thankfully, though, the new team simply pushed the kindness forward by giving users even more even faster.
What is your favorite feature of MuseScore 3?
There are two that go hand in hand. First, Automatic Placement (I wish it was still called Smart Layout, but you can't win 'em all)—it's still got plenty of limitations, but it will save me so much time with new projects, and I trust that the layout will continue to get smarter (or, I guess, the placement will continue to get more automatic?). Nearly as important is the Sparkle integration—that means there can be more improvements one after another as never before, because with a built-in updater there can be frequent releases without users having to continually install new versions.
What would you like to see happen with MuseScore in the coming year?
Smarter layout, as I mentioned—collision avoidance, alignment, default placement of various elements. The new Dorico program is already the gold standard for beautiful scores without adjustments needed; we certainly have what it takes to match that, if we put our minds to it. For myself, I want to finally study the Qt framework so I can undertake some design improvements, while continuing to work on my C++ skills, and hopefully come up with a Google Summer of Code project in a few months.
Johan Temmerman (@jeetee)
What about MuseScore caused you to get engaged?
I briefly crossed paths with MuseScore (0.9.6) during my college days but hadn't used it for more than a piece or two after which I'd reverted to my usual program back then.
It wasn't until version 2.0.2 that I picked it up again; then as a tool to generate practice mp3s for the choir I took part in. This brought me, as a developer, to dive into the plugin framework to improve an already existing UltraStar plugin. Shortly after I'd gotten a strong itch to easier work with ritenuto's, leading to my very first own plugin: TempoChanges.
During the development of that plugin I got cornered by the limitations and some bugs in the plugin framework. Carefully attempting to address this with the developers on irc (I've had my share of irc-experiences in Open Source before) I was met with much understanding and friendly guidance on how to fix or work around my issues. It is the open and positive attitude in there that made me stick around, answer forum posts and perform the occasional pull request.
What do you like most about MuseScore?
Hmm… That's a hard question. In a single word: passion
Passion from lots of people in the community; be it about music itself, or making this the best possible notation program.
A close second word would be openness
Not only is the software Open Source and gratis, lowering the bar for many musicians into digitizing their scores. Just as much the welcoming open mind of the community and the developers.
What is your favorite feature of MuseScore 3?
The questions aren't getting any easier :)
I think I'll have to pick "tours" then. It's a seemingly small addition, but I have a feeling it'll be instrumental in easing in new users into the MuseScore workflow.
What would you like to see happen with MuseScore in the coming year?
* Plugin Framework
* Playback only on a given repeat (2nd time only f.e.)
* More bugs fixed than introduced :)
* FOSDEM meet-up
Thorsten Glaser (@mirabilos)
Mark McKay (@blackears)
What about MuseScore causes you to get engaged?
I've been interested in being able to compose music for some time. After using a few DAWs, I came across MuseScore and was impressed by its ability to express notes using standard staff notation, which I find much easier to read. When I discovered it was open source, that gave me the incentive to begin tweaking things to improve my workflow. Luckily the core devs have agreed with most of my changes.
What do you like most about MuseScore?
I love that it allows you to see your music in standard notation as well as automatically play it back so you can hear the audio. The free price tag and the ability to tinker with the code base are also a huge win.
What is your favorite feature of MuseScore 3?
I have to admit I'm biased toward the new mixer and piano roll editor (two components which I worked on).
What would you like to see happen with MuseScore in the coming year?
Personally, I'd like to see features added that makes it easier to compose within MuseScore and also to improve the audio produced during playback.
Matt McClinch (@mattmcclinch)
What about MuseScore causes you to get engaged?
I feel like I am an important part of something big and exciting with MuseScore. I consider it a privilege to be able to use my time and talent to help the community and to make MuseScore a better and more stable product.
What do you like most about MuseScore?
I like that MuseScore is free, and I really do find it easy to use, given an understanding of the way things work.
What is your favorite feature of MuseScore 3?
I am really excited about Autoupdate and the regularity with which updates will be made available. This has made it possible for MuseScore 3 to be released even while undergoing constant development.
What would you like to see happen with MuseScore in the coming year?
I would like to see MuseScore do more in terms of offering assistance when it comes to fixing corruption that it may find when loading a score. Now that there are no measure numbers in the saved file, it is much harder to edit it manually.
Joshua Bonn (@joshuabonn1)
What about MuseScore causes you to get engaged?
After completing 2 GSoC programs, I continued to be engaged by them, trying to improve them for the users and developers (e.g. Timeline Refactoring, tour fixes, workspace fixes). If I ever "finish" them, I'd probably move onto another larger feature and see where that takes me.
What do you like most about MuseScore?
I really like the community. The strong collaborative nature of everyone, as well as the lightheartedness to make jokes keeps me around.
What is your favorite feature of MuseScore 3?
After transcribing some orchestral music on it, I have a strong appreciation for auto placement. It makes creating scores that look decent easy to do without much extra effort.
What would you like to see happen with MuseScore in the coming year?
I'd really like to see the backburner GSoC projects happen. Such as, the scratch pad, completion of auto crash reporting (I believe it was never finished?) and others. While I don't want to bloat the software, these features were asked for multiple times. Hopefully these can roll out in time! 😊
Howard Chang (@Howard C.)
My real name is Jiayi Zheng and I come from China. I joined the MuseScore community after 3.0 was released, so I'm not precisely following the template here :)
I like MuseScore because its powerful tools completely satisfy my needs for music creating & sharing, while being free and having a vibrant and supportive community. I'm especially pleased to see MuseScore being continuously developed till this day, and I'm excited of being among the first people to know of and contribute to upcoming updates. One of my favourite features of MuseScore 4 is the redesigned inspector, to which I contributed and tested. I've devoted much of my time to improving the variety and layout of tremolos, and I'm also looking forward to future engraving improvements, from which I think all of us can benefit.
MuseScore has been my companion for years and the witness of my personal growth, from the major I'm pursuing to the advancement of my musical abilities. I want to thank the in-house team and the community for producing and promoting this wonderful app.
Niek van den Berg (@njvdberg)
What about MuseScore caused you to get engaged?
When I was playing Clarinet in a baroque orchestra, I had to play any part which was leftover. I ended up in playing mainly Violin II and Viola parts.
After playing a transposing instrument, and especially the alien clefs that the Viola used, I was looking for a music notation program.
As a Linux user for decades, there wasn't much choice, so running an MS-Windows based application using WINE, was doable for a while.
In the meantime, I began writing some small transcriptions/arrangements for another ensemble and thus part generation became more important. Running a Windows-based program was causing more and more problems.
Then I can across MuseScore. It was already running on Linux, so no more MS-Windows! This was at the beginning of MuseScore. Linked parts weren't available yet, and there were other problems but it worked very well for printing. So at this time I usedRoseGarden for making the score and MuseScore
for printing the parts! Then MuseScore became better and better and even linked parts were introduced. That was the moment that I switch over to MuseScore completely and dropped the other programs.
At this time I was also taking early retirement and wanted something to keep me busy. My two strongest interests (apart from partner of course) are music and programming, so I decided to see whether I could contribute to MuseScore. With the help of other contributors, I found my way and started looking at some of the open issues.
My involvement began with solving some minor issues and moved onto larger features, such as automatic score ordering and the vertical adjustment of staves, both introduced in MuseScore 3.6.
What do you like most about MuseScore?
* That it’s OpenSource and runs on all major platforms.
* That it works well for making scores for orchestras and small ensembles.
* Its linked parts are important for my daily use and work well.
* It’s a nice, open and friendly community which is always willing to help!
What is your favorite feature of MuseScore 3?
In fact there are 2 features which are very important for my daily use. These are the automatic placement of elements and the new vertical adjustment of staves. These 2 features result in excellent parts which
require remarkably little fine tuning to make them ready of publish. This is a real time saver for me.
What would you like to see happen with MuseScore in the coming year?
As a matter of fact, I'm quite happy with MuseScore as it is. But there are always bugs to solve. I feel the Voice-to-Part feature could be improved. This makes it is easy to create separate parts from a condensed score. It does work, but is still quite rough around the edges and it still results in some bleeding hands.
Testers
Jean Bernard ROY (@cadiz1)
What about MuseScore causes you to get engaged?
My job, first. I am a guitar teacher in France, and after failed attempts with the Finale program, I discovered the version 1.3, five and a half years ago. Quickly, I managed to enter some teaching scores. I then knew that I had found "my" notation program, the one where I feel like a fish in the water!
What do I like most about MuseScore?
It is a program that probably corresponds to what I consider my own intuivity. I have never really been blocked by this or that thing. I like its flexibility, its ability to customize its use through the custom workspaces. And when you know the program well, we realize that it has almost no limit.
And finally I discovered an amazing community passionate about music and the program.
What is your favorite feature of MuseScore 3?
I am interested by everything about the repertoire of the guitar , mainly . And so it goes from the Renaissance period (lute and renaissance guitar), through the Baroque period, until classical and contemporary periods. Every day, I use tablature functions for early music, to make guitar transcriptions.
What would you like to see happen with MuseScore in the coming year?
First wish him the best for the year and the years to come ! Personally, I would like to see implement functions that I use a lot, also daily, but which are for the moment in the state of plugins (I think Double Time / Half Time), or by workarounds extremely time consuming, mainly fingering (a Fingering mode is highly necessary in my opinion), and tablatures/scores for diatonic instruments.
Mike Nelson (@mike320)
What about MuseScore causes you to get engaged?
Everyone in the forums are great! I do answer my fair share of questions, but I became attached to MuseScore when I saw how kind and helpful other were. I have a love for classical music and a desire to put a few notes to paper I can hear myself. When I discovered version 2.0.3 I realized MuseScore was the answer to this.
What do you like most about MuseScore?
The best thing is that it's free and you get much more than what you pay for. It is a quality program despite my occasional rants. Every user also has potential to have input into the final product. If you program you can write code, if you don't then those who do write code listen and attempt to improve the program and satisfy requests from users.
What is your favorite feature of MuseScore 3?
The best feature is the auto avoidance introduced today (Christmas eve 2018) in version 3.0. This makes creating a score many times easier than it was in version 2, and I was quite happy with that version.
What would you like to see happen with MuseScore in the coming year?
I want to see version 3 be capable of annotating standard western music as well as a few of the items that have been discussed at length in the forums. The ideas behind version 3 features are great and I want them to be fully available and functioning properly.