MyMusicalMagic: Music Notation Solutions: Note-able Font and Music Notation and Symbols Clip Art

Over the years, I've spent countless hours scouring the internet for good music notation clip art and music fonts to insert into music worksheets, flashcards, and presentations. (Yes, I do use music notation software, but sometimes music educators simply need to include music notation in word processing or presentation files.) I organized folders of various note, rest, clef and music symbol images I found on the Net, but their styles and sizes were inconsistent. I also found that I could insert some notes and symbols from my music software into text boxes, which was useful but non-intuitive and very time-consuming. I eventually purchased a rather archaic music font, and although it wasn't my dream come true, I was glad to have consistently sized and shaped symbols. While I kept wishing for something more user-friendly and efficient, I learned to work around or live with its limitations: (1) its preset note-spacing made it very hard to control document layout, (2) it wasn't intuitive, and (3) when I typed beamed notes for combination rhythms, the 'seams' showed.

Fast forward... A few years later, as I was studying clip art and font design, I realized I could solve my music notation frustrations and provide for my own needs! And now my resulting projects are available to others via the Web (TPT and Etsy). I figure it's time to 'toot my own horn' here on my blog and let readers know about these products since I'm receiving such great feedback about them.

In this post, I present my Note-able Font and music clip art packages.

Sample page from user's quick-start guide.
Clicking on pictures will take you to a webpage where these are available for purchase.

This TrueType font set (for use on Mac/Apple or PC) allows a user to easily combine text, rhythm notation, articulations, Curwen hand signs and stick notation to create flash cards, music manipulatives, assessments, slides, posters and visual aids. This package includes two fonts: (1) traditional notation (notes, rests, articulations, etc.) and (2) Kodaly and Orff-style notation (stick rhythms, Curwen hand signs, icons, etc.) for a total of 175 sharp, professional music notes and symbols for personal, classroom and small commercial use. No additional commercial use license is required as long as you include credit and a link. The package also includes a detailed user's guide with instructions, keyboard charts, helpful hints and practice guides.

A few things that make this font different/better than others:

Beamed notes are single figures/keystrokes.
The user controls spacing between notes.
Ties and articulation marks can be inserted.
Traditional and Kodaly/Orff-style notation is included.

Intuitive layout, quick and easy to learn.
Detailed tutorial and charts are included.

Only $16.95 versus $20, $25 and $40 for others.

Here are some quotes from my TPT feedback page regarding my Note-able Font Package:

“Love this. It's an answer to so many questions and needs as a music teacher who likes to create her own teaching aids and materials! Thanks for sharing this!”

“ Where has this been all my life? User friendly and so helpful!”

“Fantastic! I've tried several music notation fonts and this is by-far the best one I've found.”

“Instructions on how to load the font were a great help and the charts are incredibly handy. Thanks so much! I am using it already.”

I am grateful to Tracy King for recently reviewing my Note-able Fonts on her excellent blog: http://mrskingrocks.blogspot.com/2013/12/a-music-font-for-music-teachers.html

Additional sample pages from the Note-able Font Package:

At times, music clip art is a more effective way to go. I created this set to meet this need. It also includes a handy user's guide and templates.

And last, but certainly not least, I have created this clean, colorful set of music notation clip art. These images are great from creating posters, classroom decorations, and bell or Boomwhacker charts.