Extending music21 with Additional Software

Installing Additional Python Modules

Music21 can do more things, such as plotting graphs, if you install additional Python libraries.

The following topics cover additional software used by music21. For each library, visit the websites listed below, download the additional python libraries, and install them just as you did with music21 above. If you don’t feel like installing them now, no worries: you can always install them later.

It’s best not to install these until you have music21 working without the external modules.

Matplotlib

Graphing and visual displays in Music21 are provided by Matplotlib. Matplotlib itself has additional dependencies (such as NumPy).

On Mac if you are using the version of python 3 from python.org, run:

pip3 install matplotlib

and you should be set. If you are using a version from anaconda (conda, miniconda, etc.), you should run these lines:

conda install matplotlib conda install python.app

and then use pythonw instead of python. For more details, see http://matplotlib.org/2.0.0b4/faq/osx_framework.html

Users of 64-bit windows or Python 2.7 will need to download numpy and scipy from:

http://www.lfd.uci.edu/~gohlke/pythonlibs/

numpy

Numeric extensions to Python. Included with Matplotlib.

On Mac if you are using the version of python 3 from python.org, run:

pip3 install numpy

and you should be set. If using python 2, substitute pip for pip3

scipy

Scientific extensions to Python.

On Mac if you are using the version of python 3 from python.org, run:

pip3 install scipy

and you should be set. If using python 2, substitute pip for pip3

pyaudio

Allows for recording within python. We use it for the audioSearch module, and nowhere else. Not essential. Requires portaudio and, on the Mac, the XCode command-line development tools.

On the Mac, run:

xcode-select –install brew install portaudio pip3 install pyaudio

pygame

Allows for realtime MIDI performance. We use it in the midi.realtime module, and nowhere else Not essential.

On the Mac, run:

pip3 install pygame

Python Imaging Library (pillow or PIL)

The Python Imaging Library (pillow; formerly PIL) provides resources for transforming and editing graphics files. Without this library, the output from Lilypond is less good. Not essential.

On the command line type pip3 install pillow and you should get the latest version of pillow.

Installing Additional Software Components

Additional functionality of music21 is available with the installation of numerous helper applications. While not essential for all applications, these tools will aid in working with music21.

MuseScore

MuseScore offers a free, full-featured, cross-platform (Windows, Mac OS, Ubuntu, Debian, and Fedora) application for viewing and editing music notation. MuseScore can import and export MusicXML, and provides an excellent way to view, edit, and export musical data for working in music21. Downloading MuseScore (version 2 or higher) is highly recommended for working with music21.

http://www.musescore.org

Finale or Finale NotePad

Finale is one of the industry leaders in creating musical scores. It can import MusicXML that music21 generates and let you see, edit, or print these scores for your own use. There is also a free version of Finale, Finale NotePad that can load MusicXML files but cannot edit all aspects of them. NotePad is available for Windows and Mac OS computers. Use of Finale or Finale NotePad is recommended for working with music21.

http://www.finalemusic.com/products/finale-notepad/

On Windows, after you install Finale or Finale Notepad, you will probably want to associate .xml files so that they are automatically opened by Finale or Finale Reader. To do so download http://web.mit.edu/music21/blank.xml to your desktop. Right click the file in on your desktop and click “Open with” then choose “browse”, select c:\Program Files\Finale Notepad\Finale NotePad.exe (or c:\Programs\Finale\Finale.exe depending on if you’re on Windows Vista/7/8/10 or if you’re using Finale vs. Finale NotePad), and the check the box for always using this program for opening xml files. (Thanks to Craig Sapp for this missing step)

Lilypond

Lilypond is a free, open-source music display program that can produce beautiful scores. Music21 can generate PDF or PNG (like JPG) files automatically if Lilypond is installed on your system. Download it at:

http://lilypond.org/

Eclipse + PyDev + Git

Eclipse is a free, open-source integrated development environment (IDE), essentially a program that makes writing (and finding bugs in) other programs much easier. Eclipse is set up primarily for editing in Java, but the add-in PyDev makes it extremely powerful for creating Python scripts as well. Eclipse + PyDev + Git is the only supported method for developers to get help in contributing to music21.

Details are at Using Git