Hi, Mark

 

It may depend on which generation of Sibelius you have. I'd be delighted to hear if there is an easier way to do it... I have Sibelius 4; I don't know whether they've made it any easier in version 5

 

I work a phrase at a time, working out how many beats in each phrase and setting for that time-signature for the bar it's in. Once I've input notes in quarter/half/whole values I highlight the bar, and click Shift/Alt/8 to make the notes stemless. I can then go back and take out the time signatures.

 

It's labour-intensive, but it works!

 

Brigid

 There are options of using 'symbols', where you'd have to click on each notehead and place them on the score. The other ideas may be less labor-intensive.

I don't know about previous versions, but starting with Sib IV you can use the create bar function to create measures of any length.  You could create the measures of the lengh needed and then enter the note heads. 

Create ->  Bar >  Other > Irregular>  This gives you a drop down menu of notes types.  You can click on what ever combination of note values to add up to the number you need.  I am not sure it would be any quicker than using new time signatures. 

In Sib IV this is described in section 2.1 of Sibelus Reference.  In Sib 6 it is section 2.13.  I skipped Sib 5.

Rob

 I have done a great deal of transcription to chant notation, and I even called Sibelius to ask if they had a secret I didn't know about.  They basically said to do what you've already heard here.  I create a time signature of something like 32/4 which gives me the most options.  For irregular numbers of quarter notes I create rests and then can hide them.  I also hide the bar lines and the time signature eventually.

when you're done, select all and click alt or option 8 to make all notes stemless.

It is tiresome but once you get the hang of it you can go pretty fast.

best of luck,

Amy LeClair