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Software for Choral LibraryDate: July 13, 2010
What recommendations do you have for choral library software? It is time for an upgrade.
Replies (17): Threaded | Chronological
Duane Toole on July 13, 2010 12:17pm
Well, you can try mine.
We offer software for church and, recently, school musicians. It helps track any kind of music in Vocal Music, Instrumental Music, Organ Music, Piano Music, and Handbell Music libraries. You can enter collections/cantatas/oratorios or anthems or sheet music of any type, find it quickly and choose music according to theme or keyword for concerts or services. You can track loans in both our church music program or more specifically in our school music program. There are dozens of reports. The church music version contains data and keywords on seven hymnals, with more in process.
A downloadable, fully functional demo of the church music version, which lasts until August 30, 2010, can be found on the Contact Us page on our website:
http://www.computertooles.com
Contact me personally for more details.
Bryson Mortensen on July 13, 2010 8:52pm
Duane,
Tried to download the trial of your music software, says that it can't find a file "db5" or something along those lines and won't open. Any advice?
Duane Toole on July 14, 2010 5:05am
Bryson,
The demo is set up to install to a Windows XP setup. If you are using Windows Vista or Windows 7, the data file is installed to the default place for those operating systems. You can e-mail me at duane.toole(a)gmail.com for simple instructions.
D.
John Howell on July 14, 2010 11:25am
Duane: Ooops! In other words, you've written a Windows-only program, right? May I then assume that you aren't aware that Macs are often preferred in educational environments, and especially so in the arts? Our own Music Department is Mac only, and has been since we adopted a computer requirement. You might want to specify in any future announcements that your product does not run on Macs, to avoid generating negative reactions.
John
Jamie Meaders on July 14, 2010 11:57am
Duane,
Thank you for your reply. This purchase is for a university choral library. What are specific differences in the version for school musicians? Would the information be accessible from multiple stations? For instance, could my grad assistant have access from the desktop in the library, and I have access from my desk or laptop while away from the office? I like the looks of your product and look forward to hearing more specifics.
Jamie
on July 13, 2010 2:53pm
Jamie: Our Music Department adopted FileMaker Pro many years ago, and we still use it. You have to set it up yourself, but you can set it up any way you want.
For something already set up for you, a program like Duane's is certainly worth looking into. On the other hand, I would urge caution before you subscribe to one of the websites that keeps all of your data on their website, since any company and any website can, and in many cases have, gone out of business, and if that happens you lose all your data. That has to be balanced against the convenience of having a turnkey system that's easy to use and can be accessed by anyone from anywhere.
All the best,
John
on July 14, 2010 5:10am
Quite right, John. On-line services work well, but we think keeping data off-site can be a mistake. Most people like the advantage of being able to access the data from other computers, but any of the current offering for musicians are ALL available on-line, including Church Music Tooleworks and School Music Tooleworks.
Ask any vendor of software you're considering about internet access.
on July 14, 2010 5:44am
Jamie:
I, too, use FileMaker and have a template I've developed over the years. If you'd like it, please let me know.
Garrett
on July 14, 2010 6:59am
Jamie,
You did not identify whether your choral library is in an educational institution, a church or community organization. However, a program called "WorshipPlanner" is available from Jim Faull at www.jimfaull.com which I think can be used in any situation. It has an extensive database of hymnals that are interactive with a planning sheet for worship services or concerts. It tracks the use of all the hymns, the library that you enter, group or solo performances, attendance and much more. Reports can be generated in several media formats (.doc, .pdf, etc.). I use this program extensively throughout my music minstry including choirs, orchestra, and handbells. Jim has also developed several other tools which he will be happy to introduce to you. This program is very user friendly. As with any database, the most tedious part is the input of your library, singers and players, or any other lists that you wish to create. Jim is very easy to work with so don't be shy about contacting him.
I hope this helps, and good luck.
Wayne
on July 14, 2010 9:08am
I have a simpler need- to digitize our 3x5 system listings, Would anyone know about Bento 3 ?
SIR
on July 15, 2010 11:57am
Hi all,
I would like to make an argument for online services like my product http://www.ensemblemanager.com. Cloud based systems are becoming the norm because they are extremely stable, secure, and infinitely upgradeable. While businesses can go under, I'd also say that hard drives crash just as often and many people do not back up regularly enough.
With a service like mine, you never have to back up (though the option is available to download all your information to a .csv file just in case). Your information is kept on servers that are backed up hourly and have so many redundancy systems that your information could never be lost, even if the business were to go under. Add that benefit to usage at any computer or enabled mobile device and multiple security access levels for volunteers, admins, students, etc, and you have everything software offers plus a whole lot more flexibility and control.
Feel free to check out our service. We have our personnel database and seating chart design tool up and running and our library database is coming online in August. Our service was built by a firm who has created human resource information systems for companies like Kraft Foods and Tommy Hilfiger. It's built to last and roll with the regular changes and advances in technology.
Best,
Danny
on July 15, 2010 2:00pm
Danny: I'm glad you checked in with a rebuttal, although I did try to make my comments fair and point out that there were advantages either way. You said, "your information is kept on servers that are backed up hourly and have so many redundancy systems that your information could never be lost, even if the business were to go under." Unfortunately, that's a little oversimplified. The information might well never be lost (until failure to keep up with new operating systems made the backups outdated), but at the same time might be completely inaccessible because no one would be minding the store. If you have an answer for that, it would go a long way to allaying my skepticism.
But companies can and have gone out of business, no matter how good their software is. In fact the power users on the FinaleList have speculated whether MakeMusic might do so in the future, making their software unsupported, since their business practices seem to be heading in that direction. And combined with that, more and more copy protection schemes are based on online registration with the company, and if your registration fails because the company fails, you no longer have usable software.
It's an interesting business, to say the least!
All the best,
John
on July 26, 2010 1:30pm
John,
Thank you for stating your concerns. Happily they actually support the argument for a cloud based system. Cloud based systems like mine use CSV and XML file types so that backups will never fail to keep up with new operating systems. CSV and XML are industry standards that are used for the very purpose of staying compatible in perpetuity.
We have a system in place to provide CSV files (accessible by Excel, Access, Filemaker, etc, etc) to our customers should anything happen to our business or our servers. Though since the servers are housed in fireproof buildings accessible only by key card, it would be very difficult for something to happen to those servers. Even if that did happen though, we could easily go back to the last backup prior to any incident so that you don't lose everything.
The blessing of cloud based systems like www.ensemblemanager.com is that you don't need online registration for software. There is no software. You can use the system as long as you pay for your membership. You'll never have to worry about reactivating each time you reinstall because there are no reinstalls. Beautiful isn't it?
Best,
Danny
on July 18, 2010 1:12pm
I do use some cloud based services (specifically Google's) and value them greatly but I was recently introduced to the Filemaker family, and specifically, Bento. I agree, it does take some work to set up but you can configure it how ever you want, with different forms to view different sets of information, and it's available on your computer. It's not just limited to music, I use it to organize my students and accounts payable and things. If you want some templates let me know.
on July 20, 2010 8:18pm
FileMaker fans out there, take a look at the Choral Management Package:
But you don't even have to buy FileMaker, since the software is built on a runtime version, that's included.
Note that the library module is designed to be compatible with the MUSICA database,
Feel free to call if you have questions: 617-504-8155.
Ray Fahrner
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