The Brass Tacks

Why I Love Finale

Today I had the idea that Bach's Two Part Inventions would sound nice played by flute and euphonium, so I fired up my trusty Finale music notation software and did a quick arrangement of #2. Here's how long it took me:

• Entering the notes - 14 minutes
• Checking for errors and adding some slurs and articulations - 5 minutes
• Adjusting page format to fit on two pages, creating titles, and printing to pdf - 6 minutes
• Creating a few playback trills - 6 minutes
• Recording to mp3 and normalizing the playback file - 3 minutes
• Grand total - 34 minutes

Have a look at the printed score here, and if you like click here to listen to the arrangement played by Finale.

I could have done the arrangement a lot faster with a MIDI keyboard but I don't have room for one in my office. Instead, all the notes were entered using Finale's Speedy Entry tool and the number pad of the computer keyboard.

Call me crazy, but I think that is stunningly realistic playback for a computer program! Finale made huge strides in the 2007 release towards imitating human playback and instrument sounds. If I wanted though, instead of recording to mp3, I could have saved the file to MIDI in a couple of seconds, resulting in a much smaller download but variable results playing the file back on computers with different soundcards.

The latest release of Finale includes the ability to import live audio into your music arrangements. Wow!

Presidential Tax Returns

The Tax History Project has compiled an archive of presidential tax returns. President George W. Bush's 2006 income tax return has now been released.

Bookkeeping Methods for the Self-Employed

My tax clients often ask me: "What's the best way to keep our books and records?" Of course, everybody is different, and the same method won't work for people with different skills. After thinking about it for a while I realized that an overview at Howland Tax Services of various bookkeeping methods might be useful for many people!

Are Trombonists Becoming Extinct?

Trombone Player Skit on Conan O'Brien

Forwarded to me from Gordon Cherry, who noted that some might say that this is a good thing!

Beacon Hill Brass Canada Day Concert

A group that I play in, the Beacon Hill Brass, played a free public concert in Beacon Hill Park on Canada Day. A video of one of our selections has made it onto YouTube!

Happiness is Paying your Taxes

CBC reported on June 15 that "paying taxes can make citizens happy." The source of the article was purportedly a study done at the University of Oregon and published in Science magazine. I hope the nice folks who set our income tax rates didn't see this!

I think there may something to it though. I do find that when I make my quarterly installment payments there is a feeling of satisfaction from knowing that what's left of the money sitting in my bank account is all mine. However, that feeling fades pretty quickly, and is usually completely gone by the time the next bill arrives.

Tax Relief for Canadian Seniors

The Canadian government has implemented a "Tax Fairness Plan" that delivers some tax relief to seniors. The first part of the plan involved enhancing the Age Credit Amount in 2006.

The 2007 tax year brings something new (and I think historic) to Canadian taxation: recipients of certain types of pension income will be permitted to share that income between spouses to save on the overall tax bill. Income "splitting" has always been possible in the United States with the use of the "Married Filing Jointly " filing status, but it is something new to Canada. It should provide welcome relief to seniors who for the most part receive the worst kind of income for tax purposes, straight pension income with few deductions allowed.

There appears to be wide-spread confusion, at least among my tax clients, about what type of income can be split. According to the Department of Finance, RPP, RRSP, and RRIF income can be split, but payments from OAS, CPP, QPP, and certain RCAs will not qualify.

New Tax Break for Canadian Families

On June 30 the CanWest News Service reported on the new federal child tax break for families with children under 18 years old, effective July 1. The tax savings comes in the form of a refundable tax credit claimed on your income tax return, and is worth up to $310.

Employees can take advantage of the tax break now by having their income tax withholdings (slightly) reduced. You need to fill out a new TD1 form to give to your employer. The form is available on Canada Revenue Agency's website.