I'v seen some sheets that look crazy hard but after I analyze it and actually play it it's not that "complex" as it looked. Why do some people gota make it so complexed like using a double eigth note with a bridge instead of just one quarter note. Are sheet aesthetics really that important?

I also found that certain programs style can make a sheet look harder too, for example finale has a clearer style than say sibleus (to me).

What do u guys think?

I'm not sure about Finale, but Sibelius automatically divides and combines notes based on the downbeats. If you see two tied 8th notes instead of a quarter note, it's probably because that note comes in on an upbeat. The person writing the file can also manually adjust this. It's supposedly to make reading the sheet easier, but I guess that's up for debate.

I do believe there is a "proper" way for these things, but my theory isn't very extensive. So when people are making them, surely their level of musical theory comes into play.

When I use Sibelius though, I usually just stick with the default. It looks right to me most of the time. I find other music programs like Finale less rigid with layout and grouping. In such cases I would imagine the composer/arranger/transcriber's knowledge to have an even bigger part.

Sheets made via certain programs like Kawai Score Maker more often than not look messy to me. Some do look very nice, but many have notes that would be better placed in the other clef, or grouped differently, spaced differently, etc. Not having huge note heads and staves is a plus too; the eyes/brain can't take in as much at once.

It's not always a big deal, and for me if sheets look difficult... it usually is. Rather, easier pieces end up more difficult than expected. But I do have to say that it's awfully nice if small things like spacing, grouping, stems - even length of stems - follows conventions, because I almost exclusively sight read.

Props to the creators who mind aesthetics. :D

Heh, Kawai Score Maker's sheets look atrocious to me, at least. Maybe it's just the arranger, but on many sheets, I see huge leaps and intervals impossible to play.

I haven't extensively studied theory, but from what I do know, there's a specific way with rests - for any quadruple time, you cannot connect beats 2 and 3 with a rest, and for any compound time, you cannot connect the last two pulses together. You also have to finish each beat in turn (so as to say, if you're writing an eighth note on its own (in 2/4), the rests have to be eighth, then quarter instead of dotted quarter).

However, from that, there shouldn't be anything between grouping of notes, as far as I can tell. I guess it's all convention; as long as you can read it, why bother? :P

I have a pretty good knowledge of music theory. Programs are a nightmare, basically because they are programs and follow conventions to the letter. It's the responsibility of the arranger/composer to make sure what they write is actually readable. In terms of two eighth notes tied together rather than one quarter note, that sounds to me like the "arranger" of whatever it is you are looking at has simply imported a midi into whatever program they used and not really messed around with it.

I am only familiar with Sibelius which is my program of choice. If, for example, you try and write more than one line on each stave it can come up with note combinations that are impossible to play. You need to use the voice feature to make sure that each line follows the conventions independantly, otherwise you end up with ridiculous intervals/uses of tied notes when they are not necessary.

Like people have said, it is down to the arranger's knowledge of theory and of the program, like they may know how it should be presented but not know what to tell the program to do to achieve that. Groupings are unimportant in the 20th century; if you look at professional scores, lots of them have notes grouped across barlines and over strong/weak beats which strictly in terms of convention is incorrect. But music has evolved since the conventions were put into place, so the conventions have to change to accomodate that, that is what music programs do not understand; it's pretty much on the same level as applying Baroque harmony rules to this kind of music- it doesn't work!