Using tags to organize your tracks in Newzik
Hello everyone, I'm very excited to share with you my impressions of Newzik's new feature: the Tags !
This is a feature that arrived in version 6.4 of Newzik, and I'm not excited for no reason, because I believe that from now on you can easily have one of Newzik's music libraries libraries always with you, even in your pocket. Personally, I not only get a lot of pleasure out of organizing, but as a librarian, I get a lot of excitement out of the fact that I now have a library that is even better organized than my institution's library, and tags are the backbone that has made this possible.
Getting started with tags
Tags in Newzik are essentially a filtering system that you can fully customize as you wish. You create your own tags and then assign them to any piece, and you can assign as many tags as you like to a piece, and then search/filter your pieces from the tags window. Tags can be used to create groups of catalogs, large or small. In version 6.4, you can create a new tag in three different ways:
First of all, you can create it from the tag window in the top left-hand corner of the song section.
You can also assign tags during import.
You can also assign tags directly from the song details.
If you'd like to learn in detail how to create and assign tags, you can consult the Newzik knowledge base here.
Why are tags important?
That's all well and good, but why are tags important? I think they're important because they can really give you not only easy access but also easy information.
Let me explain what I mean:
As tags are completely unique, you can customize them as you wish, which means you can organize your library as you see fit. I'd like to share with you what I did, and I think it can show you what tags are capable of.
I'm a violinist, conductor and composer who has studied and continues to study all of these areas, so my music library was a mess (well, it still is for paper scores). As you can guess, I have too many different things, some related and some not at all. With tags, I discovered that I could order my whole library as if it were in a catalog, and after trying it out, I was so excited that I decided to design my tag structure first and then assign all my tags (I advise you to do the same, it's life-changing).
We have 10 different colors to choose from in the tags, so I decided that I would have these colors as the main sections, and a few tags in each color. I was able to create 9 main sections and around 40 tags.
For example, I've created 4 labels in the color red: Violin, Conducting, Composition and Ensemble. This way, I can see which piece relates to which part of my studies/career.
I used the color blue for the eras, which means I created many different blue tags such as Baroque, Classical, Romantic, Post-War, and so on. The significance of all this is enormous for me, since I now have my library catalogued according to eras.
I think you get the idea, so I'll give a few more examples for the other labels I've created:
I've used dark green for labels relating to musical forms such as Symphony, Opera, Concerto, Sonata etc...
Light green to separate chamber music groups such as duos, trios, quartets, etc.
I've used dark blue to differentiate one score from another, such as Manuscript, Urtext, First Edition or Second Edition (this is also very useful for me, as I always receive manuscripts and urtext editions alongside old second editions).
I've used the color purple for labels that show me information about the track I have without the need to enter the track, such as: part only, partitur only, parts, all parts and partitur, etc. This way I can see how many tracks there are in my library without even needing to enter the music. In this way, I can see how many tracks are in my library without even having to enter the music.
I've also added a solo gray label and named it "Nonmusical", because I use Newzik for many things, not just music.
I've added my own tag design below, so you can see just how much you can do with it, especially if you're obsessed with order (it's even helped a messy person like me tidy up her affairs).
Why so many tags?
The answer to the question of why I created so many Tags and produced a system is that I needed this organization. My library is growing all the time, and it's happening every day. If I continue at this rate, in a year or two it will be very difficult to find anything in my application. Sure, I can always write down the name or the composer and Newzik will find it for me and that's wonderful, but what if I forget the piece and the composer? I might know it's a violin piece or a trio, but I might not remember which one it is. As musicians, we sometimes remember specific things about pieces, but not always the main titles.
Another reason I like tags is that I like to make sudden searches in my library. For example, if I suddenly want to play a quartet with my band, I can now instantly list all my quartets. If I'm creating a concert program and need a piece from the classical period, I can simply filter it with labels and see what I've got. I can also check all my single-movement manuscripts, or my vocal scores, or all my symphonies / sonatas / operas, and so on. Or if I have an ensemble that wants to do some reading, I can easily choose the tag called "All Parts and Partitur" to find ready scores of which I have all the parts.
Tags can be used not only to filter searches, but also to create small library sections. The amazing thing is that even in ordinary libraries, you can only find a book or a score in a specific place. Now, I can reach the manuscript of my Brahms symphony not only directly with its name or composer, but also simply by choosing labels such as: Symphony or Romantic or Complete Score or Manuscript, etc. Even if I choose only "Manuscript", I'll still be able to find it. Even if I choose only "Manuscript" and "Symphony", it will be very easy to find him later. You can always further filter your search by using more tags.
What can be improved?
We all know that everything can be improved to achieve perfection. Personally, I've encountered virtually no problems when using tags.
At first, I thought it might be nice to have more colors, but after systematic use, I haven't even been able to create 10 different color groups, and I still have one color I'm not even using yet. But still, why not? Maybe we'll see a wider variety of colors in the future, or maybe people won't want to use colors in groups, but each color individually. Who knows? It's a very creative and open function that everyone will customize to their own needs, and that's exactly why I love it.
If I think about the pros and cons, I think I've explained the pros from the beginning of this article, but when I think about the cons, I can't really think of any big ones. One small disadvantage I found was that sometimes I'd forget I already had a Tag and try to create a new one anyway. Most of the time, Newzik was smart enough to tell me that I already had a Tag on that name and asked if I wanted to merge them? I was very happy to see this too, but I'd advise you to be careful with upper and lower case and to leave spaces after your words. I discovered that I had created the same tag twice, and when I checked it in detail to understand why the application wasn't asking me to merge it, I realized that I had an extra space in one of them, after my Tag name.
I now invite you to discover this amazing new feature and organize your library in the best possible way. You now have the opportunity to create the most organized, searchable and accessible library in the world, so be creative and put it to good use;)
