This is partly a Sibelius question and partly a VDL2 question.
What does everyone feel is the best way to notate extended wind chime passages in music?

I have a section of music that I want to have the wind chimes go up and down for an extended time but I'm not quite sure I've figured out how to use them in the template for Sibelius 4.

First, be sure you've selected a point in your score at which the ";staff type"; is set. In the Sibelius template, there is only one windchime map ";VDL2: Treeworks windchimes (all)"; (or something like that).

Once you've assigned the staff type, any of the treeworks windchimes from VDL2 should display on a reasonable staff location.

If you want a literal and distinct ";up";, then a literal ";down"; sound, you'll need to enter them at the point in which you want the sound to start. Ascending strokes are on C, decending strokes are on D. If it's not critical to have the directional sound (up and down), there is a continuous sample you can enter (on E) that is a combination of ups and downs. This will sustain (loop) for as long as you need it to. So if the part goes for 4 bars, you could simply enter four tied E's, and you'll have non-stop sustain with a random feel to it. For the player, you could use the ";line"; feature in Sibelius (shortcut: L) to create some up/down directional lines to imply the direction you're going for.

Hope this helps.

How does the template for Sibelius display the wind chime notes? I know when I've used them in the past it places a symbol that isn't exactly a note head at the starting point. What is the best suggestion for displaying the up and down motion of the wind chimes?

It shows them as regular noteheads if I remember correctly.  I haven't used them in so long that I honestly don't remember exactly.  I do know that up and down are on different lines of the staff.

I usually use Jim's method or a simple up or down arrow if I'm feeling lazy.

Thanks.

I wasa bit confused and its late. For some reason I remember it displaying weirdly in the past but I was actually thinking of the notehead for the mark tree in the rack combo. Now that I've got that straightened out I'm good to go.