Is there a way to make a staff change channels using a hidden MIDI message in Sibelius?

I am not too familiar with Sibelius any longer but the new 5.1 has Instrument Changes which will automatically load the instrument sounds and change the sound for you...a great feature.  Otherwise, if you have an earlier version (4 and under) you should be able to do Patch Changes that are hidden.  You will want to check your Sibelius Manual on how to do this.  This forum topic may help as well:

[url]https://www.tapspace.com/forums/index.php?topic=573.0[/url]

Coach gives good advice Mike. Also, be sure you're not confusing ";program changes"; with ";channel changes."; Those are two fundamentally different things. Switching instruments mid-score will vary depending on what version of Sibelius you're using.

I'm using Sibelius 4.1 - Heres a more detailed discription of what i want to do in my score.

If i have the Timpani loaded into VDL 2.0 and it is in channel 1 (and in channel 1 in the sibelius score) And i want it to start playing the glock. part (set as channel 2 in vdl and channel 2 in sib) can i put a midi message in the timp staff to make that change.

I really dont know if that is possible. I know that using midi messages changes the mod-wheel settings with vdl, so im wondering if this is also possible.

Mike, check out the thread Coach posted.  It should clarify.