A computer-oriented system for music printing

Abstract

The term "music printing" encompasses several production processes. First an engraver (or other craftsman) produces an original image of the eventual printed page, which is replicated several times; the printed impressions are made from the replicas. No simple generic term describes the production of the original image; rather, the method of production usually lends its name to the process. The terms set and setting, for example, generally imply the use of metal type. Although there have been some attempts to use typesetting for music, these terms will be adopted here to describe the production of the original image regardless of the method of production. Music setting, then, is to be understood as the process of placing music symbols in their required places. Music printing will refer to the entire sequence of processes which produce a finished piece of printed music. The research described here is primarily concerned with music setting, a handicraft art form which, except for developments in style, has remained relatively unchanged over a period of nearly four hundred years. Although computers have been used in a variety of ways in the printing industry, music printing is one interesting application which has remained quite intractable. To put the task of computer-aided music printing in some reasonable perspective, it is necessary to consider some of the history and detail of traditional music printing. In medieval times all music setting was done manually by monks on parchment or fine quality paper. Usually illuminated, these were truly works of art. The evolution of music notation is traced briefly by Read [1]* who reveals an important effect of the advent of music printing on music notation: just as type faces became standardized after the advent of book printing, so music