# Why Music Fonts Haven't Evolved for the 21st Century



## Guseyn (3 mo ago)

Did anyone watch this? I think it's quite interesting topic.


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## mbhaub (Dec 2, 2016)

Watch what?


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## Guseyn (3 mo ago)

mbhaub said:


> Watch what?


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## mbhaub (Dec 2, 2016)

I think this guy has a solution looking for a non-existent problem. Or two much time on his hands. Music notation styles are different from publisher to publisher. Give someone a page from Novello, Breitkopf, Barenreiter or Schott at the differences are obvious - and a lot of musicians can even identify the publisher at a glance. And all the stuff he talks about and complains about can in fact be done in Finale or Sibelius if you're willing to put in the time. Bar line width, mixing fonts and styles not a problem at all. This 40 minute video badly needs to be edited down to 20 minutes. It's tedious listening.


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## EdwardBast (Nov 25, 2013)

mbhaub said:


> I think this guy has a solution looking for a non-existent problem. Or two much time on his hands. Music notation styles are different from publisher to publisher. Give someone a page from Novello, Breitkopf, Barenreiter or Schott at the differences are obvious - and a lot of musicians can even identify the publisher at a glance. And all the stuff he talks about and complains about can in fact be done in Finale or Sibelius if you're willing to put in the time. Bar line width, mixing fonts and styles not a problem at all. This 40 minute video badly needs to be edited down to 20 minutes. It's tedious listening.


I owe you one. I was waiting for someone competent to watch it so I wouldn't have to. Quite happy to take your word for it.


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

Guseyn said:


> Did anyone watch this? I think it's quite interesting topic.


Can I ask you why?


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## Guseyn (3 mo ago)

Rogerx said:


> Can I ask you why?


I think I am somewhat agree with the presenter in the video. Mostly because I see that font of the text and music fonts don’t match in any music score. If it’s possible, why not do it? And why nobody tries to improve such things.


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## larold (Jul 20, 2017)

One thing that differentiates music of this century from last -- and most others -- is that melody is no longer considered the basis for music. This is true in almost all forms of music from classical to popular though I don't follow Broadway enough to say that about music theater. And religious music is still composed using melody. But clearly melody has been lost in classical and popular music, almost always replaced by something that either creates or dominates mood or tempo.

If you think about the greatest songs and music you know, the ones you love most, I bet they have hummable melodies. This is the single most important reason you remember them and why they impacted you so greatly. Melody is to your brain a logic that creates synapses; it moves in a sequence your neurons follow easily and closely similarly to reading a road map or following a written recipe.

The outstanding _*Inside The Score*_ series on YouTube did a sequence on the loss of melody. It was countered by several other videos saying melody was still alive but I no longer hear it in classical music and it is what I believe has led CM down a trough and away from popular appeal.


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## pianozach (May 21, 2018)

The actual music engraving HAS changed considerably since the invention of computerized music notation.

I find that I need readers to read these "modern" 'engravings' of music, but don't need them when reading older scores where the notes, dynamics, phrasings, and whatnot are nice and fat.

I also despise computerized scores for another reason: Computers generally don't care where page turns are placed.


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## Monsalvat (11 mo ago)

pianozach said:


> The actual music engraving HAS changed considerably since the invention of computerized music notation.
> 
> I find that I need readers to read these "modern" 'engravings' of music, but don't need them when reading older scores where the notes, dynamics, phrasings, and whatnot are nice and fat.
> 
> I also despise computerized scores for another reason: Computers generally don't care where page turns are placed.


Sounds like you aren't getting your scores from a good publisher. Henle and Bärenreiter have both moved digital but they are still very good. (Although I definitely prefer Bärenreiter's hand-engraved scores.) I own physical scores published by both companies and they are very easy on the eyes; cream-colored paper, bound so it (mostly) stays flat, and high-quality printing. Never have had issues with the fonts being hard to read for either of those companies. Both publishers try to put the page turns in convenient places (though Bärenreiter tends to require more pages than sometimes I feel is necessary, leading to more page turns overall). I don't own modern Breitkopf scores but the previews I've seen online also look very legible. I promise I'm not a shill for any publisher!


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## prlj (10 mo ago)

Monsalvat said:


> cream-colored paper, bound so it (mostly) stays flat, and high-quality printing.


It's amazing how critical those three elements are...I have a number of Barenreiter and Breikopf scores, and they're physical works of art all by themselves.

That being said, a well-used Dover score feels like a nice pair of comfortable jeans. I've had a few that are 35+ years old, and they hold up so well.


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## pianozach (May 21, 2018)

Monsalvat said:


> Sounds like you aren't getting your scores from a good publisher. Henle and Bärenreiter have both moved digital but they are still very good. (Although I definitely prefer Bärenreiter's hand-engraved scores.) I own physical scores published by both companies and they are very easy on the eyes; cream-colored paper, bound so it (mostly) stays flat, and high-quality printing. Never have had issues with the fonts being hard to read for either of those companies. Both publishers try to put the page turns in convenient places (though Bärenreiter tends to require more pages than sometimes I feel is necessary, leading to more page turns overall). I don't own modern Breitkopf scores but the previews I've seen online also look very legible. I promise I'm not a shill for any publisher!


Most scores I see these days are for either operettas (old engravings) or musical theatre (generally new computerized engravings).


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## mikeh375 (Sep 7, 2017)

pianozach said:


> The actual music engraving HAS changed considerably since the invention of computerized music notation.
> 
> I find that I need readers to read these "modern" 'engravings' of music, but don't need them when reading older scores where the notes, dynamics, phrasings, and whatnot are nice and fat.
> 
> *I also despise computerized scores for another reason: Computers generally don't care where page turns are placed.*


But Zach, notation software _is_ capable of placing page turns absolutely anywhere in the score/part. It's the programming i.e. the human that's at fault if page turning is done badly.
Notation programmes would be poorly designed and certainly not used by publishers, musicians, arrangers and composers the world over if they couldn't re-arrange and format bars for ease of use and clarity....I certainly wouldn't use them if that were so.


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## Ethereality (Apr 6, 2019)

mbhaub said:


> I think this guy has a solution looking for a non-existent problem. Or two much time on his hands. Music notation styles are different from publisher to publisher. Give someone a page from Novello, Breitkopf, Barenreiter or Schott at the differences are obvious - and a lot of musicians can even identify the publisher at a glance. And all the stuff he talks about and complains about can in fact be done in Finale or Sibelius if you're willing to put in the time. Bar line width, mixing fonts and styles not a problem at all. This 40 minute video badly needs to be edited down to 20 minutes. It's tedious listening.


In other words, he's prevaricating 🤫


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