search

petemitton / chappell

Source material for William Chappell's Popular Music of the Olden Time
Creative Commons Zero v1.0 Universal
0 stars 0 forks source link

Appearance of music examples #5

Open dunlace40 opened 3 years ago

dunlace40 commented 3 years ago

"Sumer is icumen in"

Just a note of general sadness that computer settings of music are always inferior in appearance to pre-computer settings. Modern note and text size are tiny in comparison, harder to read and much less attractive in appearance, although the whole example takes up the same amount of space on the page as the example you have copied. I have no expertise, and no solution. Just commenting, in case you have power to fix this phenomenon which seems such a shame.

petemitton commented 3 years ago

I completely agree.

'Sumer is icumen in' is an extreme example but modern typesetting is based on a different set of rules than those of the 19th century and I have tried numerous software tools to achieve a good compromise. Later examples tend to be slightly better laid out as I gained experience. Short of writing a new layout engine I don't really have any more ideas about how to improve things.

An earlier version dispensed with keeping the same page numbers and thereby gave opportunities for expanding text and music sizes but that would result in larger areas of empty space as the music led to page breaks. It was adding about 50 pages extra to the book.

After I've 'completed' the second volume I plan to revisit volume I and incorporate any further improvements I am able to make based on what I discover laying out the second volume.

Many thanks for your assistance in bringing issues to my attention.

dunlace40 commented 3 years ago

Hello Pete,

I wish I had time to do a thorough job of proofreading your Chappell. I took a look out of curiosity and was reminded what a fascinating book it is — then I spotted a couple of typos and was moved to try GitHub.

I’m a singer who grew up with Boosey’s and Faber’s gorgeous music typesetting. The 1905 RVW Songs of Travel is a fine example. I feel sad and angry that Boosey’s 2016 version, presumably done in order to create a new copyright, has been done with so little care for beauty and legibility. I’m wonder if it’s something that an aesthetically gifted programmer can sort out, or is it lost for good?

Best wishes with your project, Poppy

On 20 Oct 2021, at 14:34, Pete Mitton @.***> wrote:

I completely agree.

'Sumer is icumen in' is an extreme example but modern typesetting is based on a different set of rules than those of the 19th century and I have tried numerous software tools to achieve a good compromise. Later examples tend to be slightly better laid out as I gained experience. Short of writing a new layout engine I don't really have any more ideas about how to improve things.

An earlier version dispensed with keeping the same page numbers and thereby gave opportunities for expanding text and music sizes but that would result in larger areas of empty space as the music led to page breaks. It was adding about 50 pages extra to the book.

After I've 'completed' the second volume I plan to revisit volume I and incorporate any further improvements I am able to make based on what I discover laying out the second volume.

Many thanks for your assistance in bringing issues to my attention.

— You are receiving this because you authored the thread. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub https://github.com/petemitton/chappell/issues/5#issuecomment-947673494, or unsubscribe https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AWEPTSIYHH3UWRRPYNL2H2DUH3AOVANCNFSM5GLRYPVQ. Triage notifications on the go with GitHub Mobile for iOS https://apps.apple.com/app/apple-store/id1477376905?ct=notification-email&mt=8&pt=524675 or Android https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.github.android&referrer=utm_campaign%3Dnotification-email%26utm_medium%3Demail%26utm_source%3Dgithub.