@cindex plate engraving
@cindex music engraving
-The art of music typography is called @emph{(plate) engraving}.
-The term derives from the traditional process of music printing.
-Just a few decades ago, sheet music was made by cutting and
-stamping the music into a zinc or pewter plate in mirror image.
-The plate would be inked, and the depressions caused by the cutting
-and stamping would hold ink. An image was formed by pressing
-paper to the plate. The stamping and cutting was done completely
-by hand. Making a correction was cumbersome, if possible at all,
-so the engraving had to be perfect in one go. Engraving was a
-highly specialized skill; a craftsman had to complete around five
-years of training before earning the title of master engraver, and
-another five years of experience were necessary to become truly
-skilled.
-
-Nowadays, all newly printed music is produced with computers.
-This has obvious advantages: prints are cheaper to make, and
-editorial work can be delivered by email. Unfortunately, the
-pervasive use of computers has also decreased the graphical
-quality of scores. Computer printouts have a bland, mechanical
-look, which makes them unpleasant to play from.
-
-
-@c introduce illustrating aspects of engraving, font...
-The images below illustrate the difference between traditional
-engraving and typical computer output, and the third picture shows
-how LilyPond mimics the traditional look. The left picture shows
-a scan of a flat symbol from an edition published in 2000. The
-center depicts a symbol from a hand-engraved Bärenreiter edition
-of the same music. The left scan illustrates typical flaws of
-computer print: the staff lines are thin, the weight of the flat
-symbol matches the light lines and it has a straight layout with
-sharp corners. By contrast, the Bärenreiter flat has a bold,
-almost voluptuous rounded look. Our flat symbol is designed
-after this one, among others. It is rounded, and its weight
-harmonizes with the thickness of our staff lines, which are also
-much thicker than lines in the computer edition.
-
-@multitable @columnfractions .125 .25 .25 .25 .125
-@item @tab
-@ifnotinfo
+The art of music typography is called @emph{(plate) engraving}. The term
+derives from the traditional process of music printing. Just a few
+decades ago, sheet music was made by cutting and stamping the music into
+a zinc or pewter plate in mirror image. The plate would be inked, and
+the depressions caused by the cutting and stamping would hold ink. An
+image was formed by pressing paper to the plate. The stamping and
+cutting was done completely by hand. Making a correction was cumbersome,
+so the engraving had to be nearly perfect in one go. Engraving was a
+highly specialized skill; a craftsman had to complete around five years
+of training before earning the title of master engraver, and another
+five years of experience were necessary to become truly skilled.
+
+@quotation
@iftex
-@image{pictures/henle-flat-gray,,4cm}
+@image{pictures/hader-slaan,,7cm}
@end iftex
@ifnottex
-@image{pictures/henle-flat-gray,,,png}
+@sourceimage{hader-slaan,,,jpg}
@end ifnottex
+@end quotation
-@tab
+Nowadays, all newly printed music is produced with computers. This has
+obvious advantages: prints are cheaper to make, editorial work can be
+delivered by email, and the original data can be easily stored.
+Unfortunately, computer-generated scores rarely match the quality of
+hand-engraved scores. Instead, computer printouts have a bland,
+mechanical look, which makes them unpleasant to play from.
+
+From the beginning, we designed LilyPond to mimic the beauty of
+traditional music engraving. Along the way, we have learned a great deal
+about the work that goes into a well-engraved score. Below we describe
+several of those aspects that we have tried to imitate in LilyPond.
+
+@menu
+* Music Fonts::
+* Optical Spacing::
+* Ledger Lines::
+* Slurs::
+* Why work so hard?::
+@end menu
+
+@node Music Fonts
+@unnumberedsubsec Music Fonts
+
+The images below illustrate the difference between traditional engraving
+and typical computer output. The left picture shows a scan of a flat
+symbol from a hand-engraved Bärenreiter edition, while the right picture
+depicts a symbol from an edition of the same music published in 2000.
+Although both images are printed in the shame shade of ink, the earlier
+version looks darker: the staff lines are heavier, and the Bärenreiter
+flat has a bold, almost voluptuous rounded look. The right scan, on the
+other hand, has thinner lines and a straight layout with sharp corners.
+
+@multitable @columnfractions .25 .25 .25 .25
+@item @tab
+@ifnotinfo
@iftex
@image{pictures/baer-flat-gray,,4cm}
@end iftex
@tab
@iftex
-@image{pictures/lily-flat-bw,,4cm}
+@image{pictures/henle-flat-gray,,4cm}
@end iftex
@ifnottex
-@image{pictures/lily-flat-bw,,,png}
+@image{pictures/henle-flat-gray,,,png}
@end ifnottex
+
@end ifnotinfo
@ifinfo
-@image{lilypond/pictures/henle-flat-bw,,,,png} @image{lilypond/pictures/baer-flat-bw,,,,png}
+@image{lilypond/pictures/henle-flat-bw,,,,png}
+@image{lilypond/pictures/baer-flat-bw,,,,png}
@image{lilypond/pictures/lily-flat-bw,,,,png}
@end ifinfo
+
@item @tab
-Henle (2000)
-@tab
Bärenreiter (1950)
@tab
-LilyPond Feta font (2003)
+Henle (2000)
@end multitable
-
@cindex musical symbols
@cindex font
@cindex blackness
@cindex balance
-@c introduce illustrating aspects of engraving, spacing...
+When we wanted to write a computer program to create music typography,
+there were no musical fonts freely available that could match the
+elegance of our favorite scores. Not let down, we created a font of
+musical symbols, relying on nice printouts of hand-engraved music. The
+experience helped develop a typographical taste, and it made us
+appreciate subtle design details. Without that experience, we would not
+have realized how ugly the fonts were that we admired at first.
+
+Below is a sample of two music fonts: the upper set is the default font
+in the Sibelius software (the @emph{Opus} font), and the lower set is
+our own LilyPond font.
+
+@quotation
+@iftex
+@image{pictures/pdf/OpusAndFeta,,,}
+@end iftex
+@ifnottex
+@sourceimage{OpusAndFeta,,,png}
+@end ifnottex
+@end quotation
+
+The LilyPond symbols are heavier and their weight is more consistent,
+which makes them easier to read. Fine endings, such as the one on the
+bottom of the quarter rest, should not end in sharp points, but rather
+in rounded shapes. This is because sharp corners of the punching dies
+are fragile and quickly wear out when stamping in metal. Taken together,
+the blackness of the font must be carefully tuned together with the
+thickness of lines, beams and slurs to give a strong yet balanced
+overall impression.
+
+Also, notice that our half-notehead is not elliptic but slightly diamond
+shaped. The vertical stem of a flat symbol is slightly brushed, becoming
+wider at the top. The sharp and the natural are easier to distinguish
+from a distance because their angled lines have different slopes and the
+vertical strokes are heavier.
+
+@node Optical Spacing
+@unnumberedsubsec Optical Spacing
+
In spacing, the distribution of space should reflect the durations
between notes. However, many modern scores adhere to the
durations with mathematical precision, which leads to poor
-results. In the next example a motive is printed twice: once
-using exact mathematical spacing, and once with corrections. Can
-you spot which fragment is which?
+results. In the next example a motive is printed twice: the first time
+using exact mathematical spacing, and the second with corrections.
+Which do you prefer?
@cindex optical spacing
-@c file spacing-optical.
-@c need to include it here, because we want two images.
+
@lilypond
\paper {
ragged-right = ##t
\stemNeutral
e'8[ e'8 e'8 e'8]
}
-
\score
{
\music
\layout {
\context {
\Staff
- \override NoteSpacing #'stem-spacing-correction = #0.6
+ \override NoteSpacing #'stem-spacing-correction = #0.0
+ \override NoteSpacing #'same-direction-correction = #0.0
+ \override StaffSpacing #'stem-spacing-correction = #0.0
}
}
}
\stemNeutral
e'8[ e'8 e'8 e'8]
}
+
\score
{
\music
\layout {
\context {
\Staff
- \override NoteSpacing #'stem-spacing-correction = #0.0
- \override NoteSpacing #'same-direction-correction = #0.0
- \override StaffSpacing #'stem-spacing-correction = #0.0
+ \override NoteSpacing #'stem-spacing-correction = #0.6
}
}
}
the notes of a down-stem/@/up-stem combination should be put
closer together, all depending on the combined vertical positions
of the notes. The upper two measures are printed with this
-correction, the lower two measures, however, form
-down-stem/@/up-stem clumps of notes.
+correction, the lower two measures, however, form down-stem/@/up-stem
+clumps of notes. A master engraver would adjust the spacing as needed to
+please the eye.
+
+Another example of optical spacing is the visual interplay between the
+stems and the bar lines. When an up-stem precedes the bar line, a little
+more space is needed to keep it from feeling crowded:
+@lilypond
+\paper {
+ ragged-right = ##t
+}
+
+\score {
+ {
+ c''8 c'' c'' c'' c'' c'' c'' c'' \break
+ a' a' a' a' a' a' a' a'
+ }
+ \layout {
+ \context {
+ \Staff
+ \remove "Time_signature_engraver"
+ \override NoteSpacing #'stem-spacing-correction = #0.7
+ }
+ }
+}
+@end lilypond
+
+@node Ledger Lines
+@unnumberedsubsec Ledger Lines
+
+@ifnotinfo
+@iftex
+@image{pictures/baer-ledger,4cm}
+@end iftex
+@ifnottex
+@image{pictures/baer-ledger,,,png}
+@end ifnottex
+@end ifnotinfo
+@ifinfo
+@image{lilypond/pictures/baer-ledger,,,,png}
+@end ifinfo
+
+@node Slurs
+@unnumberedsubsec Slurs
+
+@node Why work so hard?
+@unnumberedsubsec Why work so hard?
Musicians are usually more absorbed with performing than with
studying the looks of a piece of music, so nitpicking
@cindex engraving, automated
@cindex automated engraving
+@menu
+* Beauty contests::
+* Notation benchmarking::
+* Flexible architecture::
+@end menu
+
+@node Beauty contests
+@unnumberedsubsec Beauty contests
+
+@node Notation benchmarking
+@unnumberedsubsec Notation benchmarking
+
+Bärenreiter:
+
+@ifnotinfo
+@iftex
+@image{pictures/baer-sarabande,16cm}
+@end iftex
+@ifnottex
+@image{pictures/baer-sarabande,,,png}
+@end ifnottex
+@end ifnotinfo
+@ifinfo
+@image{lilypond/pictures/baer-sarabande,,,,png}
+@end ifinfo
+
+LilyPond 1.4:
+
+@ifnotinfo
+@iftex
+@image{pictures/lily14-sarabande,16cm}
+@end iftex
+@ifnottex
+@image{pictures/lily14-sarabande,,,png}
+@end ifnottex
+@end ifnotinfo
+@ifinfo
+@image{lilypond/pictures/lily14-sarabande,,,,png}
+@end ifinfo
+
+LilyPond @version{}:
+
+@lilypond[relative=0,staffsize=19,line-width=16\cm]
+{
+ \clef "bass"
+ \key d \minor
+ \time 3/4
+ \mergeDifferentlyDottedOn
+ << {d8. e16 e4. d16 e} \\ {d4 a2} >>
+ <f' a, d,>4. e8 d c
+ bes g' f e16( f g a bes d,)
+ cis4. b8 a g
+ << {d'8. e16 e4. d16 e} \\ {<f, a>4 a2} >>
+}
+@end lilypond
+
+[LilyPond snippet above not finished]
+
+[a few bars of LilyPond vs. Finale can go here]
+
+@node Flexible architecture
+@unnumberedsubsec Flexible architecture
+
How do we go about implementing typography? If craftsmen need
over ten years to become true masters, how could we simple hackers
ever write a program to take over their jobs?
projects / lilypond.git / blobdiff