 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: derf5585
Date: 2017-01-14 23:05
Why is music printed mainly on odd sized paper and not always on letter sized paper?
fsbsde@yahoo.com
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Author: johng ★2017
Date: 2017-01-15 03:11
1) it is the tradition 2) it makes it harder to copy on a standard copier 3) the printed notes can be larger and easier to read/or you can get more music on each page 4) more and more music is being printed on standard paper (like 8.5 by 11) due to the greater use of computers to produce sheet music.
John Gibson, Founder of JB Linear Music, www.music4woodwinds.com
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Author: Caroline Smale
Date: 2017-01-15 03:33
When much of he music was originally published there was no such thing as a standard size, letter or otherwise.
Any reprints often use the original plates.
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Author: qualitycontrol
Date: 2017-01-15 10:08
Similarly, it's the same reason novels aren't all half a sheet of letter sized paper. Large printing presses print sheets upwards of 26"x40", or A0 in Europe, and it depends how many sheets total they need to get out of their large press sheets.
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Author: Ken Shaw ★2017
Date: 2017-01-17 09:25
Up to around 1950, music was engraved in metal (usually copper) by inscribing staff lines and stamping in the notes by hand, and finally adding slurs and ties with a scriber. The plates were then inked and printed by the letterpress method, pressing the plate against the printing paper.
Standard sizes for music stampers ensured easy interchangeability, and, with 3 or even more people reading off the sheet, the stamper size and thus the paper sheet size had to be larger to be legible.
Most classical music available today -- say, a Beethoven symphony -- was engraved with the large paper sheet in mind. Reducing those editions to fit standard typing paper is easy, but even when I was young and had sharp eyes, I found it too small.
It's a major job to scan old music, proofread the scanning and re-fit the lines to 8.5 x 11 paper with printing large enough to be read easily. Much easier just to photoscan old material and reduce it, or, if you have professional players in mind, use larger sheets of paper. Also, music stands, folders and library shelves are made for the large sizes.
Ken Shaw
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Author: qualitycontrol
Date: 2017-01-17 19:03
Ken, engravings are not printed via letterpress, they are intaglio printed, although that is a very unimportant detail. Letterpress printing prints the raised parts of a plate, intaglio prints the recessed (engraved) parts of a plate.
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Author: Ken Shaw ★2017
Date: 2017-01-17 23:38
qc -
You're right. I've been out of music publishing for too long. Thanks for the correction.
Ken Shaw
Post Edited (2017-01-17 23:38)
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Author: John Morton
Date: 2017-01-18 21:14
You don't say what the "odd" size is. If it measures 8.3" x 11.7", that is the ISO standard size A4, common outside the US. I use the setting on my low end copier that renders an A4 original at 88% size, a decent fit for letter size.
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Author: rmk54
Date: 2017-01-19 01:40
Most orchestral parts are sized at 10X13 inches, although some of the newer editions are 9.5X10.
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