Resources: Notation Typesetting, Recordings and Other

Here is help for all you composers and arrangers. Know your craft!

It is easy for a novice to believe that just because he or she is using a quality, music typesetting program like Finale or Sibelius and printing out on a high resolution printer that their music must be correctly typeset. After all, the music jumps off the crisp, white page with a clarity and beauty the written hand could never achieve. Notes are spaced correctly and a lot of formatting is automatic. Unfortunately, to the trained eye many things may still be non-standard at best and unprofessional or incorrect at worst.

As in all things in our Christian life, a pursuit of excellence is not just a worthy goal but a mandate from Scripture. Quality music typesetting, or engraving, as it is called on the professional level. is a developed and skilled art that requires much study and attention to detail. If you are unsure of how to properly typeset your music composition or arrangement, begin by comparing your work to similar music publications from major publishers. Also, there are many resources on the internet that can help, such as the following links:

• web resource: Music Notation, an Overview
• web resource: Standard Music Notation Practice
• web resource: Music Notation Style Guide
• Essential Dictionary of Music Notation: The Most Practical and Concise Source for Music Notation
• Music Notation: A Manual of Modern Practice
• Music Notation (Berklee Guide)
• Behind Bars: The Definitive Guide to Music Notation

Find a tremendous selection of quality, conservative music recordings and much more at Orion Publishing. Visit them at Orion Publishing,