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Music Engraving Today: The Art and Practice of Digital Notesetting.(Book Review)-

Article Excerpt
Music Engraving Today: The Art and Practice of Digital Notesetting. By Steven Powell. New York: Brichtmark Music, 2002. [249 p. ISBN 0-96589101-1. $29.95.] Music examples, illustrations, bibliography, index, internet resources.

It is a common misconception that computer-based music notation applications allow one to merely play the notes, press a button, and--poof!--generate professional quality scores and parts. Learning how to produce music notation of high quality on a computer is a three-step process. Step one requires learning correct notation practices (stem directions, stem length, music spacing, etc.). For this first step musicians can turn to several outstanding notation texts including Kurt Stone's Music Notation in the Twentieth Century (New York: W. W. Norton, 1980) and Gardner Read's Music Notation (New York: Taplinger Publishing, 1979). Step two involves mastering the notation software itself; only recently have any books on notation software become available, notably, Bill Purse's The Finale Primer, 2d ed. (San Francisco: Miller Freeman Books, 2000) and Thomas Rudolph and Vincent Leonard Jr.'s Finale: An Easy Guide to Music Notation...