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Literature list

If you need to know more about music notation, here are some interesting titles to read. The source archive includes a more elaborate BibTeX bibliography of over 100 entries in Documentation/bibliography/. It is also available online from the website.

Banter 1987
Harald Banter, Akkord Lexikon. Schott's Söhne 1987. Mainz, Germany ISBN 3-7957-2095-8.

This book is a comprehensive overview of commonly used chords and suggests a unification for all different kinds of chord names.

Ignatzek 1995
Klaus Ignatzek, Die Jazzmethode für Klavier. Schott's Söhne 1995. Mainz, Germany ISBN 3-7957-5140-3.

A tutorial introduction to playing Jazz on the piano. One of the first chapters contains an overview of chords in common use for Jazz music.

Gerou 1996
Tom Gerou and Linda Lusk, Essential Dictionary of Music Notation. Alfred Publishing, Van Nuys CA ISBN 0-88284-768-6.

A concise, alphabetically ordered list of typesetting and music (notation) issues which covers most of the normal cases.

Hader 1948
Karl Hader, Aus der Werkstatt eines Notenstechers. Waldheim-Eberle Verlag, Vienna 1948.

Hader was the chief-engraver of an Austrian engraving firm. This beautiful booklet was intended as an introduction for laymen on the art of engraving. It contains a step by step, in-depth explanation of how to cut and stamp music into zinc plates. It also contains a few compactly formulated rules on musical orthography. This book is out of print.

Read 1968
Gardner Read, Music Notation: a Manual of Modern Practice. Taplinger Publishing, New York (2nd edition).

A standard work on music notation.

Ross 1987
Ted Ross, Teach yourself the art of music engraving and processing. Hansen House, Miami, Florida 1987.

This book is about music engraving, i.e. professional typesetting. It contains directions on stamping, use of pens and notational conventions. The sections on reproduction technicalities and history are also interesting.

Schirmer 2001
The G.Schirmer/AMP Manual of Style and Usage. G.Schirmer/AMP, NY, 2001. (This book can be ordered from the rental department.)

This manual specifically focuses on preparing print for publication by Schirmer. It discusses many details that are not in other, normal notation books. It als gives a good idea of what is necessary to bring printouts to publication quality.

Stone 1980
Kurt Stone, Music Notation in the Twentieth Century Norton, New York 1980.

This book describes music notation for modern serious music, but starts out with a thorough overview of existing traditional notation practices.

Wanske 1988
Helene Wanske, Musiknotation -- Von der Syntax des Notenstichs zum EDV-gesteuerten Notensatz. Schott-Verlag, Mainz 1988. ISBN 3-7957-2886-x.

A book in two parts: 1. A very thorough overview of engraving practices of various craftsmen. It includes detailed specs of characters, dimensions etc. 2. a thorough overview of a anonymous automated system, which must be antiquated by now. EDV means E(lektronischen) D(aten)v(erarbeitung), electronic data processing.


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