This is the third of a three-part post. See Music printing, a journey for engravers (part 1 of 3) and Music copying and confusion (part 2 of 3).

As touched on in the previous post, roles and requirements are always changing. It is sometimes wondered, “why use a copyist?”, especially these days where software is user-friendly and results are easy. The answer, as has been for hundreds of years, is found in two words: time and expertise.

Time – as mentioned in the previous post, composers have very tight deadlines and high demands on them. They call on copyists to prepare the music and have it ready on time. Any procrastination by the composer or others involved and it is the copyist who has less time, as they are the last step. This means copyists are often working through the night and even call in a team, to provide the music on time. Professional copyists work much faster and more accurately in preparing the music than say, the composer, will.

Expertise – copyists have a huge knowledge of the rules of musical notation (including the exceptions to those rules and rules for the exceptions…), music theory, styles and conventions as well as the varying requirements and regulations for different orchestras and types of performers. All of this knowledge is called upon through the copying process to ensure music is correctly and accurately prepared. Orchestras booked for recording sessions, for example, cost massive amounts of money and when music is put on the stand moments before the session begins, it must be entirely proofread, have everything there correctly notated and be very easy to read.

Score being edited, courtesy of www.scoringsessions.com

The role is always evolving. Currently, as well as composers creating handwritten and computer notated scores, there is software such as Logic, Pro Tools and Cubase. Composers and songwriters, perhaps sadly, don’t need to have any knowledge of notation to create a masterpiece. The software produces MIDI files and copyists use that, instead of handwritten manuscripts, to create the notation. Obviously this process delivers the music to the copyist in a very raw state, so the demands increase. This is a very healthy trend and will keep copyists (or “music preparers”) employed for many years to come, as no matter how it is created, the notated music always needs to get to the performers. If the performers are using digital music stands, their part still needs to be created.

For many hundreds of years music has been notated, prepared and produced. Between the composer’s pencil and a music stand exist engravers and copyists, those very hard workers. Their methods have constantly evolved and over the last century, their roles as well. What is still for certain is that there is more music than ever that needs to be prepared!

This is the third of a three-part post. See Music printing, a journey for engravers (part 1 of 3) and Music copying and confusion (part 2 of 3).

This is the second of a three-part post. See Music printing, a journey for engravers (part 1 of 3) and Changing times for music preparers (part 3 of 3).

With a clear overview of music printing in the previous post, it is easy to see the role of music engravers – those painstakingly etching out wood, hammering metal, collating plates of symbols to be pressed or using incredible skill to write it out by hand. All of these methods have one purpose, to definitively print and publish music.

Where do copyists fit in? No different to today, composers hundreds of years ago had extremely tight deadlines to meet. Those employed by the courts and monarchy had next to no time to write music for church services, social and countless other occasions. So, they used copyists to make a copy of their score, often omitting the many scribbles and corrections to produce a score ready for performance. They would also then copy out all of the instrumental parts for the players.

Music score, courtesy of www.bluntinstrument.org.uk

There were certainly dedicated copyists who had done this for many years, but there were also a younger breed of copyist who were budding composers themselves who wanted to study the music of the masters – no better way than to copy their music. Copyists would most often work very closely with the composer and in the same quarters, turning up at the door simply with manuscript paper, a calligraphy pen and ruler. This is seen in the films Amadeus and more prominently, Copying Beethoven. It is well known that Beethoven had contentious relationships with his copyists and put them under huge stress and burden – it is no wonder his copyists often made mistakes.

Jumping ahead to today, it is clear to see that computer software has blurred the distinction between copying and engraving, with a high quality always being produced (well, by a professional). There is now one method to create music notation, whether it be “engraved” or not. Music publishers of course set their music to that beautiful engraved standard, but do it just as a copyist creates some orchestral parts, or as a songwriter throws down some backing string ideas into the software. So, the term “music engraving” is somewhat obsolete. It is what role you have in the process and the standard of the product you produce that determines your identity. Times are always changing and now there are a greater variety of preparation needs broader terms are becoming common such as simply “music preparation”.

This is the second of a three-part post. See Music printing, a journey for engravers (part 1 of 3) and Changing times for music preparers (part 3 of 3).