Letter-press Music
A SYSTEM OF LETTER PRESS MUSIC Reprinted from the "St Leonards Gazette" April 4th, 1863.
Under the signature of J. M., a writer in Cassell’s Family Paper, of April 4th, has propounded an ingenious mode of printing music with the type used in ordinary letter-press. He tells us that “ the arbitrary and, in many cases, inconvenient character of the present system of musical notation has often suggested the desirableness of its being supplemented, if not even superseded, by another.” “At present,” (continues the writer) “although music is in almost everyone’s mouth; and although from its very nature, it is mixed up with a very important portion of the literature of every land, it can scarcely show its face in an ordinary journal. Music is a universal — the only universal—language, and ought in literature as in speech, to be one of the most generally intelligible and available means of illustration. But whilst old songs and new can readily find their way in type before the public, their sister airs must remain in obscurity waiting for contingencies which may never occur.”
Many of our readers will doubtless agree with us in saying that there is a great deal of truth in the remarks of the writer above quoted; and there is also a becoming diffidence in the same writer when he intimates that he seeks neither innovation nor supersession of the old system of musical notation in the plan which he proposes — a plan which is to help and not displace the method already in use. This is wise; for, undoubtedly, music is a universal language, and the present system of lines and dotted symbols is almost as universal as are the musical sounds they represent. Place before a Frenchman, a German, an Italian, or indeed a denizen of the most remote corner of the earth, any musical composition in what is called the established notation, and if he be a musician, he will have no difficulty in interpreting it although he may know nothing of the language or the country of its composer. It is this universality, then, that will not admit of the present system of musical notation being superseded. There may be, and undoubtedly is, much labor and some difficulty to be encountered in acquiring it, but when once mastered there is, we believe, no system to be adopted that would appeal so readily to the eye, be so thoroughly comprehended, or so expertly written as that which has been so long in use, and which by common consent the whole world delights to call ”music.” Suppose we consider this, then, a settled point, there is still left a wide margin — we will not say for reforming but — for assisting it, and to this end the plan of J. M. in the publication already referred to is propounded. The writer further says, “I propose a method by which music may be printed as readily as poetry; a method too, which will be found to work, as it ought to do, in the most perfect harmony with the system already in use.” The writer then proceeds to shew how the first seven letters of the alphabet, together with the other letters contained in a compositor’s case may be made to represent the musical symbols, not to supplant them in their ordinary use, put to convey to the reader of a newspaper or other periodical such representation of musical sounds as could not through the same medium be effected by the usual music types and plates. The idea, as the writer confesses, is not new; and had not its novelty been admitted, it would not have been difficult to shew that the writer is by no means “solo” in his suggestion of letter-press music. More than twenty years ago we devised a similar plan to that which is now proposed, and had we been at that time as well acquainted with letter-press printing as at present, the probability is that, notwithstanding the disfavour with which it was viewed by our musical companions, and the asserted “ impossibility ” of a journeyman compositor, the plan would, long since, have been before the public in a practical form. As it was, the manuscripts were either destroyed or lost, and to renew them was never seriously entertained until the success of Mr. Curwen’s Tonic Sol-fa method of printing music by means of the alphabet suggested to us the probability of having missed the opportunity of promulgating an original idea. Still more is the conviction forced upon us by the plan now proposed by J. M. - so similar in many respects to our own — that not only is it possible to convey musical sounds in the comparatively limited manner employed by Mr. Curwen in his system of singing, but that the very utmost range of musical notation may be fairly represented by the characters used in ordinary printing. We do not pretend to say that it could be read so promptly as the notes themselves by thorough musicians, but for the for which it is designed, namely to diffuse in a cheap form musical compositions, original or selected, to be afterwards copied into the established notation, it is not only practically available, but extremely desirable. We have carefully examined J.M.’s plan, and while we accord to the writer full credit for whatever merit it possesses, we feel that we might be too indifferent to the attribute of“ self-esteem” did we allow the opportunity to pass without attempting to invite the recognition of a similar, but as we think, a more comprehensive plan devised by ourselves, nearly a quarter of a century since, This plan it is now our intention to lay before the public, not so much to dispute the originality of J. M.’s ideas as to co-operate with him or her, as the case may be, in the adaptation and diffusion of letter-press that shall confer on persons who are musically inclined both benefit and amusement. In the propagation(sic) of our own views, however, let us frankly acknowledge our obligations to JM, for indirectly urging us to a task which had been long deferred and well nigh abandoned; also for suggestions in the use of four kinds of letters, instead of two, (treble and bass) as we had at first intended only to have used. This done, it only remains for us to exhibit the characters intended to be used, and to offer such explanation as appears necessary for the elucidation of the scheme. It will be observed that as in music the first seven letters of the alphabet nominally represent the notes of each octave, so the same letters are here employed to represent the same sounds as would he indicated by the notes. There is, however, this important difference, that whereas in musical notation the true pitch or position of the notes is only made out with the aid of cleffs and other signs, that difficulty is here obviated by the employment of differently shaped letters; for instance, capital letters represent an octave in the bass, from G to F, inclusive, whilst merging upwards into the tenor notes, the sounds of that octave are represented by SMALL CAPITALS. Rising into the third octave—the compass of an ordinary treble voice or the middle tones of a treble instrument— the sounds “g” to ”f” are represented by the more commonly used letters technically known as “lower-case.” Continuing the course upward, g to f in alt, — the upper notes of a flute or violin, — the tones are indicated by what printers call Italic type. Thus a complete range of four octaves is given, which exhibits the relative position of the sounds even more correctly than the musical notation itself, The duration of the notes is the next thing to be considered; and here it will be observed that as in musical characters a crotchet is a sort of dotted stroke, so in our letter-press system the crotchet is a dotted letter. Again as the quaver and shorter notes have one, two or three offshoots frum the stem of the note to distinguish them, so also have our equivalents one, two or three appendages, in the form of apostrophes or inverted commas. — The open and sustained character of the minim is indicated by an attached small o, while the semibreve, of double duration, is symbolized by a double dotted 0, as shewn below. The rests are also made to correspond in a similar manner by means of commas, hyphens and dashes. An accompanying diagram exhibits these and the several other characters proposed to be used, and it only remains for us to express a hope that the plan here propounded may prove of sufficient utility to merit appreciation.
The system is here applied, as a first example, to one of Brett’s new national songs, which, after a few minutes study, may be sung or played as it stands, or may be copied into the old musical emblems, the latter being perhaps the preferable course, The reader will be careful to observe that the first note is ”d” on the 4th line of the musical staff; that the highest note in the tune is “f” on the 5th line; that the F and B are on the 1st line and space, and consequently an octave below f and e; and that the other letters represent intermediate notes.
The 2nd, 3rd, and 4th verses of the above song, together with four other new songs, may be had for ONE PENNY. These songs are harmonized for three and four voices, and will appear in the Gazette.
As relating to the above, the following letter is copied from Brett's Gazette of April 11th, 1863:-
"Dear Sir,
- Seldom, if ever have I gone to the task of writing a letter with greater pleasure than this one. I was so much pleased with your article "A System of Letter-Press Music". It is just the thing we wanted, and I think, as far as I am concerned, that no musician in his senses will fail to see the usefulness of your system. Even to tryos it will prove a boon. I gave the article in question to a young man of my acquaintance, and after perusing it for a short time, he forthwith played your touching air on the concertina. I hope -
