What is Music Engraving?
In the old days printing music was a difficult problem. Music notation doesn’t fit into a convenient one dimensional string of characters the way this (or any) sentence does. Written music is two dimensional: a musical symbol on the page changes its meaning depending not only on its horizontal position but also on its vertical position. What music publishers back then did was to “engrave” music on a metal plate. Just like having your name engraved into a school ring or a silver loving cup, a sharp tool gouges out the music. Eventually the other symbols – clefs, noteheads, etc etc – were put into the metal not by scraping but by hammering. The engraver used a set of tools called punches which came in all possible shapes to make small depressions anywhere required. Then ink is applied to the plate. The ink on the un-excavated sections is removed, leaving ink only in the depressions. Put a piece of paper over the plate, press down, and your “engraving” is transferred to the paper. If you
