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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW.
riUSIC PRINTING.
A Trade that Requires a Good
Deal of Skill.
THERE ARE FOUR HUNDRED DIFFERENT PIECES
OF TYPE, AND SPECIAL KNOWLEDGE
COUNTS IN THE HANDLING
OF IT.
a reporter of the Boston Herald
was sent recently to inquire into the
mysteries practiced by the music printer, he first
made inquiry at a music dealer's, and soon
afterward was stumbling up five flights of stairs
on an old business block on a busy downtown
street. There, occupying the loft, he found a
shop crowded with forms and cases of type.
There were only two or three men at work,
doing what they had to do quietly and easily.
The proprietor was sitting at his desk in a re-
tired corner, reading over the documents of his
business. After explaining his errand the re-
porter asked : " What is the special difficulty in
setting a page of music ? Is it anything a regular
compositor could not do, at least after a little
practice? "
"To be even a fair music printer," was the
answer, "you must be a genius, in the first
place. You need not know music, to be sure—
perhaps it is better that you should not, for then
you may think you know more than the compo-
ser, especially as no two men ever read harmony
alike, and try to improve his score for him—but
the business requires instant and accurate judg-
ment, perfect familiarity with every box in the
case, beside a great deal of skill and quickness
in actually setting your type. You must know
everything a regular printer knows and ten
times more besides."
In the case which holds the necessary '' sorts,''
there are no less than 400 varieties of type, by
far the greater part of which must be used in
setting a large piece of music—one of the songs,
for instance, sometimes printed on a page of the
Sunday papeis. When the reporter was shown
these various characters, and how intricately
they must all be made to combine so as to print
without a break or a crack anywhere to be seen,
he did not wonder to hear the proprietor con-
tinue: "You cannot conceive how much labor
is involved in setting a single sheet. Why, it
would require an expert and half a dozen news-
paper columns to describe it in all its minute
details."
But if the reader will call to mind a locomotive
puzzle he will get a general idea of the operation.
The reporter saw a measure set up for his special
benefit. There must have been 50 pieces put in
before it was perfect.
The printer takes his stick in hand, like all
printers, and adjusts it by means of a screw to
the required length. Sometimes it is more,
sometimes less, so that to measure by the
"stick," as is done in a newspaper, would be
meaningless.
Then he looks at his " copy " and sees the
model for the puzzle which he has to solve by
means of the 400 characters in the box in front
of him. He is an experienced and skillful
workman, let us suppose, and will not take
long in getting a practical answer.
Every symbol which the author has used is
ready at his hand, the more common ones in the
middle of the case, those less frequently utilized
stowed away in the farther corners.
But it is not so simple as all that. The au-
thor'may have used one sort of symbol, or he
may have used any one of 20 others. Each one
that he has used makes necessary some pecu-
liar arrangement of the next line and of the suc-
ceeding symbol, so that the whole may come
out even at the staff.
There is the difficulty—to come out even. To
do this a note may be divided into little pieces,
to which other little pieces are to be joined, that
everything may be squared off in the end. Lines
to fill in with must be of the proper length.
Stems^and heads of notes must be exactly com-
bined, and, in a word, everything must be fitted
with the most perfect nicety, so that when the
printed measure struck off from the electrotype
plate, which is finally made from the type,
appears, there must be no crack or break to be
seen, but the whole must look as perfect almost
as if it were a process reproduction from a care-
fully written score. No wonder the machine
has not been invented which can accomplish
this difficult task.
Yet, after all, to do this is not the greatest
achievement of a music printer. To be able to
judge swiftly and surely, when he is given a
page of copy and told to accommodate it to an
entirely different scale, is a much rarer and
more essential faculty. The spacing must be
accurate and approximately equal all the way
through.
On the first piece of spacing the spacing all
the way through neccessarily depends. For this
the printer makes no elaborate calculations or
measurements. He comes to a reckoning by
guesswork so practiced and trained that the
result is as exact as if it had been carefully
figured out on paper.
Then, too, he has to overcome the bother of
the words underneath, which must not be too
irregularly strung out and every syllable of
which must be placed under its own note or
notes. The rest of the letter-press work which
may be required in a piece of music—those
stanzas of a hymn or song printed by themselves,
with no immediate reference to the musical
notes, as well as the titles, page headings and
"stage directions"—are set by a regular
printer, who receives the music portion all com-
pleted and fills it in to suit.
This work, if there is much of it, is sent out,
but every office which does musical printing
is an expressive word. Many
keeps two or three men to do such small jobs as
firms know its meaning. In
are wanted on almost every score.
our factory we make and ship
There are four sorts of music type ordinarily
pianos every day—almost.
used—agate, used for most sheet music; dia-
mond and excelsior, for Sunday school books
That's what we like. Still,
and the like, and nonpareil for the larger kind
it doesn't surprise us, for we
of book and sheet work. Then there are the big
have the best low-priced pianos
blocks for school charts, unlike the others, not
in the field. Consult for prices.
electrotyped, but printed directly on the paper.
On these, by the way, the joining of the
" sorts," which has been spoken of above as
being almost undistinguishable in the finer
kinds of work, may easily be discovered. In
517—523 W. 45th St.
New York.
the case of the blocks the fitting is not only so
delicate, but the ink does not help obliterate the
traces of joining to any extent.
No wonder that there are not more than 20
men,
at most, in Boston who are experts in this
*•
OF T H E
beautiful and delicate craft—although Boston, as
the reader may like to know, does more music
printing than any other city in the United
States, probably more than any two others. In
all 1 there are four shops here.
' How long does it take to master the trade?''
asked the reporter.
" About three years, on an average, I should
say; although that boy there," pointing to a
sturdy young Italian not more than 19 j'ears
old, " i s as good a printer as there is with only
18 months' experience—better, indeed, than
many a man I have seen who had worked
half a dozen years at the business."
AND SWEETNESS of TONE.
Not more than five or six men are required in
a good sized shop. A fairly good printer will
^ S C I E N T I F I C CONSTRUCTION.
set three pages of simple music in a day. Given
(THE ONLY STRICTLY
a difficult instrumental score, however, and he
^"DURABILITY.
HIGH GRADE PIANO
will not get through with more than one and a
half pages. He is paid, not by a certain num-
MANUFACTURED
ber of ' • ems,'' but by the sheet. The ' • boss ''
IN CHICAGO.)
makes his price to his employer for setting a
certain amount of copy, which varies greatly
according as it is simply or elaborately written,
and in the same way he pa}'S his men a porpor-
tionate sum per page. This price is always, at
least approximately, fair, and when business is
SOLE FACTORS.
not dull the printer, if he is a good one, makes
irotn $20 to $25 a week.
" Do you ever employ women?" was the last
question the reporter asked.
" Not many—they are not a success usually,
WHOLESALE AND RETAIL WAREROOMS,
though one woman who worked for me 12 years
(SECOND FLOOR.)
2I5 WABASH AVE., and is now running a place of her own in Chi-
cago, was as good a music printer as I ever
had."
Interregnum
Pi&no Qo.
A POINTS OF SUPERIORITY
Celebrated
"Conover"
Pianos.
CHICAGO COTTAGE ORGAN COMPANY,
(The Largest Dealers in Pianos and Organs in the World.)
CHICAGO.