Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!uwm.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!jarthur!jstewart From: jstewart@jarthur.Claremont.EDU (Jack Stewart) Newsgroups: comp.sys.next Subject: Re: Sheet Music Editor (Is the NeXT a musical Instrument?) Message-ID: <7339@jarthur.Claremont.EDU> Date: 31 May 90 02:46:46 GMT References: <1990May08.233140.9693@csuchico.edu> <1990May9.051540.4355@dept.csci.unt.edu> <15282@s.ms.uky.edu> Distribution: usa Organization: Harvey Mudd College, Claremont, CA 91711 Lines: 79 In article <15282@s.ms.uky.edu> libacct@ms.uky.edu (John Coppinger) writes: > >I think there's a gold mine to be claimed by the person or people who can >come up with a system that can scan sheet music and convert the bitmap >... (stuff deleted) >... This also solves the problem of wear >destroying sheet music. Forget loaning it out, just reproduce the >original sheet music on a laser printer for a couple cents per page. >Even starving artists can afford that. I wish it was that simple. Unfortunately, Music companies (and copyright law) is very protective about making unauthorized copies of any work. I remember one choral work that I performed in where the sheet music was out of print. We still had to get permission from the publisher to make copies and had to pay a small fee for the copies (in addition to the copying cost). I believe this particular publisher was overzealous. I have recieved copies of sheet music from other publishers for free. However this publisher was within their rights. I don't remember exactly when a copyright is no longer valid but I believe when something is out of print for 25 years then it falls into the public domain. There really isn't much music that falls into that category, but I agreed that the music that does, should be preserved. Just because a piece of music may have been written a few hundred years ago doesn't mean that a particular publication is public domain. Usually someones edits the music. There may be 4 or 5 different versions of the piece by the composer. From this (and sometimes with his own "corrections" and interpretations) the editor prepares a score. Hence there are often several copyrighted versions (from different publishers) of the same piece (I told you it was complicated). So, I'm afraid that your idea, as nice as it is, won't work. However it might work to convince some music publisher to issue a complilation of some of there works on CD-ROM - especially if the publisher uses a computer to prepare their sheet music (like Finale by Coda). >The real added benefit is >the ability to select a piece in the library and be able to hear it >played IN THE LIBRARY. The library could be placed online and be No. It isn't that simple. Sheet Music gives a "skelton" picture of the music. Some composers, like Brahms, give the muscian a fair amount of information while others like John Cage (or a gregorian chant) leave a lot up to the individual muscian. But whoever is the composer, there is still a lot of intrepretation that is left up to the performer. No two performances are every exactly alike. A muscian is strives to make each performance better than the last. And different muscians often have quite different intrepretations of the same music. The same piece of music can either be sad or joyful depending on who is performing it. So you could have the NeXT play a piano (or other instrument(s)) version of a particular piece, but why? I don't think a student would learn that much and I don't believe it would be very enjoyable compared to a live performance. This is what I mean when I say that "Is the NeXT a Musical Instrument?". I know the NeXT has a great DSP chip. But in a sense the NeXT is no more than a Tape recorder. A fantastic Tape recorder I'll admit. Yet when you program a piece of music into the NeXT, it will always play the same tune. I think you can write programs that will make the NeXT an instrument by having the NeXT interact with a midi-keyboard or the mouse or the keyboard or all three. But when you are playing a score or midi file on the NeXT is isn't doing anything more than being a Tape recorder. Now don't get me wrong. I like the NeXT. I wish I had the money to buy one. In fact, I keep hoping that Ed McMann will show up at my front door just so that I can buy one. And a tape recorder like the NeXT can be tremendously helpful. I am a singer and I can use it to warm up and reherse (until I learn the notes). But there is a big difference between a program that plays a file and one that interacts with a muscian. I agree that a program that could take a scanned image and covert it to some electronic representation (like the file structure used by Finale) would be useful but I don't think it would be a goldmine. ---Jack Jack Stewart Jack@HMCVAX (Bitnet) User Support Coordinator, jack@hmcvax.claremont.edu (Internet) Harvey Mudd College, jack@134.173.4.32 (also Internet) Claremont, Ca. 91711 714-621-8006 -- Jack Stewart Jack@Hmcvax (Bitnet) User Support Coordinator, jack@hmcvax.claremont.edu (Internet) Harvey Mudd College, jack@134.173.4.32 (also Internet) Claremont, Ca. 91711 714-621-8006