I always wondered how sheet music was typed.

Jan 14, 2025 2:04 AM

MissDeeMeanor

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Would have been faster just to print it out /s

1 year ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

I use Sibelius.

1 year ago | Likes 4 Dislikes 0

Meanwhile I was wondering why it wasn't making the sound.

...Like the note. God I need sleep

1 year ago | Likes 4 Dislikes 0

Noted.

1 year ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

There were other, quicker music typewriters. This one was primarily marketed towards music schools and publishing houses for making master copies. This is mine, displayed separately from its base.

1 year ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 0

This has got to be the most awful way humans ever invented to convey information.

1 year ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 1

Where the fuck is the home position on that keyboard?

1 year ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

Music sheet for Dragonforce : The Game

1 year ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

That seems unnecessarily tedious.

1 year ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

..... I can't believe that I never considered how it was done before. Huh.

1 year ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

@elbowdeepinahorse

1 year ago | Likes 23 Dislikes 3

This was exactly what I was about to do too lol

1 year ago | Likes 6 Dislikes 2

This style of typewriter was never widely used. instead, most music was printed using moveable type at first, then plate engraving, lithography, or other technology that was suitable for mass printing. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_engraving

1 year ago | Likes 117 Dislikes 0

How it's done on a computer according to this youtube video I just found: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQe5K-2XmZg

1 year ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 0

oh yeah, the introduction of computer software for typesetting music was a huge game-changer. I still remember with great pain manually scratching my music homework and research papers with pencil and white-out in the early 80s. Now, Finale makes it seem like magic.

1 year ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

Did somebody take notes for this?

1 year ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

Nowadays there are laser printers

1 year ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

On a computer, nowadays

1 year ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

Fuck, I want one of these as a decoration.

1 year ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

What’s the longest English word you can type on the type row of a typewriter?

1 year ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

Fun fact: a lot of musical symbols were created because this process is such a pain in the ass. Repeat signs, bracket endings, DS al Coda, DS al Fine, etc.

1 year ago | Likes 5 Dislikes 0

Just like in math, symbols were created because smart people are lazy!

1 year ago | Likes 6 Dislikes 0

A typewriter, for music, MusicWriter: https://musicprintinghistory.org/musicwriter/

1 year ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

Even when I was in school while learning to write it by hand I was faster than this. I guess some institution does require perfect precision, maybe for copyright registration?

1 year ago | Likes 6 Dislikes 0

I mean, look carefully at the video, this is just a demonstration but you can see the person is in an awkward position and also doing it slow on purpose to show how it works, if you actually use this thing and have practice I'm sure you would go way faster than this, you probably can reach regular writing speed with no issues

1 year ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

I mean.. Yes, but also making a perfect master than scanning it so you can make infinite perfect copies is probably the real reason.

1 year ago | Likes 7 Dislikes 0

According to the marketing for a different music typewriter, with a bit of practice you could write fairly quickly. Even if it takes slightly longer, a music typewriter is still useful because writing by hand for long periods of time is uncomfortable, plus some people (like Beethoven and Chopin) just have bad handwriting so the results are hard to read.

1 year ago | Likes 4 Dislikes 0

v

1 year ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

The original video without music. https://youtu.be/uctqHxzkNYI?si=nHrrt3w_uezHzDNLHzDNL">https://youtu.be/uctqHxzkNYI?si=nHrrt3w_uezHzDNLa>
https://musicprintinghistory.org/keaton-music-typewriter/

1 year ago | Likes 9 Dislikes 0

If Moonlight Sonata playing on a gif of sheet music being made is wrong, I don’t want to be right (slight /s cause click-clacky sounds would have been great, but…Moonlight Sonata is great)

1 year ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 1

The original video talks about how the musical typewriter works.

1 year ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 0

What song is playing in the background?

1 year ago | Likes 16 Dislikes 0

The Piano Sonata No. 14 in C-sharp minor, marked Quasi una fantasia, Op. 27, No. 2, is a piano sonata by Ludwig van Beethoven, completed in 1801 and dedicated in 1802 to his pupil Countess Julie "Giulietta" Guicciardi. Although known throughout the world as the Moonlight Sonata (German: Mondscheinsonate), it was not Beethoven who named it so. The name grew popular later, likely long after Beethoven's death.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piano_Sonata_No._14_(Beethoven)

1 year ago | Likes 9 Dislikes 0

Resident Evil puzzle.

1 year ago | Likes 9 Dislikes 4

Sandstorm- Da Rude (because I haven’t seen that commented in a while)

1 year ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata, First Movement.

1 year ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

We've had first movement, but what about second movement?

1 year ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

Moonlight Sonata

1 year ago | Likes 41 Dislikes 0

First movement. It's such a drag and so over used.. Third movement is where it's at!

1 year ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 0

Damn right. Ideally only listen to all 3 movements.

1st - "moonlight-like" due to its soft, sustained dynamics.

2nd - slightly playful contrasting the quiet intensity of the 1st

3rd - FUCKING JAM OUT. I "air piano" this part and never get enough. Totally a dramatic outburst of storm-like energy compared to the hypnotic and morose 1st and upbeat 2nd.

https://youtu.be/4Tr0otuiQuU

1 year ago | Likes 5 Dislikes 0

To add, it's about the loss of love. 1st evokes that loss and anguish, 2nd is looking back at that love and all the happy times, 3rd is the explosion of anger and frenzied madness over it all.

1 year ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

1 year ago | Likes 11 Dislikes 0

It’s a beautiful song

1 year ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

Anytime!

1 year ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

Do yourself a favor and listen to the entire song. Most aren't even aware of the 2nd and 3rd movements. (3rd is a fucking JAM. Trust.)

https://youtu.be/4Tr0otuiQuU

1 year ago | Likes 4 Dislikes 0

1 year ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

1 year ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

Do you have to use special note paper?

1 year ago | Likes 336 Dislikes 1

I use guitar pro and 8x11 of any type.

1 year ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

Ugh okay I like your joke. But I'm not happy about ut

1 year ago | Likes 4 Dislikes 0

1 year ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

Excellent!
Here: ⬆️

1 year ago | Likes 8 Dislikes 1

nice!

1 year ago | Likes 7 Dislikes 0

1 year ago | Likes 5 Dislikes 0

In case I need to learn it quickly, is there a Clef's notes?

1 year ago | Likes 9 Dislikes 1

*eyeroll* *snicker* Here's ur up vote. *giggle* *sigh*

1 year ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

Just a paper with pre-printed pentagram in place of standard lines or squares

1 year ago | Likes 25 Dislikes 2

1 year ago | Likes 5 Dislikes 1

Yeah... "Note" paper

1 year ago | Likes 17 Dislikes 1

it was not A major issue

1 year ago | Likes 154 Dislikes 0

But it does need to B Flat.

1 year ago | Likes 49 Dislikes 0

1 year ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 0

E's sharp innie?

1 year ago | Likes 5 Dislikes 0

Give it Rest you three.

1 year ago | Likes 27 Dislikes 0

Puns are not my Forte

1 year ago | Likes 21 Dislikes 0

That looks like a right pain in the ass for an 18 minute orchestral piece with all sections and several solos

1 year ago | Likes 253 Dislikes 1

They used to engrave these by hand, so... yeah.

1 year ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

I don't think they ever engraved music...

1 year ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 1

It took the monastery monks 15 months to copy a single Bible before the Guttenburg press in 1455.

1 year ago | Likes 7 Dislikes 0

And early copies of these fairy tales had comments from the monks in the margins that often mocked the stories, and we're full of typos and corrections.

1 year ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 0

Now imagine you're at the last measure on the back of a two-side sheet and you made a typo. Scratch it an start over again

1 year ago | Likes 26 Dislikes 0

Nah, they had correction tape

1 year ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

I know some typewriters had a backspace option that scraped the ink off the page, I have no clue about the music version though

1 year ago | Likes 5 Dislikes 0

Absolutely. Plus the thing isn't even going to draw beams for you either, so the end result is going to look awkward. You'd have to go back over it with a pen to fill it all out. Might as well save yourself the time and write it all by hand to begin with. It's way faster.

1 year ago | Likes 16 Dislikes 1

It can do beams.

1 year ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

The point here is neatness, and I--as I'm sure many do--appreciate the effort that goes into making scores actually legible. I don't want to squint at chicken scratch for a solo sonata, let alone when conducting an orchestra.

1 year ago | Likes 17 Dislikes 0

I am more familiar with physics stuff. Back before digital layouts, when you wanted to make a graph or a neat formula, you used stencils for the numbers, labels and formula symbols. I imagine these also existed for notes.

1 year ago | Likes 5 Dislikes 0

They did and do. However, people who are trying to write *fast* are often not using stencils, because that... slows you down. You could argue that someone could write quickly with stencils, just as I could argue that someone could type on a mechanical device quickly, and we end up in the same place. Regardless of whether or not people *could* produce sheet notation both quickly and legibly is an argument which doesn't change the reality that there is a lot of music which is very hard to read.

1 year ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

It's really not that hard to write perfectly legible sheet music by hand. I had to study it myself. You just have to care while you're doing it. This is a machine for monkeys.

1 year ago | Likes 6 Dislikes 5

I'd imagine that this is an obsolete machine. Digital and then print seems way easier.

1 year ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

It is, but it was also mostly obsolete when it was invented too. Digital has solved a butt-ton of problems inherent in automating music notation. The biggest issue is that the spacing of notes needs to be somewhat elastic for proper legibility (unless it's a score). This machine doesn't do any of that. Digital also allows you to transpose on the fly, which is handy for monkeys who don't know what key to write the brass in.

1 year ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

as a monkey I appreciate this machine

1 year ago | Likes 11 Dislikes 0

Is this the typewriter that the million monkeys type out the complete works of Shakespeare on? (I know that ends in a preposition.)

1 year ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

It's not hard to write perfectly legible script either, and yet here we are. In a world filled with illegible hand writing.

1 year ago | Likes 6 Dislikes 0

As someone that's both left handed and has several pins and such in my wrist and arm, I can sometimes read my own handwriting if I squint real had and pray to the right old gods...

1 year ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0