Music Writing Pens/Mr. Roemer's Book
Paul Gunnells
Can anyone recommend a good pen suitable for the production
of music copy? Mr. Roemer does not recommend the Osmiroid Music
Writing pen, as he claims that the tip is too flexible. Does anyone
have any comments about this? (I didn't have much luck with an
Osmiroid fountain pen that I bought a few years ago, anyway. Ruined
several items of clothing with that loser.) I am specifically interested
in a pen with a built-in ink reservoir that is plenty durable and
plenty affordable.
On an unrelated note, what was that thread about Clinton Roemer's
_The Art of Music Copy Writing_? Is it true that soon we'll no longer
be able to buy it? I'm interested in getting a copy somehow; the
library has been asking for its copy back. . .
Paul.
Matthew Fields
>
> Can anyone recommend a good pen suitable for the production
>of music copy? Mr. Roemer does not recommend the Osmiroid Music
>Writing pen, as he claims that the tip is too flexible. Does anyone
I've been using felt tips for years now. Some of you out there have seen
my work...it's definitely adaquate, and I'd set my work head to head against
Finale for legibility any time. Specifically, I use the highest quality
vellum paper I can get, with the staves printed on the back; my desk has
graph paper on it that I can see through the staff paper, so I no longer
need to use a ruler to align things, only to draw straight lines; I have
little pieces of a Gillette Thin Razor Blade mounted on Exacto knife
handles to use as erasers (you can erase staves by turning the paper over,
too); I eat plenty of good food so my fingernails make good burnishing tools
for flattening the paper after erasures; and I use a Sanford Vis a Vis black
overhead projection pen for beams and the thick bars of c clefs and ending
double bar lines, and a Pilot Razor Point for everything else. Shading
is accomplished quickly and easily with the Pilot pen, as I explained
to somebody recently:
Take basic white notes
*************** ***************
*** *** *** ***
* * * *
* * * *
* * * *
|* * * *
| *** *** *** ***
| *************** ***************
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
and color them like this (very quickly)
*************** ***************
******/ *** **| |*****
*****/ * ****| |*****
****/ /** *****| |******
**/ /**** ******| |*****
|* /***** *****| |****
| *** /****** *****| |**
| *************** ***************
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The difference in the shading slant reinforces the eyes and speeds
up the reader's comprehension of which note they're looking at...
you can even tell them apart without stems.
Now, the pens I listed make good copy for xerox copying, but not
for blackline printing and not for osalid printing (the inks
are slightly transparent).
Dave LaDelfa
>of music copy?
Since someone else has offered advice on supplies for copying on vellum,
perhaps I can suggest some for copying on paper:
I have had years of satisfactory use out of a Shaffer No-nonsense
Callagraphic pen with a "fine"-size nib. It comes with ink cartridges but
I throw those away and fill the barrel of the pen with dark black
music writing ink. You can get this ink from a music copyist supplier
like Judy Green of Los Angeles, or go to your local art supply store and
ask for Calli brand ink. Whatever you use has to be an appropriate density
for callagraphic fountain pens (so it won't run or clog) and it ought
to be waterproof (so if you sneeze on your work or put it in front of
a leaky brass player it won't run and make you cry and curse etc.).
Wipe the threads of the pen barrel with a little vaseline and screw
it down tightly (but not so tightly that you crack the plastic). The
pen comes with three nibs and sells for about six bucks; I got my local
art supply place to order me a box of spare fine nibs and they came out
to about a buck apiece -- a price at which it's hardly worth cleaning them.
For bar lines, hairpins (crescendo marks), and slurs/ties I favor a
small collection of Rapidograph technical pens, mostly the red- and
brown-color-coded ones, loaded with the waterproof technical pen ink
made by the company that makes Calli (the brand name escapes me at the
moment). These make a nice even lines once you learn how to
hold a technical pen correctly; a Uniball deluxe micro pen is a good
disposable alternative and it's waterproof.
I've heard lots of complaints from people that say that Rapidograph pens
suck and that the Pelikan pen is better than the Shaffer; this is quite
possible, but I've gotten used to the feel of the kind of pens I use and
have never had the impetus to go out and try something else. Also, the
Shaffer pen is cheap/inexpensive compared to the competitiion and is a
good choice for undergraduate composition students being forced
to turn assignments in in ink (as I was by my freshman comp teacher,
Allison Brown Applebaum, who demonstrated the Shaffer-barrel-full-of-ink
trick).
Two last little essentials on my writing table: Pentel correction fluid
in a little blue pen-tipped bottle (for whiting out wrong notes) and
the J-shaped half of those little hard plastic boxes that casssette tapes
come in (I believe these are called "Norelco boxes"), which I use as
an easy-to-pick-up four-inch straightedge. Hunt around to find one that's
sort of beveled underneath so it doesn't smear the ink.
--
Dave LaDelfa Speech Technology Laboratory
dave%stl...@uunet.uu.net Santa Barbara, CA
da...@stl.panasonic.com A Nice Place to Live
Matthew Fields
>for callagraphic fountain pens (so it won't run or clog) and it ought
>to be waterproof (so if you sneeze on your work or put it in front of
>a leaky brass player it won't run and make you cry and curse etc.).
WHAT???? Uncle Matt sez: NEVER NEVER NEVER HAND OUT YOUR ORIGINAL HANDWORK.
ONLY DISTRIBUTE XEROX COPIES!!!
**whew**
Lon Amerman
It seems -based on my limited information- that
most (ALL?) notation software is based on a
word processing model. Given the experience of
hand copyists wouldn't it seem reasonable to build
the software on a CAD (drafting) model? One could
even output their copy to a plotter.
How about an add-on for a low end CAD package
like Generic Cad?
l
Dave LaDelfa
>In article <C149r...@ptimtc.tadw.panasonic.com> I (DL) wrote:
>>[Ink] for callagraphic fountain pens ... ought
>>to be waterproof (so if you sneeze on your work or put it in front of
>>a leaky brass player it won't run and make you cry and curse etc.).
>
>WHAT???? Uncle Matt sez: NEVER NEVER NEVER HAND OUT YOUR ORIGINAL HANDWORK.
>ONLY DISTRIBUTE XEROX COPIES!!!
>**whew**
>
Agreed, this is a good rule -- but if you ever have to rush to a gig and
you can't hit a copy shop on the way then it's nice to know that your
sheets won't dribble and run when some trombonist sprays his slide.
Also, when I do work for other composers I usually give them the original
copies of the parts. I prefer waterproof ink as producing a more
durable product that reflects better on my work as a copyist should the
page accidentally be exposed to rain/sneeze/other excessive moisture.
Charley Wingate
set of a sort of felt-tip india ink pen made by Alvin. They actually had
hard plastic tips and were graduated from EEEF up to I don't remember what--
they were intended, I guess, as a kind of disposable rapidograph. I used
the EF and the EEEF. These worked well on even the rather cheap paper I was
using; they didn't bleed and were very permanent, and they didn't flow under
rulers and other such annoyances. It's been a while since I hand-inked
anything, so I'm not sure whether these are still made.
As far as mistakes are concerned, I have always used the "tape another piece
over" method of correction, except for little splotches which could be taken
care of with the "pen-and-ink" whiteout.
These days I use a computer.....
--
C. Wingate + "The peace of God, it is no peace,
+ but strife closed in the sod.
man...@cs.umd.edu + Yet, brothers, pray for but one thing:
tove!mangoe + the marv'lous peace of God."
timothy dwight fullerton
>of music copy? Mr. Roemer does not recommend the Osmiroid Music
>Writing pen, as he claims that the tip is too flexible. Does anyone
>have any comments about this? (I didn't have much luck with an
>Osmiroid fountain pen that I bought a few years ago, anyway. Ruined
>several items of clothing with that loser.) I am specifically interested
>in a pen with a built-in ink reservoir that is plenty durable and
>plenty affordable.
I used to favor the Shaeffer Calligraphy pens, but I had a problem
with them clogging too frequently. I have since moved to Speedball pens.
They are a quill style pen, you dip the tip into an inkwell, but I found that
I can draw more with the ink held in the tip of one of those than I could
before I had to unclog the Shaeffer.
As important is the paper and the ink. I have settled upon "Delikan
Tinte --Gunther Wagner" brand ink (I'm not sure which is really the brand
name of the product, sorry) and Alpheus Music brand paper. For pencil I like
Archives brand paper, but for pen and ink the its graininess makes my
noteheads furry.
Alpheus Music's address is:
5619 Aukland Ave.
North Hollywood, Ca. 91601
>
> On an unrelated note, what was that thread about Clinton Roemer's
>_The Art of Music Copy Writing_? Is it true that soon we'll no longer
>be able to buy it? I'm interested in getting a copy somehow; the
>library has been asking for its copy back. . .
>
>
>Paul.
>
In case you gave it back without looking, the publisher is
Roerick Music Co.
4046 Davana Raod
Sherman Oaks, Ca 91423
Good luck;
Tim
--
Tim Fullerton
full...@cis.ohio-state.edu
7572...@compuserve.com