Re:Do we really offer the future?

[Stephen MacNeil]

Well after reading many responses to this question I thought I would give my own.

I think first one must answer

Why do publishers use other programs?

Who submits to publishers?
Why do users use other programs?

Why do publishers use other programs?

Obviously there was typesetting before computers, so why did they favour certain graphical applications instead of text/code based. Well you have to ask yourself, who is in this field? The simple answer is musicians. Back when these programs came out the people in this field new nothing or little about computers, especially coding. They were taught “this is a computer, this is the internet, and this is email.” As computers grew and software developed it had to cater not only to the needs of customers but also the skill level at the time. Graphical applications where great because users could acquire great results with little knowledge and little effort.

Who submits to publishers?

The majority are musicians – again with little or no knowledge of text/code based applications – One would say this applies to other aspects as well. People favour Graphical word processors over say Tex -. This also has to be broken down even further. What genre? Well pop music continues to sell most in publications as well as record sales, followed by rock, country, dance R&B, Blues etc. Classical is above Jazz and Jazz only above Other. When you group the top categories together as “Current Music” they leave classical and jazz with only a small part of the pie. You can also break this further. If you consider the top instruments today you see piano (no idea why – joke) and guitar second most popular. Why is this all important? Well because of the next question!

Why do users use other programs?

First who are the users of lilypond? Well I break it down as “professionals in the computer industry with a love/passion in music” and “professional musicians with a love/passion in computers”. Why is this important? A good friend of mine is Dennis Clarke who was a major part of Blastwave.org, and in my opinion one of the best programers I know. He also is an amateur musician. I on the other hand am a professional musician with an understanding of computers. Why bring this up? Well the way I look at it is that I also think he has a greater understanding of music than most. As I do with computers. However, as much as he knows he could never understand music in the same way I do, nor could I computers in the way he does. As much as he knows, he may not be nor would I expect him to be familiar with performance practices in each era of music and how it affects interpretation. Or to be 100% knowledgeable about pedagogy or agogics and it's applications etc. This being said I would never expect a publisher or want them to publish pieces that does not relay the true nature of the score. This is why most serious musicians use urtext or facsimiles of earlier prints. Since most is in public domain the only need to typeset the score would be in a scholarly approach- or “current music”. Based on this most publishers look for respected members in that field specifically educated in that subject. And to be honest most lack the knowledge to use lilypond. Lets face it unless you are fairly comfortable with computers lilypond is not going to cut it. Go back to question two “Who submits to publishers?”. Most of what a user expects and publishers for that matter is that it does what they need. Therefore it has to be able to accomplish the needs of all users and all genre. As a guitarist that has used Linux since 1996 and has never ran any other operating system – well windows 3.11? (but only for six months). Lilypond to me is a comfortable choice. However, as a guitarist I find most of the things required for guitar incorrect or only half available. The biggest drawback is that one has to search forums, lists, LSR, git etc. Just to be able to do basic functions that should be there already. I have to say that over the years I have used lilypond I have had to write most of the “guitar specific” things that 1. most users would expect and 2. the average user would be incapable of doing. Again this is a collection over years of personal work.

So you can't expect publishers or users to move to a system that doesn't have all aspects of what they need ready and available – for all genre and instruments. As much as the over all look is concerned I think lilypond is superior and that's why I use it but, others will sacrifice the look for a system that easily accommodates ones needs. Again I wouldn't expect a person wanting to write a fantasy novel to use Latex just because I think it's better.

This being said students and the average person have more knowledge of computers and programing then ever before. Computers are taught in school and Linux is in popular use. So eventually text/code based editing will be as easy as writing your native language.

As for the comments on mutopia project.. Well I don't think any serious musician would take it seriously. The scores are using those available in public domain (which hold more credible value). So most I think would favour the actual score. So the only reason I see for it's existence is to 1. highlight and bring self gratification that you as a user actually did this. Or 2. To post scores of your own so others can have access to it as well. Which makes the site much like any other source of free scores.

Above not intended to offend, just a thought from a person that sources original and early scores.

%%%% Humour

Student musician: Professor how do I do this on my score?

Professor: Well Johnny you have to learn scheme and code it! Or find a function somewhere on the net someone did with a similar problem!

Student musician: ?????????

Stephen