score_design.md

Hauptstimme: Score design choices

• Minimal deviations from MuseScore defaults (manual edits do not convert)
• Most systematic changes as defined in the .mss style sheet:
  • Justify full page.
  • All present instruments showing at all times (none hidden).
    • Note, this applies except for in some extreme cases such as Beethoven No.9:
      • Movement 2: the ATB trombones rest for 500 bars.
      • Movement 4: trombones, solo voices, chorus, and percussion.
    • Naturally, whether instruments are hidden from display or not can easily be adapted by the user and does not affect the retrieval.
    • Note that "all present instruments" refers to the movement (i.e., "tacet" from the movement = absent from the score).
  • Note: Import the .mss style file in-app or with the command line:
    • mscore <before_file_name>.mscz --style <style-file-name>.mss -o <after_file_name>.mscz.
• Every part on a separate stave (e.g., Flute 1 separate from Flute 2) for clarity and interoperability.
  • Note that this is a unique feature of this corpus, making it much more usable for both part extraction and MIR tasks.
  • Connect bar lines through those like instruments e.g., Flutes 1 and 2; Horns 1, 2, and 3.
• Parts and part names:
  • Full part names in the format <transposition where relevant> <instrument> <number>, e.g., A Clarinet 2.
  • Abbreviated names without transposition or period character, e.g., Cl 2.
    • This deviates from common practice, but (for what it's worth) that musical practice is often wrong:
      • Periods should stand for incomplete words without the final letter, so then:
        • Cl. for Clarinet is fine
        • but Vln for Violin is not.
  • String instruments in the singular, e.g., Violin 1 as in 'the violin 1 part'.
    • Transpositions as in the original, except no mid-movement transpositions:
      • For example, the Beethoven symphonies do this in the horn parts (4/ii, 5/iii 4 bars before the end), and clarinets (9/iv).
      • This does not convert reliably, and adding a new part creates its own problems.
    • Where that is not possible in MS4, a manual workaround is required.
      • Brahms 1/iii and 2/ii have horns and trumpets in B natural, which means setting the transposition manually.
• Stave size:
  • Manually set for each work to use the largest stave size that fits within the page, including the large lyric annotations while maintaining approximate consistency across multi-movement works.
  • Again, if anyone uses these scores in performance, they may wish to adjust.
  • More formally:
    • Strong preference for not overfilling page.
    • Strong preference for approximate consistency across multi-movement works.
    • Medium preference for not underfilling.
    • Medium preference for the same number of staves on each page and weak preference that this includes the last page.
• Copy the named (public domain) source edition exactly, except in limited cases like:
  • Some variation in "crescendo" vs "cresc." vs hairpins. In future we will aim for:
    • "Cresc." text with the dotted line for long-range (e.g., across a page break),
    • Hairpin symbols for all short range (e.g., 1 bar),
    • Some discretion for busy staves ("cresc" takes less space).
    • Note that this is certainly not consistenly implemented througout at present.
  • Stave and page breaks mostly follow MuseScore defaults.
    • Given the stylistic choices above, we make no attempt for page breaks to follow the source.
      • E.g., using Eulenberg for the Beethoven means a very different page size.
    • Notable exceptions include Brahms 4/iv, which is in a completely regular 8-bar phrasing.
      • We set this out with page breaks every 4 or 8 bars depending on the note density.
    • Tempo markings:
      • Tempos etc. exactly as in the source and properly encoded in MuseScore (mostly successful in conversion).
        • Tempo text (e.g., Allegro) is only ever included if present in the original source.
        • Tempo in metronome mark is included:
          • If present in the original source.
          • In square brackets where clarification is needed.
      • Here, as elsewhere, avoid any "hidden" markings, except:
        • 'tuplets' (e.g., Brahms 1/iv). Show the first '6' or '12' and then hide thereafter.
        • ornament markings (e.g., staccato) that are missing in the source but wanted for playback.
• Non-tempo textual markings:
  • Haupstimme annotations usually as lyrics, as described in this explanation doc.
  • Stave text or Playing technique for instrument-specific markings like arco.
    • Note that original scores use annotations like a2 where there are two parts on one stave.
      • We have split those parts, so don't strictly need these annotations.
      • All the same, we include them where it might plausibly help clarify solos and the moves to/from unison.
  • System text for non-tempo comments that apply to all parts e.g., in Beethoven 9/ii, ritmo de ....
• Bar (measure) counting.
  • This is a perennially complex issue, and one often broken by export change of format.
  • Please see our recent paper about this topic with a proposed solution here.
  • For now, on MuseScore files we leave the default measure count (1, 2, 3, ...):
    • MuseScore offers some functionality to 'exclude bars from the measure count'. This can lead to improved layout in the app, but experimentation shows that it does not convert well.
      • We therefore avoid such manual changes and (attempt) to fix them automatically from the measure map.
    • Example issues: anacruses, first/second time bars, split bars.