bout Writing Music by Hand

Few musicians notate music by hand these days. Just as the advent of the word processor drastically reduced the number of people that wrote by hand or used typewriters, so too did music notation programs. In addition to their print quality fonts, notation programs offer features that make editing and revising music easy. Modern software programs can even take audio dictation, and play back the music you have notated. Simply put, they have alot going for them.

In my day, the backward looking music educational establishment did not recognize the obvious benefits of music notation software. They forbid the use of software in school, an edict that I railed against. Now they teach courses in the use of music notation software. It is rather ironic, as music notation software itself is now becoming outdated, thus todays educators are just as backward looking as those of a generation before. Traditional notation is not necessary in many works, as they employ electronic media and no notation is necessary.

All of this may seem like a rather strange preface to a page on hand writing music. I do not believe that it is. I think it is important to acknowledge the current state of music, so as to understand how hand writing fits into the picture. The position that I take is not akin to the Luddites. I do not think we should write by hand to avoid the use of machines. Nor do I do not hold the position of two of my teachers that stated that acoustic music is dead, and that all of the notes have been used up. I believe that there is much to express in acoustic music. Traditional notation is still an immensely valuable tool in transmitting music. This brings us back to question, why not simply use a software program? I have used many notation programs and sequencers over the years including Finale, Sibelius, MusiXTeX, Lilypond, MuseScore, Cubase, and Rosegarden. However, I still write music by hand at times. There are still things that are easier to notate by hand, such as coloration, complex neumes, etc. Notation programs still cannot handle more unusual features, such as staves in circular or heart shapes. There are also other advantages of hand writing. You are in a different mental space when you write by hand than when you are at a computer. It is freeing. Another similar freeing aspect is that you are not chained to a computer when you write by hand. Thus it is possible to write when you are on a hike. Another advantage is that you can notate music even when there is a power outage.

So let us proceed to a consideration of writing music by hand. Writing staves is an important part of music notation. One option is to purchase paper that has staves printed on it (or to print such paper). Staff paper has been available since the Renaissance. However, preprinted staves may not have the spacing, the number of lines, or the color that you desire. If you want to draw staves, then there are many tools and methods that can be used. Some of the earliest staves were marked on both sides of the page with a tool called a divider, which looks like a compass with needles on both ends. The prick marks of the divider are visible on the vellum in Medieval manuscripts. A straight edge was then used to guide the drawing of the line between the marks. We have many instruments at our disposal to draw the line itself from pencils to pens. If you wish to have a particularly fine line, then you may wish to use a spring blade ruling pen.

Given the importance of drawing staves, and its time consuming nature, musicians developed a special tool that is designed to produce them. It is called a rastrum, which means "rake" in latin. They are certainly aptly named, as they typically have five tips, just as a rake has many fingers. Shown here is a modern rastrum by Iserlohn, number 68, which is designed to be used with a dip pen. The last few pictures show it attached to one of my dip pen handles.

Similar to the Rastrum is the automatic pen. I will have to take a photo of mine.

In the twentieth century musicians developed a rastrum that deposited the ink on the page with several wheels. As the wheel rotated, the instrument would deposite more ink on the wheel. Igor Stravinsky attempted to patent such a device and called it the "Stravigor". Pictured here is a roller rastrum made by Gamble Hinged Music Company called the Music Staffwriter. For many years such devices have been out of production. However now a company in Spain is producing them again! Their version is called the Fidolino. It is sold at xviolins. They have single staff, grand staff, and guitar versions.

There is also a modern ballpoint pen that is designed to write staves called the Noligraph. I do not have any experience with it.

If you do not have a rastrum, and want to draw staves more quickly, two other tools may be of use. The first is a rolling parallel ruler. You can use it to guide the drawing of the first line of the stave. You can then roll it down the page so the next line is parallel. Moreover, it will measure the distance that it has rolled so that the lines on the stave can be equally spaced. The second, and quite possibly the most useful staff drawing tool, is the Ames Lettering Guide. This device has several holes through which a pencil or needlepoint pen can be inserted. By laying the guide against a straight edge you can draw a line by using one of the holes. The next line of the staff can then be drawn by using the next hole. The straight edge does not have to be moved. Most significantly, the holes in the Ames Lettering Guide are placed in a circular portion of the template that can be rotated. By rotating the circular portion of the template the spacing of the lines can be adjusted. Other staff drawing tools do not allow such easy adjustment.

There is alot more to hand writing music than drawing staves; there are clefs to write, and other special symbols and curves. Companies developed stencils so that you can easily reproduce these symbols. Pictured here are two stencils that can be used to write music. The first is by Pickett, their Music Composition Inking Template No. 12991. The second is an eraser template. These stencils are best used with needlepoint pens or mechanical pencils. Writing instruments with thicker tips, such as felt tipped markers are usually not small enough to use with these stencils.

Although music can be notated with a pencil or any pen, it was written in the Middle Ages with a quill pen with a broad nib. The width of the nib allows it to produce a broad stroke. It can also draw a thin line if it is moved perpendicularly to the thick stroke. Variation of line thickness is important in music notation, as musical elements require lines of varying thickness. Stems, for example, are thin, but crossbeams and noteheads are thicker. Void noteheads are thick on their sides and thin on the top and bottom. Clefs vary in thickness. Pens designed for calligraphy can produce such variation in line width. The following are various nibs for dip pens that I use for music notation. Sadly, none of my quill pens survived. Fortunately, they are still easy enough to create or purchase.

You certainly do not have to use a dip pen to notate music. There are many modern pens that are suitable. One of my recent acquisitions is a fountain pen with a music nib. It is made by Noodler's Ink. The pen is called the Neponset. It comes standard with the three tined Vishnu Victory music nib. Music nibs are designed to be able to draw thin lines when the pen is used in one direction, and to draw thick lines when the pen is moved perpendicularly. Most music nibs have three tines so facilitate ink flow. Other music nibs that are in production are made by Pilot, Salior, Platinum, and Christoph Franklin. Waterman used to produce a music nib. It is now highly prized, as it has greater flex than the modern music nibs.

In writing Franconian notation I used these broad nib pens by Rotring. They are cartrige based, so it is not necessary to handle ink. The nibs are high quality. However, the cartridges can run out fairly quickly. Thus, unless you are travelling, I would recommend that you use a pen that you can refill, or that has a larger ink supply.