On Mar 17, 2005, at 11:00 PM, John Bell wrote:
I know that the Jazz font is quite popular with writers and players who are accustomed to handwritten music. Personally I have always regarded it as rather silly, if you're using a computer, to pretend that you're not. But I do recognize that some people like to feel that the music is new, has just been written, and is not yet set in stone. The Inkpen font is also popular with Sibelius users.
I have a small project in which I do want to produce some music that looks handwritten. My own style, pre-computer, was distinctive in that I attached all stems, whether up or down ones, to the right-hand side of note-heads. Is there any way that this can be achieved with Jazz or Inkpen?
John
As Brad mentioned, in Document Option>Stems, select the button "Stem Connections." Select your quarter note head, hit Edit. Drag the bottom stem to the right of the notehead. Repeat for the half note head.
If I may venture a response to your comment about inkpen type music fonts being silly, it is not about trying to pretend that it wasn't written on a computer. I often use standard serif fonts for titles and the like, along with JazzFont noteheads, for example. It's about trying to make the music look as much like what a musician is used to seeing as possible, so that they can relax and not have decode every marking separately (like reading words phonetically, how fast do you read like that, for example - upside down?) In addition, some glyphs do not exist in the other fonts that are essential for proper notation of jazz music.
And as for the "not set in stone" thing, you got that part right, but it's not so much about it being new, it's about giving some control over the final sound to the performer. All written music has elements of that philosophy, but it is essential to good jazz, and a stricter "engraved" look conveys more of a "do it THIS way" authority than a hand font does. I have often seen this effect, and though I am a pragmatist in as many ways as I can be, I recognize that a good state of mind on the performer's part is essential for good music, so I try to help that along any way I can, up to and including bringing coffee and cookies to the reading session, and using an inkpen font on the parts.
Christopher
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