On 14 Feb 2006 at 13:09, dc wrote: > I'm wondering how much time one should be spending on average on > getting a page of music ready for publication. I know, of course, it > depends on the type of music. I'm thinking specifically of the type of > music I do mostly myself, of course: baroque vocal pieces for one or > several voices and (unrealized) basso continuo. Which means lyrics > (very time consuming, in my experience), figured bass (even worse!), > but, on the other hand, relatively few articulations, dynamics, etc., > and fairly simple music. > > The reason I ask is 1) I don't consider myself as a professional > engraver, so I don't imagine I can hope to work as fast as one and 2) > I rarely if ever do only the engraving of a project, since I'm > involved in the editing, the research, etc. > > I've never precisely timed my work, and, of course, even in this > limited repertoire there are many variables, but I do think that I > must spend at least 45 minutes on each page, between the entering of > the music and the lyrics, and all the rest - the spacing, the layout, > the proofing, the corrections, etc., before I have something I > consider fit for publication, or at least fit for proofing by someone > else.
I know exactly the kind of repertory you do, having done a bunch of that kind of work last summer. I'd say 45 minutes per score page is conservative, unless your sources are very, very clean and unambiguous. If the sources are in MS, have non-modern clefs and haphazard text underlay, it adds a huge amount of time just determining what should be entered into Finale. The layout part of the equation, though, stays about the same for vocal music, once the notes and lyrics nad figured bass are entered. I would say that Baroque music takes me longer to enter than Classical, but takes less time to finish once the notes/lyrics/etc. are input into Finale. I'd be thrilled if it took only 45 minutes per page for most of my work. -- David W. Fenton http://dfenton.com David Fenton Associates http://dfenton.com/DFA/ _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list [email protected] http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
