On Feb 26, 2007, at 11:45 AM, George Brooke wrote:
I, too, have found Minion to be a very useable typeface. It's relatively elegant looking and very readable at all sizes. As you point out, it comes in a variety of faces which adds to its versatility. I also like Caslon but, like you, haven't tried it for lyrics. Something for both of us to investigate.
When I wrote before I was getting my Caslons mixed up. The one I have with a relatively large x-height is called "Big Caslon". I just tried it for lyrics and I didn't like it one bit. It has a big contrast between thick and thin strokes, so I think maybe it was intended as a display face in large sizes only. As a lyric font it looks terrible. I'm not sure where that font came from; I think maybe it was packaged with the Apple OS. (Almost all my fonts are either from the basic Apple package or the basic Adobe package.)
The other Caslon I was thinking of is from Adobe's standard collection. It's called Adobe Caslon Pro, and I tried it, too. It looks very nice, but in terms of overall proportions it's pretty much the same as Times, so there's no gain there. Still, it could be a nice alternative for someone who wants something not too unlike Times but with a little classier and more elegant look.
I just ran through my font library trying all the classic serifs I've got. Many of them were too wide to be practical. Three or four others are roughly the same proportions as Times and Caslon with slightly different looks. Aside from Minion, the only one with a significant x-height gain over Times is Palatino. I like Palatino in general, and it's my usual fallback font for letters and that sort of thing, but I have mixed feelings about it for music. On the whole, I think I don't like it.
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