The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1894-04-25
Music Composition.

A Boston reporter was sent to inquire
into the mysteries practiced by the music
printer. "What is the special difficulty
in setting Il page of music5 Is it anything
a regular compositor could not do, at least
after little practice?" was asked. "To
be even fair musical printer, was the
answer, "you must be a genius in the first
place You need not know music, to be
sure-perhaps it is better that you should
not, for then you may think you know
more than the composer and try to i'm
prove his score for him, but the business
requires instant and accurate judgment,
perfect familiarity with every box in the
case, besides "a great deal of skill and quick
ness in setting your type"
In the case which holds the necessary
"sorts' there are no less than 400 varieties
of type, by far the greater part of which
must be used in setting large piece of
music. When the reporter was shown
these various characters and how intricate
ly they must all be made to combine so as
to print without break or a crack any
where to be seen, he did not wonder to hear
the proprietor continue; You cannot con-
ceive how much labor is involved in set
ting a single sheet. Why, it would require
an expert and half dozen newspaper col
tails. Yet, after all, to do this is not the
greatest achievement of music printer.
To be able to judge swiftly and surely
when he is given a page of copy and told
to accommodate it TO an entirely different
space is much rarer and more essential
faculty. The spacing must be accurate and
approximately equal all the way through.
On the first piece of spacing the spacing
all the way through necessarily depends.
For this the printer makes no elaborate
calculations or measurements. He comes
to reckoning by guesswork so practiced
and trained that the result is as exact as
if it had been carefully figured out on pa
per Then, too, he has to overcome the
bother of the words underneath, which
must not be too irregularly strung out, and
every syllable of which must be placed I'M
der its own note or notes."
No wonder that there are not more that
90 men at most in Boston who are experts
in this beautiful and delicate craft-al-
though Boston, as the reader may like to
know, does more music printing than any
other city in the United States, probably
more than any two others. "How long
does 1t take to master the trader" asked
the reporter. about three years, on an
average, / should say, although that boy
there" pointing to q sturdy young Italian
not more than 10 years old, "is as good n
printer as there is with only 10 months
experience"
Not more than five or six mon are re-
quired in good sized shop. A fairly good
printer will set three pages of simple music
In day. Given difficult instrumental
score, however, and he will not get through
with more than one and half pages. He
is paid by the sheet. When business is not
dull the printer, if good one, makes
from $50 to S25 week. "Do you ever en-
ploy womenf" was the last question the
reporter asked. "Not many-they are not
a success usually, though one woman who
worked for me 12 years and is now run
ming place Of her own in Chicago, was
as good printer as ever had"