The History of Sheet Music
Were it not for the invention of sheet music, it would not only be difficult for anyone except the original composer to play the music but also be challenging to pass down the music from one generation to the next. Furthermore, it would be impossible for orchestras and choirs to perform an unrehearsed piece if no one had any idea what key the music is in or when voices or instruments are supposed to enter and exit the lyrical equation. Sheet music resolves these problems by providing musicians and singers with printed notations that correspond to the sounds to be produced by the instruments. Here's a look at its development and evolution.
Early History
Ancient civilizations had no shortage of individuals who were intrigued by the process of creating sounds and rhythms from ordinary objects. Artifacts dating from Middle Eastern and Greek cultures suggest that rudimentary musical codes started being scribbled down as early as 4,000 years ago. It wasn't until the ninth century A.D., however, that Catholic monks approached the task of recording notes with their quills on parchment as a functional "cheat sheet" for the delivery of religious chants. With the invention of the printing press 600 years later, sheet music not only became more accessible to the masses but also embraced secular themes about courtly love, adventure, humor and devotion to homeland.
Printing Techniques
In the early 1800s, lithography techniques replaced metal engraving as an efficient method of reproducing multiple copies of handwritten musical scores. Many composers today still write everything out the old-fashioned way and then have it transcribed by a publisher. In addition, there are numerous software programs that allow even fledgling musicians to create a musical score at their computer keyboard and print it out in a professional format for any musician to try. The sophistication of modern scanning tools also allow users to instantly download an entire library of music scores without ever leaving home.
The Medium as a Message
As sheet music became more popular after the end of the Civil War, advertisers realized that shorter tunes didn't always extend to the back page of the score and that this blank canvas of sheet music represented an ideal spot to hawk new products and businesses. In addition, publishers of commercial sheet music seized this back-page opportunity to list other music selections that customers might be interested in buying.
Types of Sheet Music
Whereas the notations that monks wrote down over a thousand years ago were usually for voices only, the simplicity and complexity of modern scores is based on how many participants are going to be involved in the performance. Examples: (1) A vocal score displays the notes and the lyrics of a song that will be performed as a solo or a duet. In addition to the vocal line, there is a two-staff format directly below it that reflects what a single musical instrument (usually a piano or guitar) will play in accompaniment; (2) Fake books are comprised of sheet music that contains a succession of chords that are played in a tune and leaves the musician to improvise individual notes and tempos; (3) An orchestral score displays what every instrument and every voice is supposed to do in a full production and lays open and flat on the conductor's music stand as he faces the musicians in rehearsal and performance; (4) Musical theater songbooks feature the most popular selections from a show, are generally written for piano accompaniment and often intersperse the pages of music with photographs from the production.
Cover Art
Toward the end of the 19th century in Europe and America, the front page of a folio that had previously featured the first page of music or presented the centered title of the song began to be replaced with decorative color artwork that people would be pleased to display on their pianos. Not only was this an inventive way to promote the talents of new and established artists (who were often associates of the music publisher), but this also provide the purchasers with a clue as to what kind of song it was. The popularity of Broadway musicals (followed by sweeping movie scores and pop culture bands) led to the production of sheet music covers that were consistent with the posters used to promote new shows.
User-Friendly Notes
The more you play a particular song or instrumental, the less likely your eyes are going to be glued to a piece of sheet music in front of you. Still, many musicians keep their sheet music on the stand in the event their mind wanders or they're playing something with a tricky passage that tends to challenge them. To make it as easy as possible for the eye-hand coordination necessary to sight-read, sheet music is printed as black notes on white paper and in a large enough size that it can comfortably be read from a distance of 12 to 16 inches. There are natural breaks (albeit small) to facilitate page-turning, and the pages themselves are 9 x 12 inches on sturdy paper that won't go fluttering off the music stand. Such was not the case for early composers who were often forced to make do with whatever size scraps of paper they could find and, accordingly, fill up every inch of space with notations. Nor did they have the luxury of composing on both sides of a page because the saturation of the ink would bleed through to what they had already written. Interestingly, many of these musicians memorized entire programs for performance so as to impress audiences by their lack of need for any visual aids.
