[MEI-L] page sizes; multiple staff sizes; def. of point

[Byrd, Donald A.]

On Tue, 6 Nov 2012 21:49:55 -0800, Craig Sapp <craigsapp at gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi Don,
>
> On Tue, Nov 6, 2012 at 8:54 PM, Byrd, Donald A. <donbyrd at indiana.edu> wrote:
>
>>
>> Finally (and I suspect MEI already handles this), I'd like to point out
>> that two sizes of staves -- "normal" and "cue-size" -- aren't always
>> enough; there are published performing editions that use three staff sizes.
>> (In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if editions with _four_ sizes exist,
>> though I don't know of any.)
>
>
> I have seen at least three sizes in a score before, and this would
> theoretically allow for four sizes:
>
> In a piano/instrumental score, the piano part typically has the
> instrumental part displayed above it in a slightly smaller size.  And I
> have seen ossia parts for the instrumental staff which in turn would be
> smaller than the instrumental staff size.  So if the piano part also had an
> ossia, then there would be four staff sizes, unless the ossia for the piano
> is the same size as the instrumental part (which it probably should).

Right. My list of CMN extremes

  http://www.informatics.indiana.edu/donbyrd/CMNExtremes.htm

lists the J. C. Bach Concerto for Harpsichord or Piano and Strings in 
E-flat, Op. 7 no. 5 (Dobereiner ed., 1927), where the 3rd size appears 
briefly, for an ossia. I'm sure I've seen other instances but I can't 
recall any; if you have other(s) handy, I'd love to hear about 'em 
(though I'm not sure others on this list would).


>> 1/72nd inch, which is not exactly the traditional value)
>
> You must be older than me, as I didn't know that :-)

It _is_ possible I'm older than you :-) .


> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Point_(typography)
>
> <<In the late 1980s to the 1990s, the traditional point was supplanted by
> the desktop publishing point (also called the
> PostScript<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PostScript>
> point)>>
>
> But then it seems that you need to be careful of your definition of the
> inch which has also changed:
>
> <<The desktop publishing
> <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desktop_Publishing> point
> (DTP point) is defined as 1/72 of the Anglo-Saxon compromise inch of 1959
> (25.4 mm) which makes it *0.0138 inch* or *0.3527 mm*.>>
>
> But the pre-PostScript point size did not seem to be standardized:
>
> <<By the end of the 19th Century, it had settled to around 0.35 to 0.38 mm,
> depending on one?s geographical location.>>
>
> And here is the one you must be referring to which I vaguely remember
> seeing before:
>
> <<In 1886, the Fifteenth Meeting of the Type Founders Association of the
> United States approved the so-called *Johnson pica* be adopted as the
> official standard. This makes the traditional American printer?s foot
> measure 11.952 inches (303.6 mm), or 303.5808 mm exactly, giving a point
> size of approximately 1?72.27 of an inch, or *0.3515 mm*.
>
> This is the size of the point in the TeX
> <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TeX> computer
> typesetting system by Donald
> Knuth<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Knuth>,
> which predates PostScript slightly. Thus the latter unit is sometimes
> called the *TeX point*.>>

Ah yes, that's the definition I was thinking of. Thanks for the further 
information. I didn't know it was sometimes called the TeX point, but 
you might be younger than me :-) .

--DAB


>
>
> -=+Craig
>



--
Donald Byrd
Woodrow Wilson Indiana Teaching Fellow
Adjunct Associate Professor of Informatics & Music
Indiana University, Bloomington