Neume Notation - Stacking verses?
  • Mattspmusic0320
    Posts: 69
    Hello,

    Does anyone know of a program that can typeset neumes with stacked verses? Similar to the image below.

    Better yet, if anyone has all seven verses of "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel" formatted in this way in English and is willing to share, that would be amazing!

    Peace in Christ,
    MSP
  • GerardH
    Posts: 461
    Benjamin Bloomfield's GABC Transcription Tool. Make sure you select to show separate text boxes, and tick the field to set all verses to one line of chant.
    Thanked by 3OMagnumMysterium Mattspmusic0320 tomjaw
  • Richard MixRichard Mix
    Posts: 2,798
    I've previously always resorted to Sibelius, which works quite well as long as you don't need oblique glyphs: see Iste confessor on the penultimate page of St David's Vespers here, for example.

    The link above can be made to work if one isn't put off by the unhyphenated example. Left box should look something like:
    O come, O come Em-ma-nu-el,
    And ran-som cap-tive Is-ra-el,
    2. O come, O Wis-dom from on high
    Who or-ders all things might-i-ly;
    3. O come, O come, great Lord of might,
    Who to your tribes on Si-naí's hight
    4. O come. O Rod of Jes-se's stem,
    from ev-'ry foe de-li-ver them

    and the right:
    initial-style: 1;
    centering-scheme: english;
    %%
    c4 d f h h h ixgih g f. , g h f d f gvED c d. ;
    --

    I notice some bugginess, though: "Rod of Je- s- se's stem, from ev'- ry…"
  • Richard MixRichard Mix
    Posts: 2,798
    .
  • ServiamScores
    Posts: 2,886
    Richard, did you use Medieval or another plugin to make that work in Sibelius? Or did you just have to place each neume by hand?
  • GerardH
    Posts: 461
    Richard, when setting English texts in Benjamin's tool, divide syllables with an equals = sign, not a hyphen -, wherever the automatic hyphenation is malfunctioning
    Thanked by 4CHGiffen tomjaw OMagnumMysterium Richard Mix
  • Richard MixRichard Mix
    Posts: 2,798
    Good to know! "Jes=-se's" divides correctly, but I can't figure out how to get "ev- 'ry" instead of "ev'- ry".

    In Sibelius one can use Symbols/New, choose font "Special noteheads etc." and create neumes to import to Notation/Noteheads/Edit Noteheads so that there's a single glyph per syllable. Then save as a ms. style. Maybe I should look into a plugin that will make oblique shapes; for this I repurposed an existing slash, and for this I resorted to the lines menu and fiddled.
  • GerardH
    Posts: 461
    You don't need to hyphenate the English at all, so try "Jesse's", "every" and "mightily", and if you don't like the automatic results, override them with "Jes=se's" and "ev='ry".

    Check the About page for more details.
  • Richard MixRichard Mix
    Posts: 2,798
    Hi Gerard,

    "Jesse's" doesn't divide, but of course you're right about "Jes=se's". But "ev='ry" gives "ev'- ry", which is a nonstandard placement of the apostrophe.

    One question not addressed in the FAQ is whether one can get a void (instead of black) punctum for elisions. I suppose I should try writing Benjamin directly!

    I don't know how to crop an SGV but here's what I could do with Ave maris:
    AveMarisStellam.pdf
    22K
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