davidh Posted December 26, 2009 Share Posted December 26, 2009 My friends gave me a strange manuscript book for Christmas. The hard cover simply says "Music" and it contains about 100 pages of manuscript paper. Each page has just four large staves - each of them with only four lines. I doubt if it was intended for plainchant or bass guitar, and I wonder if this was a non-musician's mistake at the printers, not realising that conventional music is written on 5-line staves. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MusingMuso Posted December 31, 2009 Share Posted December 31, 2009 My friends gave me a strange manuscript book for Christmas. The hard cover simply says "Music" and it contains about 100 pages of manuscript paper. Each page has just four large staves - each of them with only four lines. I doubt if it was intended for plainchant or bass guitar, and I wonder if this was a non-musician's mistake at the printers, not realising that conventional music is written on 5-line staves. -------------------------------------- It's a contradiction in terms isn't it? It reminds me of the joke about the millionaire baker, who claimed that his fortunes changed the moment he was handed a four loaf cleaver! MM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
innate Posted December 31, 2009 Share Posted December 31, 2009 --------------------------------------It reminds me of the joke about the millionaire baker, who claimed that his fortunes changed the moment he was handed a four loaf cleaver! Nice joke! David: is the manuscript book new or old? My first reading of your post made me think of something about 100 years old but maybe your friends have had it made for you recently in which case it possibly is a mistake. It could certainly be useful for plainsong or tablature for any four-string instrument. Or maybe for hand-bells. A nice thought anyway! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davidh Posted December 31, 2009 Author Share Posted December 31, 2009 It's for real! The front cover bears the word "Music" and has a design with a treble clef on a wavy 9-line stave. The back cover is labelled, "Music Notes - Manuscript paper for inspiration and composition". The maker is "Paper Place B76 1RN". Friends who know something about music might perhaps have bought it as a joke, but I think that they were just not aware of its unconventional nature. Thanks for the thought about hand-bells. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peeweeel Posted January 3, 2010 Share Posted January 3, 2010 It's for real! The front cover bears the word "Music" and has a design with a treble clef on a wavy 9-line stave. The back cover is labelled, "Music Notes - Manuscript paper for inspiration and composition". The maker is "Paper Place B76 1RN". Friends who know something about music might perhaps have bought it as a joke, but I think that they were just not aware of its unconventional nature. Thanks for the thought about hand-bells. If you want to ask them, their address is The Paper Place, 71 Eachlehurst Road, Sutton Coldfield Tel 0121 351 1307 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigwold Posted January 4, 2010 Share Posted January 4, 2010 If you want to ask them, their address is The Paper Place, 71 Eachlehurst Road, Sutton Coldfield Tel 0121 351 1307 They are a newagents and their address is different. Are you sure they're one and the same? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bombarde32 Posted January 4, 2010 Share Posted January 4, 2010 According to an article I read recently, the most popular stave used in Medieval music had four lines; though three, five or six were also in use. Two types of clef existed, the F clef and the C clef, indicating the location of the appropriate note on the stave. Specifically this meant that a stylised letter F or C was placed around the line of the stave used to denote where the F or C is located. The clefs could appear against any line, but when one remembers that the notation was used for male (monks’) voices we can see that the clefs will usually be placed higher on the stave so that more notes appear on the stave without the need to resort to ledger lines. Furthermore, we can assume that the exact line chosen would depend upon the tessitura of the music. The C clef was used more often than the F clef. I wonder if this is any help to you? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SRA88 Posted January 6, 2010 Share Posted January 6, 2010 At least it can be used for something useful such as, like you said, plainchant or bass guitar. Musical gifts which irritate me the most are the sort displaying notes with their stems on the wrong side (according to modern engraving conventions!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peeweeel Posted January 7, 2010 Share Posted January 7, 2010 They are a newagents and their address is different. Are you sure they're one and the same? Sorry, I knew the post code was Sutton Coldfield. The post code you quoted gives: The Works 5 Midpoint Park Kingsbury Road Minworth SUTTON COLDFIELD B76 1RN and the phone book gives The Works Minworth Tel: (0121) 313 6000 - Unit 1000a Midpoint Park, Minworth, Sutton Coldfield, B76 1RN Midpoint Park is an industrial estate There is a book retailer/stationers/artists stuff called The Works. They have a branch here in Lichfield. Unfortunately I'm off to Tenerife in the morning so I can't check. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vox Humana Posted January 7, 2010 Share Posted January 7, 2010 "The Works" is, I believe, a chain specialising in remaindered books and cheap publications aimed at the same market. We have a branch here. I might just pop in next time I'm in town and see whether I can secure one of these curios for myself! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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