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From the middle of the 15th century onwards, the intellectual and cultural life of the West was revolutionised by the development of the printing press. This album explores the technological problems and solutions specific to the printing of music and shows how technology has transformed the way music scores are produced today. The five video tracks examine early music printing processes, 20th century photo lithography and the invention Sibelius, the music programme that changed everything. This material forms part of TA212 Technology of Music.
By: The iTunes U team (The Open University,)
- Duration 35 mins
- Updated Monday 8th March 2010
- Introductory level
- Posted under Engineering & Technology, Music
Track 1: Music Printing
A short introduction to this album
© The Open University 2008
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Tracks in this podcast:
Track | Title | Description |
---|---|---|
1 | Music Printing | A short introduction to this album Play now Music Printing |
2 | Letter Press Technology | Early music printing. The technological problems and solutions involved in making a complete line of music. Play now Letter Press Technology |
3 | Letter Press: an example | A close inspection of Plantin's book shows how it all fits together on the page. Play now Letter Press: an example |
4 | The Halstan Press | A printing expert takes us through the Halston process and explains how every piece of printed music is put together like a picture. Play now The Halstan Press |
5 | Sibelius | The creators of Sibelius describe the idea, the software and its advantages and disadvantages. Play now Sibelius |
6 | The Future | Factors the software has to take into account and the effect computerisation will have on music of the future. Play now The Future |
About the author
Publication details
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Originally published: Monday, 8th March 2010
Copyright information
- Body text - Content: Copyright The Open University
- Audio/Video tracks: Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 4.0 The Open University 2008
- Image 'Music Printing' - Copyright: The Open University 2008
- Image 'Sound for music technology: An introduction' - Copyright: Used with permission
- Image 'Reception of music in cross-cultural perspective' - Jesse Kruger under Creative-Commons license
- Image 'A tiny man in an ear' -
vernhart under CC-BY-NC-SA licence
under Creative-Commons license - Image 'Sounds harmonious' - Copyright: The Open University 2009
- Image 'Quill' - Copyright: Used with permission
- Image 'Lego buggy' - Copyright: The Open University
- Image 'CCTV Surveillance Camera' - Copyright:
Katarzyna Zwolska via Dreamstime.com under Limited Royalty Free Licenses (RF-LL)
- Image 'Ants killing a tree' - Copyright: Patricia Ash
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