I.D.10-t wrote:
If all I wanted to do was edit the book I would probably do things differently, but I would like to preserve as much of the original markings as possible. I have made some judgement calls but try to keep it to a minimum. I wish I knew how to reproduce
the w at the end of some lines, the 4 lines at the end of the tune (or knew why he used them) and some other oddities. I kind of like the notational quirks and think they kind of add to the document and removing them feels like sterilizing it. Later it will be a simple task to strip it down purely for its musical content.
Here's my guess on some of the markings and the reason for them.
1) the segno is probably used to help the eye spot the start of sections of tunes. In older, and particularly handwritten collections I've seen that before. They don't really affect the playing I don't think, though I'd need to see a tune I knew to be sure of that.
2) what looks like a "w" at the end of lines is probably a marker for what note is to be played at the start of the following line. At least this is quite common. Once I knew why that particular symbol, but alas the knowledge has been erased from memory.
3) The extra dark lines at the end of a tune are probably a marker of the end of a tune. Often in manuscript books the writer will save space be starting a new tune on the same line of staff paper, and the dark marks make it easy for the player to stop reading forward through the tune and jump back to the start (the previous set of dark lines).
Again, these thoughts are based on what I've seen in other manuscripts and might be wrong here. But, of course, I don't think so
