Music Before Printing

Before the digital age, the main source of music was live performances. Composers would compose their music and write it down to be played at another time. This was normal but also very inconvenient and because of a lack of access, various music was not accessible to the public. If the general population wanted to hear a specific song, they would have to hear it from a gifted musician who either copied it down by hand, or learned it by ear. Much of music was disseminated slowly by mouth and did not get written down before printing methods. Before advanced printing methods began in the fifteenth century, music was a luxury only the elite could afford as the process for copying music was completely by hand. After printing presses were widely

Musicians had to be trained to read musical notation and interpret it due to a lack of notation rules that exist today. Part of the cause for interpretation was because of the switch from vellum to paper (New World Encyclopedia Writers). Vellum was tougher than paper and when composers went to do something as simple as fill in the note head on a quarter note, the paper may not have held up (New World Encyclopedia Writers). All this combined created written music which was not fully notated. When playing, musicians would have to figure their parts based on cadential formulas and the parts of the musicians around them (New World Encyclopedia Writers). With the arrival of printing, notation became easier, neater, and helped to clarify the sound of musicians who may have been reading off poorly notated music. As a result of the timing at which the printing press rose to popularity, people today can still access renaissance music and anything following it. On the opposite side of things, the majority of medieval music remains lost in time (New World Encyclopedia

Gutenberg’s first attempt at the printing press was failed as it required too much paper to make one book (Nelson). On his second try, he created what became known as the Gutenberg press (Nelson). The primary innovation of his invention was the metal moveable type which was economical and easy to use (Nelson). The pressing piece of the press was similar to that which was used to create wines and with a thick ink and even pressure, Gutenberg created a press that had a bold and even imprint (Nelson). After his death, Gutenberg’s assistant succeeded him under a firm called Fust and Schoeffer (Pressing News). The firm became the first major printer and printed the Mainz Pslater which is considered to be “the most beautiful book ever printed” (Pressing News). Technology like this was advanced for its time. The advancements set precedents for neatness and in the music business, drummed up the actual sale of music. Because sound recording was not yet invented, live performance was still the only means of hearing music and the Gutenberg press brought with its invention an early way to charge for