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December 09, 2024
By Alex Widstrand
Even for experienced music editors, constructing critical notes often poses a challenge: how do we describe elements of music notation in a way that is concise, consistent, and can be easily parsed by a reader assumed to have access only to the edition in front of them and not the material on which the edition is based? In most cases, this question is easily addressed by recognizing the four principal types of emended source readings and the appropriate “formula” to use for critical notes reporting each type. The general guidelines presented below—not comprehensive, but broadly applicable to the most common situations in which a critical note is needed—give an overview of A-R’s preferred critical note syntax as a starting point for prospective Recent Researches editors.
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June 29, 2020
By Esther Criscuola de Laix
What are critical notes? Well, many of our editions say that “critical notes describe rejected source readings” or “differences between the source and the edition” that are not otherwise covered by the editorial methods. It sounds straightforward enough. Yet many volume editors find this to be one of the most fiddly and confusing parts of the editing process. So, here are some dos and don’ts to help dispel the confusion.
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By A-R's house editors
Did you know that you can help your copyeditor by submitting judiciously named electronic manuscript files? A-R’s production staff works directly with electronic files as they prepared editions for publication. Our copyeditors must therefore supply them with vetted files and clear directions for assembling the files into the edition, and that starts with naming the files accordingly. By using the tips given here, you can save your copyeditor time by assisting in this process.