-
December 09, 2024Read More
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.
-
June 29, 2020Read More
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.
-
September 12, 2019Read More
By Esther Criscuola de Laix
Congratulations, you’ve got your A-R contract in hand! This means you are probably working busily away at one or more portions of your text apparatus as outlined in our guidelines for Manuscript and Disk Preparation: table of contents, acknowledgments, introduction, critical report, and, if applicable, tables, captions, and a “Texts and Translations” section. Here are a few simple tips for using your word processor to prepare a clean, readable text apparatus that will be a joy to work with for both editor and typesetter.
