My son and I are trying to help his Tutor, who is researching and writing a book about a composer who died in the 1970's (and who taught her to play).

She would like to include some short extracts from the composer's works in the book, but the originals are in poor condition, so the extracts have been copied into Sibelius software for inclusion in the book. So far so good.

However, a question has arisen as to the correct positioning of tempo, dynamic and other markings in these extracts, as these are wildly inconsistent in the original scores, which span a period of about 60 years. The book publishers know nothing about music, so they don't have any kind of 'house style' for such extracts.

I daresay that styles change over time, much like our language; but is there any kind of reference standard which sets out where tempo, dynamic and other markings should be positioned on a score?

Like most people I take these things for granted, and just read what is written on the page, but I am sure there will be somebody here who knows?

Any help would be much appreciated.

SB

I don't know of an ISO standard, but the de facto standard for music publication is Gardner Read's book.

Thank you Ken. The book is duly ordered.

SB