Hungarian musicological symbols

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Hungarian musicological symbols

2003-04-21 01:38 am

Anyone out there familiar with the Hungarian ethnomusicological method of analysis devized by Bela Bartok and Zoltan Kodaly? One of their devices is the following: Since a chief feature of Hungarian folksong tunes is the degree on which each of the four melodic phrases of which the typical Hungarian (and many other) folk song is composed, they use a system of identifying the degree of the final by a Roman or Arabic numeral place in a box. The box is closed for the final of the second phrase, open to the left or to the top for the final of the first phrase, open to the right or bottom for the final of the fourth, and a double closed box is used for the final of the entire melody (which they often omit because by definition the number is going to be "1").

Now, from time to time I find that I want to use this device, but so far I have not figured out how to do it. Remember, the box must contain a number; the Roman numeral may be VII or, I suppose, VIII, so more than one character must be accommodated. I use Windows ME and Word, but I now have Open Office, except that since there is no manual it is slow learning.

Can anyone suggest how I might construct these "Hungarian boxes" and add them if possible to a NoteWorthy file?

Stephen

Re: Hungarian musicological symbols

Reply #1 – 2003-04-21 01:40 pm

I don't know what you could do to have Roman Numerals in a box in NWC. Boxmarks, as found in The Scriptorium, can do the Arabic numerals in a box. Maybe we could suggest that the author add Roman numerals into his font. In both Word and OpenOffice you can create a box and then add text to it. In OpenOffice I think double clicking on a box automatically gives you a cursor. In Word you may need to right click and hit "Add Text." But you can't import those figures into NWC.

Re: Hungarian musicological symbols

Reply #2 – 2003-04-21 11:55 pm

I am in the process of creating a font which will allow this. I have been using Boxmarks2, but some orchestral pieces have rehearsal letters which go beyond Z. They sometimes appear as AA, AB, AC..., or Aa, Ab, Ac..., or Aa, Bb, Cc... etc. Since Boxmarks cannot do this, I started creating a font which can. I can't say when I'll ever finish the font, though...

Re: Hungarian musicological symbols

Reply #3 – 2003-04-22 09:12 pm

Have you tried this: Some fonts (Webdings? Wingdings?) include an empty square box. Can you get the effect you want by using two user fonts, say Times and ?dings, at appropriate point sizes. Place text in each font, but at different staff positions (rather than on the same text line). Adjust positions and placement so that the symbols overlap.

I'd try it myself and tell you if it works (it should), but alas I'm not at my own computer now.

Re: Hungarian musicological symbols

Reply #4 – 2003-04-22 09:58 pm

Thank you all for your replies. I will try all of the suggestions. But please bear in mind that a plain box will work only for the second of the four finals. The first and third require a box *open on one side* and the fourth (which I prefer not to omit) a *double* closed box. I have a feeling that these will not be so easy. And I have also tried to do this with a table in Word, but this leaves no usable space to the right of the box, and couldn't be added directly to NWC.

By the way, is there any literature on how to use Open Office? I have it now, but trying to wade through the help files is a source of rectal discomfort.

Stephen

Re: Hungarian musicological symbols

Reply #5 – 2003-04-23 12:54 am

Stephen - the "pat" answer would be to refer you to the OpenOffice.org Documentation page - but I imagine you've already availed yourself of the resources there and are looking for a printed book on the subject.

You might have a look at your local bookstore to see if you can find something like "Microsoft Office for Dummies" or whatever. Most functions and operations in OO.o will be similar if not identical to the comparable MS Office ones.

Re: Hungarian musicological symbols

Reply #6 – 2003-04-24 04:02 am

Most functions and operations in OO.o will be similar if not identical to the comparable MS Office ones.

No way! After having mastered Word 97, OOo was like a whole new program. It took me 1/2 an hour just to figure out how proper MLA format worked in OOo. Doesn't OOo have a database of books about it though? (I don't currently have it installed)