MutopiaProject VS mnx

ABC is the other major player in the space besides MusicXML and Lilypond.

The Mutopia project [1] is magnificent but largely abandoned in favor of MuseScore [2] which uses MusicXML. The amount of music available there is staggering but locked in to their backend.

Unfortunately automated translation is difficult because Lilypond is very oriented towards specifics on how the notation is rendered.

And, if you are interested in general archives of music, IMSLP [3] (Internet Music Score Library Project) has to be mentioned as well, but mostly contains scans of existing engraved music.

[1] https://github.com/MutopiaProject/MutopiaProject

[2] https://musescore.com/sheetmusic

[3] https://imslp.org

> working on producing

The Mutopia project is dormant, and under current maintainership (or lack thereof) submitting contributions is hit-or-miss[0].

> latex versions of music

Lilypond isn't TeX, but lilypond-book, a companion utility that can process lilypond files, can be integrated into LaTeX, DocBook, Texinfo, and HTML workflows[1].

0: Primary contribution channel: https://github.com/MutopiaProject/MutopiaProject

1: https://lilypond.org/doc/v2.23/Documentation/usage/integrati...

Have I got a thrill for you!

https://www.mutopiaproject.org

https://lilypond.org

https://www.hacklily.org

...it really helped me understand why "$SCORE = ( $MELODY + $BASS )" was sometimes superior to viewing sheet music as a "wall of notes and chords". You have to "play the wall" as it comes at you, but mentally, thinking of it as "melody goes la la la, bass goes boom bang boom" helps to provide context to what are the roles of the two notes you're playing.

This is something you do have to watch for: just because the composition is public domain, doesn't mean the exact score you found is. Another really good source for public domain sheet music is Mutopia project. Not all of it is public domain, but a lot of it is, and with Mutopia project all the scores are in a consistent format and include midi files, which is a huge plus. The site hasn't been updated for years but it has a pretty big collection.

A lot of classical music is public domain nowadays. Check out IMSLP (as indicated by /u/Gloomy_Plankton6631) for loads of classical music in all possible arrangements, as well as Mutopia Project.

Check license on individual pieces...

https://www.mutopiaproject.org/ says "all in the Public Domain or under Creative Commons licenses"

https://musopen.org/ says "free, without copyright restrictions"

I typeset and recorded Alkan's Op. 45 Salut, cendre du pauvre! The video shows the original source (from IMSLP), my re-setting of it, and finally an experimental typesetting that breaks some typesetting conventions but tries to makes some quality of life changes that I happen to like. The piece was quite tricky for me (I am no Alkan!), so if you have any advice for playing, typesetting, or recording, that would be greatly appreciated (I always think my recordings sound "reedy" as opposed to rich, and I am not really sure why). I'm pretty pleased with the fidelity of my resetting, though I can't figure out how to get lilypond to do slanted dynamic hairpins which Alkan makes great use of here. You can get the source on IMSLP here. My typesetting here. My alternative typesetting here. I typeset this using my own lilypond library you can get here. The reset version is as accurate as I can make it, the only deliberate difference between that and the source is my use of modern pedal notation. The alternate version makes the following additional changes: 1) The treble staff has extra ledger lines to avoid repeated clef changes. 2) I change key signature to avoid accidental overload at various points. 3) Both hands are placed in the same stave where it is easier (for me) to read. 4) I added ottava markings where appropriate. Both of my typesettings run to 6 pages (half of the source's 12) although the final page of the alternate version gets pretty cramped. If you want to make further changes, the source code is included in the above repo. I also opened a pull request to the mutopia project here.

Have a look at MNX, which is in the process of being designed:

https://w3c.github.io/mnx/docs/

It's an open JSON format that's being hashed out by members of the music technology community. It's not production-ready yet, but I encourage you to get involved in the discussions! https://github.com/w3c/mnx/

(I lead creation of the format, as one of the co-chairs of the W3C Music Notation Community Group.)

You might also be interested in MNX, which is the new format being developed by the W3C Music Notation Community Group as sort of a next-generation MusicXML: https://github.com/w3c/mnx/