Traditional Engraving Techniques
- Plate engraving: music was reproduced directly onto a zinc or pewter plate in mirror image. Staff lines were created by dragging a 5-pronged "scoring tool" across the plate, thus the designation, "score" for printed music. Fixed symbols, like note heads and clefs, were punched into the metal with dies, and variable symbols, such as beams or slurs, were engraved by hand.
- Hand copying with pen and ruler, which if done by an expert music copyist can produce high-quality results (see below)
- Moveable type with music symbols – a centuries-old method, often used for hymn books, but which produced low-quality results
- Music typewriters – like moveable type, this produced low-quality results and was never widely used
- Notaset - dry transfer symbols similar to Letraset
- Brushing ink through stencils, a high-quality technique used by Amersham-based company Halstan & Co.
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