Sheet music engraving & publishing
Client: ELSWHR LTD / personal
Objective:
Release a new edition of scores for three classical chamber works, complete with accompanying programme notes.
Summary:
Originally, I had hoped to release these three works on an album of my classical compositions (working title: Emotional Geographies). While the recording side of the project had to be put on hold indefinitely, it did give me pause to re-examine these three pieces. They seemed to belong together, forming some sort of cohesive statement about themes that have preoccupied me as a composer. And so I used it as an excuse to put together a new edition of these scores and make them freely available via my website.
Though this project came to fruition in 2025, it started over ten years earlier. I created the first score (Hotel Ecstasy) back in 2016, after a two-year-long deep dive into music notation and engraving. Working in Finale at that time, I tackled the challenges of creating clear, readable glyphs for modern compositions—even designing my own custom accidentals, rests, flags, and noteheads with horizontally condensed proportions that maintained legibility while accommodating the complexities of contemporary notation. Fast forward to 2025, and the planned recording project gave me reason to revive these scores, which meant transitioning to Dorico. While I was pleased to find that Dorico handles much of this sophisticated notation work beautifully off-the-shelf, I made careful adjustments to match the original look and proportions as closely as possible. Additionally, I created a house style guide to ensure consistency across not just these scores, but other publications going forward, establishing a distinctive visual identity for my sheet music.