Can anyone recommend a good music symbol font for Windows?

It can be freeware, shareware, or commercial (within reason).

I mainly want the common symbols (flat, sharp, natural, double flat,
etc.). I need it for a reference manual. I am not going to write sheet
music.

Thanks

-- 

In article <qnmke1dof5rej03jk9fp1hmlefmnhaftoo@4ax.com>,
 LurfysMa <invalid@invalid.invalid> wrote:

> Can anyone recommend a good music symbol font for Windows?
> 
> It can be freeware, shareware, or commercial (within reason).
> 
> I mainly want the common symbols (flat, sharp, natural, double flat,
> etc.). I need it for a reference manual. I am not going to write sheet
> music.

Go to http://home.earthlink.net/~jfalbano/ and download "Six Music Notation 
Programs.pdf". With the exception of Score, the programs all have downloadable 
demos for Windows which include the fonts. See which program's output you like 
best, and download its demo from the URL given in the document.

Or look at the web pages for Vivaldi, Personal Composer, Turandot, Mozart, 
Noteworthy Composer, Personal Publisher, Melody Assistant, TablEdit . . .

-- 
John Rethorst
jrethorst at post dot com

On Fri, 29 Jul 2005 09:55:03 -0700, John Rethorst <nobody@nowhere.net>
wrote:

>In article <qnmke1dof5rej03jk9fp1hmlefmnhaftoo@4ax.com>,
> LurfysMa <invalid@invalid.invalid> wrote:
>
>> Can anyone recommend a good music symbol font for Windows?
>> 
>> It can be freeware, shareware, or commercial (within reason).
>> 
>> I mainly want the common symbols (flat, sharp, natural, double flat,
>> etc.). I need it for a reference manual. I am not going to write sheet
>> music.
>
>Go to http://home.earthlink.net/~jfalbano/ and download "Six Music Notation 
>Programs.pdf". With the exception of Score, the programs all have downloadable 
>demos for Windows which include the fonts. See which program's output you like 
>best, and download its demo from the URL given in the document.
>
>Or look at the web pages for Vivaldi, Personal Composer, Turandot, Mozart, 
>Noteworthy Composer, Personal Publisher, Melody Assistant, TablEdit . . .

I already have the fonts for 2-3 of the programs you suggest. The
problem seems to be that the individual characters are way too small
when used in a Word document via Insert|Symbol. In order to get them
to a reasonable size, I need to increase the point size and then the
line spacing gets all messed up.

Here are the fonts I have already: Bach, Jazz, JassPerc, JazzText,
Maestro, Maestro Percussion, Mozart8, & MusicalSymbols. All of them
insert tiny symbols -- about 4 pt or so.

Is there a font that has the music symbols in a normal size? Something
like the Symbols font or one of the WingDings fonts?

-- 

"LurfysMa" <invalid@invalid.invalid> wrote in message 
news:qnmke1dof5rej03jk9fp1hmlefmnhaftoo@4ax.com...
> Can anyone recommend a good music symbol font for Windows?
>
> It can be freeware, shareware, or commercial (within reason).
>
> I mainly want the common symbols (flat, sharp, natural, double flat,
> etc.). I need it for a reference manual. I am not going to write sheet
> music.

If you download NotePad from Finalemusic.com, it will install several music 
fonts when the program installs, and you can use them freely as you would 
any font.  The program is free.

The link is here:
http://www.finalemusic.com/notepad/

You might also fine that the program is useful for making examples for your 
reference manual; I use Finale constantly to make reference handouts and 
exercise sheets for my students.

Dan

In article <p4oke1dolboc7esvio4oiu0kff2anhucnv@4ax.com>,
 LurfysMa <invalid@invalid.invalid> wrote:

> Is there a font that has the music symbols in a normal size? Something
> like the Symbols font or one of the WingDings fonts?

Take a look at the free Bach font, at 
http://www.music.qub.ac.uk/tomita/bach-mf.html. Its description:

> What is Bach?
> Bach is a software font for Microsoft Windows and Apple Macintosh. Bach 
> contains a comprehensive set of musical symbols but retains the normal 
> English character set in a standard Roman type-face (see sample and character 
> map). See also a PDF file (kindly supplied by Mr Dave Howard).
> Bach is a font for writing essays or compiling databases which need to have 
> some musical symbols in them. Note that Bach is not a font for musical score 
> editors, such as Coda's Petrucci or Adobe's Sonata. Unlike such fonts, the 
> musical characters in Bach are sized and spaced out so that they can be used 
> in a sentence.

-- 
John Rethorst
jrethorst at post dot com

On Fri, 29 Jul 2005 11:11:43 -0600, "Dan McGarvey"
<mcgarveyd@comcast.net> wrote:

>
>"LurfysMa" <invalid@invalid.invalid> wrote in message 
>news:qnmke1dof5rej03jk9fp1hmlefmnhaftoo@4ax.com...
>> Can anyone recommend a good music symbol font for Windows?
>>
>> It can be freeware, shareware, or commercial (within reason).
>>
>> I mainly want the common symbols (flat, sharp, natural, double flat,
>> etc.). I need it for a reference manual. I am not going to write sheet
>> music.
>
>If you download NotePad from Finalemusic.com, it will install several music 
>fonts when the program installs, and you can use them freely as you would 
>any font.  The program is free.
>
>The link is here:
>http://www.finalemusic.com/notepad/
>
>You might also fine that the program is useful for making examples for your 
>reference manual; I use Finale constantly to make reference handouts and 
>exercise sheets for my students.

I downloaded NotePad. It looks like it installed some fonts, but I am
still having the same problem. 

Which fonts are you using?

Here are the ones I tried:

Bach: This was the best choice. The symbols are smallish, but usable.
It has most of the symbols, but I don't see a double-flat or any
dotted notes.

The others include Jazz, JazzCord, JazzPerc, JazzText,
JazzTextExtended, Maestro, Maestro Percussion, Maestro Wide, Mozart8,
MusicalSymbols, & Tamburo.

JazzText is OK, but few symbols and a script style.

-- 

On Fri, 29 Jul 2005 10:33:21 -0700, John Rethorst <nobody@nowhere.net>
wrote:

>In article <p4oke1dolboc7esvio4oiu0kff2anhucnv@4ax.com>,
> LurfysMa <invalid@invalid.invalid> wrote:
>
>> Is there a font that has the music symbols in a normal size? Something
>> like the Symbols font or one of the WingDings fonts?
>
>Take a look at the free Bach font, at 
>http://www.music.qub.ac.uk/tomita/bach-mf.html. Its description:
>
>> What is Bach?
>> Bach is a software font for Microsoft Windows and Apple Macintosh. Bach 
>> contains a comprehensive set of musical symbols but retains the normal 
>> English character set in a standard Roman type-face (see sample and character 
>> map). See also a PDF file (kindly supplied by Mr Dave Howard).
>> Bach is a font for writing essays or compiling databases which need to have 
>> some musical symbols in them. Note that Bach is not a font for musical score 
>> editors, such as Coda's Petrucci or Adobe's Sonata. Unlike such fonts, the 
>> musical characters in Bach are sized and spaced out so that they can be used 
>> in a sentence.

I must have downloaded that font some time ago and forgotten because
it was already on my PC. It's by far the best for my needs, which are
exactly what the author states. It has most of the common symbols, but
I can't find the double flat or any dotted notes.

Maybe I'll send the author some money (even though it's now freeware)
and see if he will make a more complete version and maybe one that is
slightly larger.

Thanks

-- 

"LurfysMa" <invalid@invalid.invalid> wrote in message 
news:7aske117l9lq6fr1tu4ubfm5kkccbpdmoq@4ax.com...
> On Fri, 29 Jul 2005 11:11:43 -0600, "Dan McGarvey"
> <mcgarveyd@comcast.net> wrote:
>
>>
>>"LurfysMa" <invalid@invalid.invalid> wrote in message
>>news:qnmke1dof5rej03jk9fp1hmlefmnhaftoo@4ax.com...
>>> Can anyone recommend a good music symbol font for Windows?
>>>
>>> It can be freeware, shareware, or commercial (within reason).
>>>
>>> I mainly want the common symbols (flat, sharp, natural, double flat,
>>> etc.). I need it for a reference manual. I am not going to write sheet
>>> music.
>>
>>If you download NotePad from Finalemusic.com, it will install several 
>>music
>>fonts when the program installs, and you can use them freely as you would
>>any font.  The program is free.
>>
>>The link is here:
>>http://www.finalemusic.com/notepad/
>>
>>You might also fine that the program is useful for making examples for 
>>your
>>reference manual; I use Finale constantly to make reference handouts and
>>exercise sheets for my students.
>
> I downloaded NotePad. It looks like it installed some fonts, but I am
> still having the same problem.
>
> Which fonts are you using?
>
> Here are the ones I tried:

I use the Maestro fonts mostly, and the Jazz fonts if I'm going for that 
aesthetic.  If I use them in a word processor, I find that I frequently have 
to adjust the font sizes and line spacings.  I find that it's actually 
easier to use Finale's "text box" option, since the fonts typically align 
better in its native program.  It hardly replaces the efficiency of a word 
processor, but I do find it more efficient when creating documents with an 
excess of musical examples.  I then convert them to PDF's for sharing.

> Bach: This was the best choice. The symbols are smallish, but usable.
> It has most of the symbols, but I don't see a double-flat or any
> dotted notes.

You might have to "construct" these symbols from existing characters in the 
font file.

> The others include Jazz, JazzCord, JazzPerc, JazzText,
> JazzTextExtended, Maestro, Maestro Percussion, Maestro Wide, Mozart8,
> MusicalSymbols, & Tamburo.
>
> JazzText is OK, but few symbols and a script style.

That's why it's called "Jazz Text" -- no symbols.  Go to the "Jazz" font for 
symbols.

Dan

Op Fri, 29 Jul 2005 11:35:24 -0700 schreef LurfysMa:

> I downloaded NotePad. It looks like it installed some fonts, but I am
> still having the same problem. 
> 
> The others include Jazz, JazzCord, JazzPerc, JazzText,
> JazzTextExtended, Maestro, Maestro Percussion, Maestro Wide, Mozart8,
> MusicalSymbols, & Tamburo.
> 
All the fonts starting with Jazz and Maestro are from the Finale range of 
notation software - so installing Finale Notepad has added nothing to what 
you already had.
I was going to suggest Music Fun, a freeware font by Ryan Neaveill, but you 
already found Bach, which seems to be a better choice.
-- 
Jan Willem from Odijk, Netherlands
e-mail in From-field is wrong, real e-mail is:
jw point van point dormolen on hccnet point nl
(change point into dot, on into at)

And then there's this:
Teachers don't earn what they deserve; or they don't deserve what they 
earn.

"LurfysMa" <invalid@invalid.invalid> wrote in message 
news:rduke1l0mj3tlqr4m4414eu32sidp1sn30@4ax.com...

Music fonts for notation programs are not really designed to fit 
with text.

The Bach font was.

However the Unicode standard defines code points for sharp flat and 
natural signs, and one or two of Microsoft's fonts actually have 
them at the correct points

flat = U+266D
natural = U+266E
sharp = U+266F

IIRC "Arial Unicode MS" does.  (But most don't.)

Dave
-- 
David Webber
Author MOZART the music processor for Windows - 
http://www.mozart.co.uk
For discussion/support see 
http://www.mozart.co.uk/mzusers/mailinglist.htm

Does anyone know of a font that implements this set?
http://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/U1D100.pdf

LurfysMa wrote:
> Can anyone recommend a good music symbol font for Windows?
> 
> It can be freeware, shareware, or commercial (within reason).
> 
> I mainly want the common symbols (flat, sharp, natural, double flat,
> etc.). I need it for a reference manual. I am not going to write sheet
> music.
> 

Adding to the suggestions already up:  the Harmony font 
developed by Notation Software Inc is very nice indeed. Comes 
as part of the Midinotate programs (Shareware) 
http://www.notation.com

-- 
Flying Tadpole

-------------------------
http://www.flyingtadpole.com