Music Notation

Music copying, typesetting or engraving are all terms used to describe the trade of rendering music notation to publish-ready appearance. Historically this was done by hand or mechanically, whereas now computer-rendered materials are most common and even expected by many performers.

Peggy focuses mainly on the typesetting/layout process, electronically preparing music scores, performance parts or other materials up to the stage where they are ready to go to print. She is expert in both Finale and Sibelius music notation programs.  Peggy has been providing music notation services to composers, publishing houses and other music professionals since 2003, specialising in the setting of new and recent Australian compositions.  She is a Copyist member of MAGA, and served on the MAGA National Executive from 2006 to 2012.

Peggy’s services are available for first-time typesetting of works as well as processing modifications to already-engraved ones, or overhauling historic files. She commonly works from handwritten materials, faxes and other hard-copies, or from scanned PDFs or image files.

Peggy can provide the finished product as notation software files, PDFs, MIDI and/or synthesised MP3 files. She can also produce graphic files (TIFF/EPS/JPEG) for importing into other applications, such as word processing software. Files can be emailed, uploaded to a cloud service or provided on USB stick or CD/DVD.  Hard-copy prints are available for draft working if requested, as is basic A4 binding.

Electronic materials have the advantage of being able to be transported instantly worldwide. Peggy welcomes enquiries about her services from Australia and beyond, and has worked with a number of international clients to date. Contact Peggy with your music notation requirements or if you have any questions.

Other Specialties

Peggy has worked in various capacities for her clients, from freelance one-time copyist to permanent music assistant to consultant on music notation, arts business and technology. Peggy is able to assist with music archiving: back-up and storage solutions for composers and other musicians working with print music.

As well as working closely with composers and the setting out of their music, Peggy has gained experience working at different stages of the music publishing process.  Peggy worked part-time at the Australian Music Centre as Music Resources Coordinator from 2009-2013, in Sales, and in this role gained extensive knowledge about print music production as well as licensing and availability of Australian works, and especially how to source out-of-print sheet music.  She continues to work casually for the Australian Music Centre as part of the production chain that prepares the digital sheet music collection for electronic loans and print sales.

More recently, Peggy is proud to have assisted with the start-up of Wildbird Music, a new publishing label dedicated to Australian music and books on Australian music. In this role Peggy assembled and maintains a WordPress eCommerce website, researches and consults on various aspects of publishing, and assists with day-to-day business operations.