Day 1: The British Library

We received the brief, and took a look around a couple of exhibitions at the British library.

What caught my attention was the display of old music books, and i took a few photos and made some notes.

The first manuscript that i looked at was titled 'The old hall manuscript', and it is one of the most important and substantial collections of early English polyphonic music. It was mainly compiled by one scribe between 1415 and 1421, with additions in several other hands from the early 1420's. I noted down the reference number: Add. MS 57950, ff 12v-13r

Why i chose this book:

Reading music is different to reading books. It is always linear/chronological, and the picture it conveys is different to that when words are read.

It is huge and hand-notated. Ive written music before and it takes forever, and can be messy without the aid of music software, but these are done with a special pencil, perhaps one that is thick and square to make inputting the notes more efficient. The notes are very neat and uniform.

I had a look online for such pencils, but i couldn't find any under the search 'music manuscript pencil' or similar searches. Perhaps it is no longer needed with the development of music software.

I also noticed more ornate books, with fancy binding. The words on the pages look so neat that they could be printed and although it is dated before the invention of the printing press, it could have been done with a stencil or other hand tool. There are beautiful illustrations on the pages which look hand-coloured. There are also some notations that i don't recognise.





There is a book next to it which is slightly cruder, called Purcell's autograph score-book. Contains welcome songs and informal vocal pieces. There is a song inside called 'sound the trumpet, beat the drum' which was written in 1687 for James II.

I noticed that in the exhibition, there were a stack of identical folding chairs in a corner. They were the same ones that that i wrote about in the previous project in the British Museum. Again, they were in a dark corner right at the back of the exhibition. I now understand perhaps that it was because they didn't want to detract from the exhibits, or have something ugly in an obvious place, but perhaps they could have put a notice next to the 'no mobiles etc.' sign saying that chairs are available in the corner..



Also at the exhibition were various interactive books.

A huge illustrated book of birds was open in an exhibition, and next to it was this interactive book which not only gave additional information, but also allowed me to see the content of a book that is so old that in order to preserve it, people aren't usually allowed to touch it.



Each page is hand painted, and the birds are life-sized.

I also took some video footage of different exhibits that i found interesting.