Free Music Typesetting
On-demand Schirmer printing?
Buried in the “rental-only” division of Schirmer, is a Chamber Music catalog of on-demand printing of works with limited requests. This catalog is from 10/10. Prices are by inquiry only. Does anyone have experience with this or OTHER publishers who use such practices not only to keep marginal *dead* works alive, but also to champion new composers and works? I was cautioned by a colleague that they suspect these are legal Xeroxes of *manuscript*, not digitally typeset works (or old engraved ones) – hmmm. This needs a phone call in the morning. These are NOT “free to steal” , for those so inclined.
I haven’t used the service yet but my understanding is that this is Schirmer trying to eek out a buck from inventory they deem not economically viable for production of hard copies. On Schirmers website they have a few sample pages you can view that are digitally typeset. Though for some of their inventory that predates digital media I doubt they went to the trouble of typesetting it.
As far as what you get it’s in whatever state that Schirmer last made a physical copy, so quality may vary. What you get is access to a high resolution PDF file that you can use for whatever purpose your rental or purchase allows.
Walt Whitman From Leaves Of Grass Part 1: Inscriptons-Song of Myself