Real-Life Math -- Solution
In order to format the pages correctly, you must know how many notes you can fit on a page.
To determine the number of notes that you can put on the page, you must first determine how much space you have in which to put notes.
4 measures per line x 5 lines per page = 20 measures per page
Then divide the total number of measures by 2 to determine how many measures will have 8 notes and how many will have 16.
20 / 2 = 10
Now, to find the total number of notes that will fit on your page, multiply the number of notes times the number of measures in which those notes will appear.
10 x 8 = 80
10 x 16 = 160
Finally, add the number of notes from the 2 different categories together, and you are left with the total number of notes that will fit on a page.
80 + 160 = 240
You can put 240 notes on your page. Now all you have to do is to write them in the format needed, and leave a rest at the end for a page turn.
"A lot of the math that we use in this business is very elementary math," says Anne Dubrofsky. She is a music copyist.
"We need to determine the count in each measure, and to calculate page size and page margins. Fortunately, the computer notation programs that many copyists use are set up to deal with this. But the user still has to massage the data a little."