Books on Music Notation
& Engraving

Music Notation in the Twentieth Century: A Practical Guidebook
by Kurt Stone
Although this book does cover some of the basics of music notation, its real strength is in its handling of unusual, new and idiomatic notation. It makes a great companion for Gardner Read's Music Notation.

Essential Dictionary of Music Notation
by Tom Gerou, Linda Lusk
This book is a "pocket dictionary", but despite its tiny size, it is a valuable reference. It is clearly laid out, making it suitable to have on hand as a memory jogger. It covers standard music notation, guitar TAB and idiomatic notation for several instruments.

Norton Manual of Music Notation
by George Heussenstamm
This book is used as a textbook in many colleges. It covers all the basics of music notation including the correct way to draw various symbols. It is perhaps less useful for the computer-assisted notator or engraver, still, it is a useful book to have on hand.

Music Notation
by Gardner Read
This book is one of the classics. It begins with a brief history of music notation, then discusses music notation in well-organised topics. Finally, it briefly covers idiomatic notation for a range of instruments. The book has been around for more than 25 years, and probably will held in high regard for many more.

Music Notation
by Mark McGrain
Written by a one-time teacher at Berklee, this book is often used as a text book, and includes exercise sheets. Some will find this book somewhat pedantic, but that's not necessarily a bad thing when dealing with a form of communication such as music notation.

Guide to Standardized Drumset Notation
by Norman Weinberg
Drum notation has a reputation of being confusing, simply because there are no hard standards. This book is an excellent effort to establish some standards around drum notation based on the engraving styles most commonly used in published works. It has been developed in collaboration with the Percussive Arts Society. At Audio Graffiti, we use the recommendations made in this book, unless a client requests otherwise.

Source Book of Proposed Music Notation Reforms
by Gardner Read
This book is less focused on "how to" notate, rather, it explores the development of musical systems with great emphasis on the attempts to reform music notation standards over the past three centuries. It includes suggestions for improvements in notation, and provides an historical view of the efforts made. It is not a book for the casual notator, but for the professional with an interest in the evolving nature of music notation.