Paper
book - document - newspaper - press - printing - pulp - sheet music - text - writing
Document [...]
Paper is used to write or print on: the piece of paper becomes a document; this may be for keeping a record (or in the case of printing from a computer or copying from another paper: an additional record) and for communication; see also reading. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paper [Oct 2004]Book [...]
Printed papers can be bound etc. to form a book, brochure, magazine, newspaper, etc.; a dysphemism for such an edition is "dead tree edition", as opposed to alternatives such as a file on hard disk (locally or accessed remotely through internet), CD-ROM, diskette, etc. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paper [Oct 2004]
Wood pulp in stead of linen pulp (late 1800s)
Wood
Using wood to make paper is a fairly recent innovation. In the 1900s, fiber crops such as linen fibres were the primary material source, but a shortage led to experimentation with other materials. Around 1850, a German named Friedrich Gottlob Keller crushed wood with a wet grindstone to obtain wood pulp. Further experimentation by American chemist C.B. Tilghman and Swedish inventor C.F. Dahl enabled the manufacture of wood pulp using chemicals to break down the fibres. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wood_pulp#History [Jun 2005]
Paper remained a luxury item through the centuries, until the advent of steam-driven paper making machines in the 19th century, which could make paper with fibres from wood pulp. Although older machines predated it, the Fourdrinier paper making machine became the basis for most modern papermaking. Together with the invention of the practical fountain pen and the mass produced pencil of the same period, and in conjunction with the advent of the steam driven rotary printing press, wood based paper caused a major transformation of the 19th century economy and society in industrialized countries. Before this era a book or a newspaper was a rare luxury object and illiteracy was the norm for the majority. With the gradual introduction of cheap paper, schoolbooks, fiction, non-fiction, and newspapers became slowly available to nearly all the members of an industrial society. Cheap wood based paper also meant that keeping personal diaries or writing letters ceased to be reserved to a privileged few in those same societies. The office worker or the white-collar worker was slowly born of this transformation, which can be considered as a part of the industrial revolution.
Unfortunately, the original wood-based paper was more acidic and more prone to disintegrate over time. Documents written on more expensive rag paper were more stable. The majority of modern book publishers now use acid-free paper. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paper#History [Jun 2005]
see also: paper - pulp - 1800s
Sheet music [...]
Sheet music is musical notation written down on paper; it is the musical analog of a book.
Reading sheet music is the standard way to learn and perform a piece in some cultures and styles of music. In western classical music, it is very rare for a performer to learn a piece in any other way. With the exception of piano, where memorization is expected, classical musicians ordinarily have the sheet music at hand when performing. Even in jazz music, which is mostly improvised, there is a lot of sheet music describing arrangements, melodies, and chord changes.
Sheet music is less important in other forms of music, however. In popular music, although sheet music is produced, it is nowadays more usual for people to learn the piece by ear (that is, by imitation). This is also the case in most forms of western folk music. Musics of other cultures, both folk and classical, are often transmitted orally, though some have sheet music, and a few use hand signals or some other device as a learning mnemonic.
The skill of sight reading is the ability of a musician to perform an unfamiliar work of music upon viewing the sheet music for it the first time. Sight reading ability is expected of professional musicians and serious amateurs who play classical music and related forms, especially for church musicians. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheet_music [Apr 2005]
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