House styles are essential in editorial work because they contain all the relevant data on formatting, text styles, key signatures, etc. In other words, they encompass everything characteristic of the layout of CMO editions. Each editor should prepare a set of house styles for each edition or manuscript and store them in the Sibelius Avid folder and on the common CMO net drive, as detailed further below.

House styles do not have to be created from scratch; they can be based on existing ones, which can be easily adapted and modified. The most critical feature to be modified in the house styles is the key signatures. Before doing so, however, the editor should have a clear understanding of the makâms that will be needed for the manuscript edition. Therefore, a thorough study of the makâms and accidentals is an essential step before starting the manuscript edition.

It is very helpful to prepare a table with all the necessary information before creating new key signatures. This ensures that the editor does not miss anything. The following provides an example of how such a table could look:

The naming of house styles follows a specific model that should be consistently adapted. The format consists of:

CMO + Voc (for vocal) + Ks (Key signature) + digit (the number of used Key signatures) followed by the abbreviation of the manuscript.

For example, a house style might be named CMO_Voc_KS3_XYZ. A detailed table of these abbreviations can be found at:

https://corpus-musicae-ottomanicae.de/content/edition/browse.xml (For the collections)

https://corpus-musicae-ottomanicae.de/content/edition/abbreviations.xml (For Library Sigla) 

Technical Information on CMO Key Signatures

Before starting with the instructions, here is some technical information on CMO key signatures. In Sibelius, all pre-determined Major and Minor key signatures are digitally defined. However, CMO key signatures, which are derived from the Ezgi-Arel system in this context, are purely visual reproductions with no digital metadata behind the signs.

Since the CMO collaborates with scholars from digital humanities who aim to program a digital output for our scores, it is necessary to indicate the key signature information to make it accessible for them. Currently, the CMO uses a code to indicate this information in the form of metadata. Each accidental in the key signature is indicated by one digit and one letter.

For example, if there are three accidentals in the key signature, the code might look like:

4k 8b 3m

The digits refer to the notation system:

• The first line of the notation system is "0"

• The second line is "2"

• The third line is "4"

• The fourth line is "6"

• The fifth line is "8"

The used letters are defined as follows:

By following this coding system, the key signature information can be accurately represented and accessed in a digital format.

Creation of Key Signatures

To create a new key signature in Sibelius, you can follow these step-by-step instructions:

1. Access Symbols: Navigate to the "Notation" tab located in the top menu of Sibelius.

2. Open Symbols Window: Click on "Symbols" to open the symbols window. This window will display a variety of available symbols for your score.

3. Find Key Symbols: Within the symbols window, navigate to the "keys" category. Here, you'll find a range of key symbols such as G key, F key, C key, and others.

1. Select Clef: Double-click on one of the clefs in your score that does not have any accidentals. In your specific case, there may be two or more clefs without accidentals.

5. New Window: Upon double-clicking, a new window will open. On the right side of this window, you'll see the treble clef.

Here you can click on the “add” button to add more accidentals. Once they are added, they have to be moved to the correct position. There are fixed measures to do so. Each added accidental should be moved +1,25 units horizontally. Hence, the measures would be 3,50 for the first accidental; 4,75 for the second; 6 for the third accidental etc. Vertically they can be moved in 0,5 units by +0,5 or -0,5. Do not forget to name the key signature with the correct CMO code under “Name”. When the desired accidentals have been entered press “OK”, and the treble clef in the symbol’s window will appear in the new modified form. The Key will appear now under “keys” in the “Notation” tab. You can also press “q” and see if the newly created key signature is now available.

By following these steps, you can easily access and insert key signatures into your Sibelius score.