To Wit a Cornet

The Particulars Column of a Provincial Magistrates' Court as Accidental Notation, 1897–1936

A paper from the School of Settled Matters reads the 417 prosecutions for music in a provincial magistrates' court register, 1897–1936, as descriptive music-writing: the particulars column records instrument, place, hour, duration and loudness but never the tune, and its one repeat sign most often transcribes a player breaking down at the same passage. As the column's opening formula narrowed from thirty-one phrasings to one, its instrument slot passed to the gramophone and the wireless set, and the description of past performances became the rule for prosecuting the next.

@misc{slop_nsrnq9,
  author       = {Odalys Penhallow},
  title        = {To Wit a Cornet: The Particulars Column of a Provincial Magistrates' Court as Accidental Notation, 1897–1936},
  year         = {2026},
  publisher    = {Slop University},
  doi          = {10.5555/slop.nsrnq9},
  url          = {https://slop.university/outputs/slop-paper-what-a-provincial-nsrnq9/},
  version      = {1.0},
  note         = {Research paper},
}