This includes proofreading and correcting errors in submitted scores, and may include additional work in adjusting music arrangements, orchestrations, and even sometimes re-composing passages.
This includes working with documents which are sometimes centuries old, including both handwritten manuscripts and scores which were made by European engravers or early printing presses which do not conform to contemporary music notation and score formatting practices.
[2] One of the earliest known music editors was the Venetian Dominican friar Petrus Castellanus (1440–1552) who worked in that capacity for the publisher Ottaviano Petrucci in the first half of the 16th century.
[3] The Italian composer Francesco de Layolle was another early known music editor; working in that capacity for the Lyon, France based publisher Jacques Moderne.
Their job often involves hiring musicians, taking notes in recording sessions, making suggested cuts, and ultimately editing recorded material to fit the music to the film.