Editorial policy

What gets filed

An entry is filed when it answers a question a reader would bring to the music: what a work asks for, how an ensemble prepares it, how a teacher makes an idea usable, or how a text stands behind a sound. Entries are written for readers rather than for specialists, and plain words are used wherever a plain word is exact.

How sources are named

Every entry names the material it rests on, with the addresses a reader can open. Where a fact comes from an archived page, the entry gives the archive and the year. Where the desk reached a reading of its own, the entry shows the reading so that a reader can follow it or disagree with it.

How dates are kept

Each entry carries the date it was filed. The date is changed when the entry is revised and a source has moved. A date attached to an event, a work or a recording is written only when a document supports it, and the entry says which document that is.

Corrections

A correction is welcome when it names the entry, the line and the source. The desk checks it against the material the entry used, and against a second source where one exists. When the reading changes, the entry is rewritten, the new date is set, and the change stays visible in the file.