I wrote this in my notebook on the train on Thursday. Thought I'd just put it on here for safekeeping:

• How much information to encode?
  • Consider that text from a manuscript is encoded using normal ASCII characters and therefore information about the original glyph is lost. Does this matter? How important are the variations of forms of the letter 'a'?
  • One method of preserving the glyphs/graphical information may be to store a facsimile of the MS and encode the position on the MS where elements came frame; this is then a hybrid visual/semantic encoding.
• Encoding decisions based on the nature of the information to encode
  • Examining the nature of musical notations is a very important part of the work; a comprehensive understanding is necessary for any further decisions.
  • This is why I was thinking about tied notes: what is the nature of the notation when a note is tied? Is it more important that the pitch lasts for a particular duration, or that there are two symbols which have a tie mark between them? In some repsects its only a restriction of post C18th Western music.