Perhaps the best way to combine text and music for serious publishing is to use GNU LilyPond. There is a lot of music on the Web in LilyPond format already and LilyPond will handle anything from the simplest whistle or fiddle melody to large orchestral scores. It includes a book capability that lets you typeset a complete book if you wish and include lines or pages of engraved music as you choose.

GNU LilyPond makes use of TeX and MusixTeX for typesetting so the output will be in standard formats such as device independent (DVI) files, PostScript or even PDF. All of the TeX stuff is included with a full installation of Cygwin, a UNIX compatibility layer for Windows. This is a handy way to get it all installed since the Cygwin installation procedure takes care of most of the configuration details.

Naturally all of the software I’ve referenced is free but don’t let that scare you. These tools are some of best and most professional publishing tools available anywhere. There is a strong TeX Users Group (TUG) to help answer questions and the Comprehensive TeX Archive Network (CTAN) when you need to find tools or special drivers. All in all, GNU LilyPond and TeX enjoy worldwide support that exceeds most commercial publishing systems.

      - Mark