When I first created choral stuff with Finale, default text was narrow, what is useful, but also looks horrid (according to my personal taste, of course), so I tried Times Roman first, but have been stuck after a while with Calisto. No idea why Calisto became my top favourite.
Switching to Dorico I pretty like Academico, and it is also easy to find on the list , so I’m okay with it using as plain text. But after a few weeks of trying I returned to Calisto for lyrics. But I’m open to learn anything what makes my scores more aesthetic:)
Have a look at Sebastian from @benwiggy. It comes with Dorico by default. There are also several great fonts from @NorFonts that look like old classical editions, like old French Durand, etc., if that’s to your liking. Personally, I think these are more associated with piano music and might look out of place in a hymn book. But again, it’s a matter of personal taste.
Nothing wrong with Times, the house font of Universal Edition, and many other publishers. Made in 1932, so it is soon 100 years old and still working fine. I use Times. The Swedish hymn book of 1986 used the Swedish font family Berling
For reading on paper, it is recommended to use a serif font. Some publishers use sans serif today. Breitkopf seems to have turned to sans serif for covers and preface as of late but still seems to use a serif font family for lyrics, e.g.
It’s a shame we started this conversation only now. I need to give to friends for proof reading this staff tonight before leaving for London for a few days, and will be printed soon as Lent is here soon. I might change loads of things but time will be too short. Anyway, many thanks all the info you shared and taking time to do that:)
I really like the Swedish book, not sure though how it worked for my book specifically.
Anyway, bed time, need to wake up in 2 hours and heading to the airport:)
, so I’m okay with it using as plain text. But after a few weeks of trying I returned to Calisto for lyrics. But I’m open to learn anything what makes my scores more aesthetic:)