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# INTRODUCTION

The music publisher program called "Mup" takes a text file describing music as input, and generates PostScript* output for printing that music. After being available as shareware for 17 years, as of version 6.1, it is now available as free, open-source software. The input file can be created using your favorite text editor, or with the help of the companion Mupmate program, or generated from any other source, such as another program. The input must be written in a special language designed especially for describing music. The majority of the Mup User's Guide is the explanation of this language and how to use it.

Mup has the power to print almost any kind of music, everything from a single melody line to full orchestral or choral scores complete with tempo and dynamic marks. In addition to standard 5-line staffs, it can handle 1-line staffs (typically used for percussion), and tablature notation (typically used for guitar). Because Mup can do so much, it takes a while to master its entire language. However, it has built-in default values for many things, so that you can start using it for simple songs after learning just the basics, then learn the more complicated features as you need them. Mup also has an option to produce output in the standard Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI) format.

* PostScript is a trademark of Adobe Systems Incorporated

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