A rastrum () or rastraal is a five-pointed

writing implement A writing implement or writing instrument is an object used to produce writing. Writing consists of different figures, lines, and or forms. Most of these items can be also used for other functions such as painting, drawing and technical drawing, ...

used in

music manuscript Music manuscripts are handwritten sources of music. Generally speaking, they can be written on paper or parchment. If the manuscript contains the composer's handwriting it is called an autograph. Music manuscripts can contain musical notation a ...

s to draw parallel

staff Staff may refer to: Pole * Walking staff, an instrument used for balance when walking * Staff, a weapon used in stick-fighting ** Quarterstaff, a European pole weapon * Staff of office, a pole that indicates a position * Staff (railway signalling) ...

lines when drawn horizontally across a blank piece of

sheet music Sheet music is a handwritten or printed form of musical notation that uses musical symbols to indicate the pitches, rhythms, or chords of a song or instrumental musical piece. Like its analogs – printed Book, books or Pamphlet, pamphlets ...

. The word "raster" is derived from the Latin for "rake". Rastra were used to draw lines on

paper Paper is a thin sheet material produced by mechanically or chemically processing cellulose fibres derived from wood, Textile, rags, poaceae, grasses, Feces#Other uses, herbivore dung, or other vegetable sources in water. Once the water is dra ...

that had not been pre-ruled, and were widely used in Europe until printed

staff paper Manuscript paper (sometimes staff paper in U.S. English, or just music paper) is paper preprinted with staves ready for musical notation. A manuscript is made up of lines and spaces, and these lines and space have their names depending on the st ...

became cheap and common in the nineteenth century. Some rastra are able to draw more than one staff at a time. Rastrology, the study of the use of the rastrum, is a branch of music

manuscript A manuscript (abbreviated MS for singular and MSS for plural) was, traditionally, any document written by hand or typewritten, as opposed to mechanically printed or reproduced in some indirect or automated way. More recently, the term has ...

studies that uses information about the rastrum to help find the date and provenance of musical materials.

Modern variants

In recent years, rastra made of five ballpoint

pen PEN may refer to: * (National Ecological Party), former name of the Brazilian political party Patriota (PATRI) * PEN International, a worldwide association of writers ** English PEN, the founding centre of PEN International ** PEN America, located ...

s have been marketed to students and composers. It was common in primary and secondary schools to use rastra that use chalk on a chalk board for music education. They may be called staff liners. An alternative is to use a chalk board with staff lines etched in or taped on. Some rastra hold markers for use on

whiteboards A whiteboard (also known as marker board, dry-erase board, dry-wipe board, and pen-board) is a glossy, usually white surface for making non-permanent markings. Whiteboards are analogous to blackboard A blackboard or a chalkboard is a reu ...

. Another variant is the so-called "Stravigor", a wheeled instrument that

Stravinsky Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky ( – 6 April 1971) was a Russian composer and conductor with French citizenship (from 1934) and American citizenship (from 1945). He is widely considered one of the most important and influential composers of ...

attempted to patent around 1911. He used them extensively in his compositional sketchbooks.

Modern variants

References

Further reading