Merge pull request #733 from bwbohl/ftr/MEI-51-announcement

Create MEI 5.1 announcement

_posts/2025-01-23-MEI-51-released.md

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+---
+layout: post
+title:  "MEI 5.1 released"
+date:   2025-01-23 10:17:00
+categories: update
+---
+
+# MEI 5.1 Released
+
+We are thrilled to announce the official release of **MEI 5.1**!
+
+This update focuses primarily on maintenance and consistency improvements, with some notable enhancements:
+
+## Key Updates in MEI 5.1:
+
+### Enhancements to the Tablature Module
+One of the highlights is the full integration of support for German Lute Tablature (GLT).
+
+### Corrections to Guidelines
+The description of the `<optimize>` attribute in the `<scoreDef>` element has been corrected to clarify that empty staff lines will _not_ be displayed if the value is set to ‘true.’
+
+### Schema Improvements
+Introduction of `att.dataSelecting` and its addition to `symbolDef`, along with the inclusion of the value ‘unspecified’ for bracket spans.
+
+These improvements were made possible through the dedicated work of our community. A special “Thank you!” goes to [@musicog](https://github.com/musicog), [@maxrothman](https://github.com/maxrothman), and [@janjusolja](https://github.com/janjusolja), who made their first contributions and all [contributors](https://github.com/music-encoding/music-encoding/contributors) to MEI!
+
+The release managers for MEI 5.1 were the Technical Co-chairs [@bwbohl](https://github.com/bwbohl) and [@musicenfanthen](https://github.com/musicEnfanthen).
+
+## Looking Ahead to MEI 6:
+We are already looking forward to the next major release, MEI 6, and invite the community to actively participate in its planning and development. Your ideas and contributions are vital to the ongoing success of the project.
+
+## Additional Information
+For more details, including the full release notes and updated documentation, visit:
+
+- [MEI 5.1 Release Notes](https://github.com/music-encoding/music-encoding/releases/tag/v5.1)
+- [MEI Sample Encodings v5.1](https://github.com/music-encoding/sample-encodings/releases/tag/v5.1)
+ A collection of updated sample encodings demonstrating the features and improvements of MEI 5.1.
+- [MEI Encoding Tools v5.1](https://github.com/music-encoding/encoding-tools/releases/tag/v5.1)
+ Updated tools for working with MEI data, optimized for the latest schema.
+
+**Your MEI Technical Team**