 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: allencole
Date: 2003-09-15 03:14
A student gave me a piece of music last year, which was notated using numbered scale degrees. It may have been produced using a word processor font suitable for math formulas. I suspect that it was chinese in origin. This system had the following features
Notes were expressed as numerals, with a stand-alone numeral representing a quarter note, and with horizontal lines above the note indicating flags for 8th, 16th & 32nd. The number represented which degree of the major scale this note was. These lines could be used to beam the notes in patterns much like we do. Dotted values were indicated by a dot following the number--looking much like a dot that would be used for multiplication in a math problem. Notes with two or more full beats had a dash added for each additional beat. The note value of zero indicated a rest and could be beamed or dotted like regular notes.
The Key signature for this piece was "1 = F" placed at the upper left corner of the page. The numerals which represented the notes could only represent an octave by themselves, but a dot could be centered either above or below the numeral to indicate that the note was to be sounded in an octave above or below the starting point. There are vertical lines available to separate measures, and first/second endings can also be accommodated.
I am not aware of being able to draw horizontal lines above characters, draw dots above or below characters, or place dots after numbers in a fashion that mimics the vertical placement of dots used as multiplication symbols.
I would interested in knowing anything about this system of notation, and how/if it can be produced on a computer. I know that you can buy fonts for the Nashville Number System, but this setup seems a little more complicated.
Can anyone identify this system, or help otherwise?
Allen Cole
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Author: msroboto
Date: 2003-09-15 03:21
Could you scan a little bit of it into the computer (just a line or two might be useful) and post that file here?
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Author: Maarten
Date: 2003-09-15 11:35
The piece might have been written in Tex or a variant thereof. This is a typesetting system often used to create scientific (mathematical) papers and books. It is possible to create customized fonts and typographic definitions, which was probably done is this case (and requires thorough kowledge of the software). After this, it would in fact be quite easy to produce such sheets as you are describing by typing in the appropriate definitions for notes and other symbols. This might explain more: http://www.tug.org/
Was it actually easy to learn to read the music typed in this way? To me, it seems it would require a bit harder work to read the numbers as opposed to the usual dots on lines.
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Author: John J. Moses
Date: 2003-09-15 13:24
FYI
Henri Pousseur wrote a contemporary piece for solo clarinet in the early 1960s. The piece was titled "Madrigal," and I performed it on tour in the US, it was liked by audiences, so Henri enlarged it for the "Berio Chamber Ensemble," and we performed "Madrigal III" in Spoleto.
The piece was originally written in his "new" notation system similar to what you describe. Take a look a Pousseur's work and see if it's similar to your "mystery" notation. It might have been used as a model for the piece you have.
Good luck,
JJM
Légère Artist
Clark W. Fobes Artist
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Author: William
Date: 2003-09-15 14:31
Can you imagine having to read the orchestral score of a Mahler symphony expressed in this notation?? A "sight" conductor's nightmare, for me anyhow. I vote for "traditional notation" (so, at least, this *ole dog* won't have to learn any more new tricks)
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Author: allencole
Date: 2003-09-15 15:27
BINGO, Mervin. I followed your link and it contains almost exactly what I saw.
Two differences: First, my piece had no sharps for flats, so I didn't know how that would be handled. Second, my piece didn't use underscores for flags and beams, it used overhead lines--however this system was identical in the usage of those lines and would be much more friendly to a world processor.
Maarten,
It was not difficult to play this way once I figured out the system, but it was more difficult than in normal notation. It is easier to transpose, though, because the numbers represent scale degrees and aren't as distracting to read as a literal note. I also enjoy showing it to students as practical example of some of our lesson activities.
I like the system very much because it handles melodies so well. The Nashville Number System, to my knowledge, is too chord-oriented to handle that function.
The piece that I had, incidentally, turned out to be something which Kenny G. recorded as "Jasmine Flower Song." It did not have a time signature, and there were a few measures that had something other than four beats. I don't know whether this was the nature of the song, or an error on the part of the person who typed it.
Anyway, thanks much. That link is exactly what I was looking for. I had no luck on Google, so thank heaven for you guys!
Allen Cole
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