Musical notation: Difference between revisions
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Revision as of 23:50, 14 March 2007
Music notation or musical notation is any system which represents aurally perceived music through the use of written symbols. Diverse systems of music notation have been developed in various cultures.
Earliest notated music in cuneiform
In 1986, Anne Draffkorn Kilmer from the University of California at Berkeley published her analysis of a cuneiform tablet that was created at Nippur in about 2000 B.C. She explained that the tablet represents fragmentary instructions for performing music, that the music was composed in harmonies of thirds, and that it was written using a diatonic scale. [1] A tablet from about 1250 B.C. shows a more developed form of notation. [2] Although the interpretation of the notation system is still controversial, it is clear that the notation indicates the names of strings on a lyre, the tuning of which is described in other tablets [3]. Although they were fragmentary, these tablets represent the earliest recorded melodies found anywhere in the world. [4]
Ancient Greek musical notation
Ancient Greek musical notation was capable of representing pitch and note-duration, and to a limited extent, harmony. It was in use from at least the 6th century BC till approximately the 4th century AD; several complete compositions and fragments of compositions using this notation survive. The notation consists of symbols placed above text syllables. An example of a complete composition is the Seikilos epitaph, which has been variously dated between the 2nd century BC to the 1st century AD. Three hymns by Mesomedes of Crete exist in manuscript. The Delphic Hymns, dated to the 2nd century BC, also use this notation, but they are not completely preserved (see photograph). Ancient Greek notation appears to have fallen out of use around the time of the fall of the Roman Empire.
Western European musical notation
Early western notation
Scholar and music theorist Isidore of Seville, writing in the early 7th century, famously remarked that it was impossible to notate music. By the middle of the 9th century, however, a form of notation began to develop in monasteries in Europe for Gregorian chant, using symbols known as neumes; the earliest surviving musical notation of this type is in the Musica disciplina of Aurelian of Réôme, from about 850. There are scattered survivals from the Iberian peninsula before this time of a type of notation known as Visigothic neumes, but its few surviving fragments have not yet been deciphered.
The ancestors of modern symbolic music notation originated in the Roman Catholic Church, as monks developed methods to put plainchant (sacred songs) to paper. The earliest of these ancestral systems, from the 8th century, did not originally utilise a staff, and used neum (or neuma or pneuma), a system of dots and strokes that were placed above the text. Although capable of expressing considerable musical complexity, they could not exactly express pitch or time and served mainly as a reminder to one who already knew the tune, rather than a means by which one who had never heard the tune could sing it exactly at sight.
To address the issue of exact pitch, a staff was introduced consisting originally of a single horizontal line, but this was progressively extended until a system of four parallel, horizontal lines was standardised. The vertical positions of each mark on the staff indicated which pitch or pitches it represented (pitches were derived from a musical mode, or key). Although the 4-line staff has remained in use until the present day for plainchant, for other types of music, staffs with differing numbers of lines have been used at various times and places for various instruments. The modern 5-line staff was first adopted in France, and became almost universal by the 16th century (although the use of staffs with other numbers of lines was still widespread well into the 17th century).
Modal and mensural notation
Because the neum system arose from the need to notate songs, exact timing was initially not a particular issue as the music would generally follow the natural rhythms of the Latin language. However, by the 10th century a system of representing up to four note lengths had been developed. These lengths were relative rather than absolute, and depended on the duration of the neighbouring notes. It was not until the 14th century that something like the present system of fixed note lengths arose. Starting in the 15th century, vertical bar lines were used to divide the staff into sections. These did not initially divide the music into measures (bars) of equal length (as most music then featured far fewer regular rhythmic patterns than in later periods), but appear to have been introduced as an aid to the eye for "lining up" notes on different staves that were to be played or sung at the same time. The use of regular measures (bars) became commonplace by the end of the 17th century.
The founder of what is now considered the standard music stave was Guido d'Arezzo, an Italian Benedictine monk who lived from 995–1050 A.D. His revolutionary method—combining a 4 line stave with the first form of notes known as 'neumes'—was the precursor to the five line stave, which was introduced in the 14th century and is still in use today. Guido D'Arezzo's achievements paved the way for the modern form of written music, music books, and the modern concept of a composer.
Present day standard Western musical notation (which has been widely adopted by many non-Westerners) is based on a five-line staff. Pitch is shown by placement of notes on the staff (sometimes modified by accidentals), and duration is shown with different note values and additional symbols such as dots and ties.
Modern musical symbols
A staff generally begins with a clef, which indicates the particular range of pitches encompassed by the staff. Notes representing a pitch outside of the scope of the five line staff can be represented using leger lines, which provide a single note with additional lines and spaces.
Following the clef, the key signature on a staff indicates the key of the piece by specifying certain notes to be flat or sharp throughout the piece, unless otherwise indicated.
Following the key signature is the time signature. Measures (bars) divide the piece into regular groupings of beats , and the time signatures specifies those groupings.
Directions to the player regarding matters such as tempo and dynamics are added above or below the staff. For vocal music, lyrics are written.
Notation of percussion instruments
Percussion notation conventions are varied because of the wide range of percussion instruments. Percussion instruments are generally grouped into two categories: pitched and non-pitched. The notation of non-pitched percussion instruments is the more problematic and less standardized.
In music for ensembles, a score shows music for all players together, while parts contain only the music played by an individual musician. A score can be constructed (laboriously) from a complete set of parts and vice versa.
Musical notation of other cultures
Cipher notation
In many cultures, including Chinese (jianpu or gongche), Indonesian (kepatihan), and Indian (sargam), the "sheet music" consists primarily of the numbers, letters or native characters representing notes in order. Those different systems are collectively known as cipher notations. The numbered notation is an example, so are letter notation and solfege if written in musical sequence.
India
The Indian scholar and musical theorist Pingala (c. 200 B.C.), in his Chanda Sutra, used marks indicating long and short syllables to indicate meters in Sanskrit poetry.
In the notation of Indian raaga, a solfege-like system called sargam is used. As in Western solfege, there are names for the seven basic pitches of a major scale (Shadja, Rishabh, Gandhar, Madhyam, Pancham, Dhaivat and Nishad, usually shortened Sa Ri Ga ma Pa Dha Ni). The tonic of any scale is named Sa, and the dominant Pa. Sa is fixed in any scale, and Pa is fixed at a fifth above it (a Pythagorean fifth rather than an equal-tempered fifth). These two notes are known as achala swar ('fixed notes'). Each of the other five notes, Ri, Ga, ma, Dha and Ni, can take a 'regular' (shuddha) pitch, which is equivalent to its pitch in a standard major scale (thus, shuddha Ri, the second degree of the scale, is a whole-step higher than Sa), or an altered pitch, either a half-step above or half-step below the shuddha pitch. Ri, Ga, Dha and Ni all have altered partners that are a half-step lower (Komal-"flat") (thus, komal ri is a half-step higher than Sa). Ma has an altered partner that is a half-step higher (teevra-"sharp") (thus, tivra Ma is an augmented fourth above Sa). Ri, Ga, ma, Dha and Ni are called vikrut swar ('movable notes'). In the written system of Indian notation devised by Ravi Shankar, the pitches are represented by Western letters. Capital letters are used for the achala swar, and for the higher variety of all the vikrut swar. Lowercase letters are used for the lower variety of the vikrut swar.
Other systems exist for non-twelve-tone equal temperament and non-Western music, such as the Indian svar lippi.
Byzantium and Russia
In ancient Byzantium and Russia, sacred music was notated with special 'hooks and banners' (see znamennoe singing).
China
The earliest known examples of text referring to music in China are inscriptions on musical instruments found in the Tomb of Marquee Yi of Zeng (d. 433 B.C.E.). Sets of 41 chimestones and 65 bells bore lengthy inscriptions concerning pitches, scales, and transposition. The bells still sound the pitches that their inscriptions refer to. Although no notated musical compositions were found, the inscriptions indicate that the system was sufficiently advanced to allow for musical notation. Two systems of pitch nomenclature existed, one for relative pitch and one for absolute pitch. For relative pitch, a solmization system was used. [1]
The tablature of the guqin is unique and complex; the older form composed of written words describing how to play a melody step-by-step using the plain language of the time; the newer form composed of bits of Chinese characters put together to indicate the method of play. Rhythm is not indicated. Tablatures for the qin are collected in what is called qinpu.
The jianpu system of notation (an adaptation of a French Galin-Paris-Cheve system) had gained widespread acceptance by 1900 C.E. In this system, notes of the scale are numbered. For a typical Pentatonic Scale, the numbers 1,2,3,5,6 would be used. Dots above or below the notes would indicate a higher or lower octaves. Time values are indicated by dots and dashes following each number. Key signatures, barlines, and time signatures are also employed. The system also makes use of many symbols from the standard notation, such as bar lines, time signatures, accidentals, tie and slur, and the expression markings. In the present-day jiampu system, only the melody is notated. Harmonic and rhythmic elements are left to the discretion of the performers.
Japan
Japanese music is highly diversified, and therefore requires various systems of notatation. The most common is derived from Chinese theory of around AD 700, and is inseparable from other areas of knowledge, specifically, the elements, celestial bodies and the days of the week. In Japanese music, the following associations are the basis of pentatonic musical notation, usually expressed through Japanese characters, representing the elements:
Fire day = Tuesday = Mars = Note 5; Water day = Wednesday = Mercury = Note 6; Wood day = Thursday = Jupiter = Note 3; Gold/metal day = Friday = Venus = Note 2; Earth day = Saturday = Saturn = Note 1.
Source: Japanese character notation, [2]
In the Japanese shakuhachi music, glissandos and timbres are often more significant than distinct pitches. Information regarding notation may be found at Shakuhachi musical notation.
Java and Bali
Traditionally, the gamelan music of Java and Bali is not notated. It is unusual in that it divides the octave into various equal divisions other than the 12 semitones of Equal Temperament. Two scales are in common use: the Slendo, or equipentatonic scale, in which the octave is divided into five almost equal intervals, (5-edo). The notes of the Slendro scale are abbreviated forms of the Javanese names for the numbers 1, 2, 3, 5 and 6 (ji, ro, lu ma and nem). Slight deviations from an exact mathematical division of the octave into 5 equal parts occur, varying from region to region. A numeric system has been used since about 1900, but notates only the melody. Other parts are played either by memory or by improvization.
The other commonly used scale of Java and Bali is the Pelog, a seven-tone scale, with unequal divisions. Its note-names are also based on abrreviated forms of the Javanese names for the numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 (ji, ro, lu, pat, ma, nem and pi). These pitches appear to correspond to the division of the octave into nine equal parts (9-edo), 7 of which are used in any scale, but normally only 5 of these notes are used in any particular composition. The basic units are the "small step" (1.33 semitones), and the "large step" (2.67 semitones). A typical scale contains two "large steps". Again, a numerical system has been used since about 1900.
Traditionally, the music of Java and Bali is not notated. Notation began during the 19th century, based on a cipher system. Notation was not intended for the reading of music, but strictly for purposes of historic preservation. Only the Balungan part (melody) is notated, other parts performing without notation, either by memorization or improvisation. Various systems of notation have been devised for Gamelan music, but no single, standardized system has yet been realized.
Other musical notation systems and practices
Figured bass
Figured bass notation originated in baroque basso continuo parts. It is also used extensively in accordion notation. The bass notes of the music are conventionally notated, along with numbers and other signs which determine the chords to be played. It does not, however, specify the exact pitches of the harmony, leaving that for the performer to improvise.
Lead sheets
Fake books (such as the Real Books) use a notation similar to figured bass, but instead of providing the bass line, the melody is provided along with chord symbols. In addition, the key signature appears only on the first staff. Improvisation is implied and this system is used for jazz and popular music.
Solfege
Solfege is a way of assigning syllables to names of the musical scale. In order, they are today: Do, Re, Mi, Fa, Sol, La, Ti, and Do (for the octave). Another common variation is: Do, Re, Mi, Fa, So, La, Si, Do. These functional names of the musical notes were introduced by Guido of Arezzo (c.991 – after 1033) using the beginning syllables of the first six musical lines of the Latin hymn Ut queant laxis. The original sequence was Ut, Re, Mi, Fa, Sol, La. "Ut" later became "Do". See also: solfege, sargam, Kodály Hand Signs.
Letter notation
The notes of the 12-tone scale can be written by their letter names A-G, possibly with a trailing sharp or flat symbol, such as A♯ or B♭. This is the most common way of specifying a note in speech or in written text.
Tonic Sol-fa is a type of notation using the initial letters of solfege.
Tablature
Tablature was first used in the Renaissance for lute music. A staff is used, but instead of pitch values, the fret or frets to be fingered are written instead. Rhythm is written separately and durations are relative and indicated by horizontal space between notes. In later periods, lute and guitar music was written with standard notation. Tablature caught interest again in the late 20th century for popular guitar music and other fretted instruments, being easy to transcribe and share over the internet in ASCII format. Websites like OLGA.net have archives of text-based popular music tablature.
Klavar notation
Klavar notation (or "klavarskribo") is a chromatic system of notation geared mainly towards keyboard instruments, which inverts the usual "graph" of music. The pitches are indicated horizontally, with "staff" lines in twos and threes like the keyboard, and the sequence of music is read vertically from top to bottom. A considerable body of repertoire has been transcribed into Klavar notation. Klavar notation eliminates the need of accidentals and key signatures, and thus facilitates music-reading.
Systems based on 12-note non-equal temperament
Sometimes the pitches of music written in just intonation are notated with the frequency ratios, while Ben Johnston has devised a system for representing just intonation with traditional western notation and the addition of accidentals which indicate the cents a pitch is to be lowered or raised.
Alternative music notations using chromatic staves
Over the past three centuries, hundreds of music notation systems have been proposed as alternatives to traditional western music notation. Many of these notations seek to improve upon traditional notation by using a "chromatic staff" in which each of the 12 pitch classes has its own unique place on the staff. Examples are the Ailler-Brennink notation and John Keller's Express Stave. These notations do not require key signatures or accidentals.. They also represent interval relationships more consistently and accurately than traditional notation. The Music Notation Modernization Association has a website with information on many of these alternative notations.
Graphic notation
The term 'graphic notation' refers to the contemporary use of non-traditional symbols and text to convey information about the performance of a piece of music. It is used for experimental music, which in many cases is difficult to transcribe in standard notation. Practitioners include Christian Wolff, Earle Brown, John Cage, Morton Feldman, Krzysztof Penderecki, Cornelius Cardew, and Roger Reynolds. See Notations, edited by John Cage and Alison Knowles, ISBN 0-685-14864-5.
Shape note
The shape note system is found in some church hymnals, sheet music, and song books, especially in the American south. Instead of the customary elliptical note head, note heads of various shapes are used to show the position of the note on the major scale. Sacred Harp is one of the most popular tune books using shape notes.
Parsons code
Parsons code is used to encode music so that it can be easily searched. This style is designed to be used by individuals without any musical background.
Braille music
Braille music is a complete, well developed, and internationally accepted musical notation system that has symbols and notational conventions quite independent of print music notation. It is linear in nature, similar to a printed language and different from the two-dimensional nature of standard printed music notation. To a degree Braille music resembles musical markup languages such as XML for Music or NIFF. See Braille music.
Integer notation
In integer notation, or the integer model of pitch, all pitch classes and intervals between pitch classes are designated using the numbers 0 through 11. It is not used to notate music for performance, but is a common analytical and compositional tool when working with chromatic music, including twelve tone, serial, or otherwise atonal music.
Computer musical notation
Beside notations developed for human readers and performers, there are also many computer oriented representations of music designed to either be turned into conventional notation, or read directly by the computer.
There are a great many software programs designed to produce musical notation. These are called musical notation software, or sometimes Scorewriters. In addition to this software, there are many file formats used to store musical information that this software and other programs can convert into notation, sound, or into some other usable form. In a sense, these file formats are a "notation" for computers.
The most common musical file format is probably the MIDI file format, which stores pitch and timing information about music (as well as velocity, volume, pitch bend, and modulation) and can be used to control a MIDI instrument which will produce the specified sound.
There are also hybrid formats, such as ABC notation, Lilypond, and MusicXML that are text files that can be read and edited by a capable human, but can also be manipulated by the computer. One notable system is the NEUMES standard, which is being used to form a computerized catalog of Medieval plainchant that can be searched by melody, text, or any encoded aspect of the music. Similarly the Mutopia project maintains a library of scores available in such formats (though they are not searchable by content).
Finally there are notational forms that are not intended to be processed by computer, but are nonetheless commonly used to transmit information via computer, such as text file guitar tablature which has become extremely popular following the growth of the world wide web.
Perspectives of musical notation in composition and musical performance
According to Richard Middleton (1990, p.104-6), and also Philip Tagg (1979, p.28-32), musicology and to a degree European-influenced musical practice suffer from a 'notational centricity'; a methodology slanted by the characteristics of notation.
Notation-centric training induces particular forms of listening, and these then tend to be applied to all sorts of music, appropriately or not. Musicological methods tend to foreground those musical parameters which can be easily notated...they tend to neglect or have difficulty with widened parameters which are not easily notated. Examples include the unique vocal style of Joni Mitchell and the String Quartets of Elliott Sharp. Due to the limitations of conventional musical notation, many present-day composers of various genres prefer to compose music which is either not notated, or notated only through the computer language of digital recording.
A further perspective on musical notation is provided in the "Composer's Note" from "Brushed with Blue", Op. 55, by Fredrick Pritchard (pub. Effel Publications, 2002):
- "The written language of music is at once indispensable yet hopelessly inadequate in conveying every detail of a musical concept. While musical scores are static, music itself is a living art, and as such requires the freedom to change, not only from bar to bar but from day to day and from year to year, the elements of experience and spontaneity unleashing the various potentials of a given work. The composer therefore entrusts the performer as co-creator of his art."
Patents
In some countries, new musical notations can be patented. In the United States, for example, about 90 patents have been issued on new notation systems. The earliest patent, US 1383 was published in 1839.
See also
- Guido of Arezzo, inventor of modern musical notation
- Znamennoe singing
- List of musical topics
- Music theory
- Time unit box system, a notation system useful for polyrhythms
- Tongan music notation, a subset of standard music notation
- Eye movement in music reading
Notes
References
- Middleton, Richard (1990/2002). Studying Popular Music. Philadelphia: Open University Press. ISBN 0-335-15275-9.
- Tagg, Philip (1979). Cited in Middleton, Richard (1990/2002). Studying Popular Music. Philadelphia: Open University Press. ISBN 0-335-15275-9.
- Albrecht Schneider: Music, sound, language, writing. Transcription and notation in comparative musicology and music ethnology, in: Zeitschrift für Semiotik, 1987, Volume: 9, Number: 3-4.
- Kilmer, Anne Draffkorn, 'The Strings of Musical Instruments: their Names, Numbers, and Significance', Studies in Honor of Benno Landsberger = Assyriological Studies, xvi (1965), 261-8
- Kilmer, Anne Draffkorn, Journal of Cuneiform Studies, xxxviii (1986), 94-98
- West, M. L., 'The Babylonian Musical Notation and the Hurrian Melodic Texts', Music & Letters, Vol. 75, No. 2. (May, 1994), pp. 161-179
Further reading
- Hall, Rachael (2005). Math for Poets and Drummers. Saint Joseph's University.
- Stone, Kurt (1980). Music Notation in the Twentieth Century: A Practical Guidebook. W. W. Norton & Company
External links
- Contains a Guide to Byzantine Music Notation (neumes)
- Tonalsoft Encyclopaedia of Tuning
- On-line activity that counts musical notes!
- Musical notation links
- Glossary of US and British English musical terms
- A collection of interactive lessons and trainers that can be downloaded for offline use
- Extremes in Conventional Musical Notation
- Information on Stanford University Course on music representation. Links page shows examples of different notations
- Abstracts on Musical Notation from Zeitschrift für Semiotik
- Collection of lessons covering Rhythmic Musical Notation for drummers
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