Graphic notation

Graphic notation is a type of music notation that uses other symbols and texts (sometimes also colors) in addition to or instead of the conventional elements of musical notation to describe the performance of a piece of music. It has been used in experimental and avant-garde music since the 20th century , where traditional notation is insufficient to convey the content and spontaneity of a musical idea.

Here are some common symbols for rhythmic phenomena:

	Line or dot as a symbol of the duration of the sound
	Distances of the tone sequence according to the optical picture
	getting faster
	slowing down
	irregular tone sequence
	short fermata
	long fermata

Composers who use graphic notation may include a .:

• Christian Wolff
• Earle Brown
• Sylvano Bussotti
• John Cage
• Morton Feldman
• Roman Haubenstock-Ramati
• Anestis Logothetis
• Roger Reynolds
• Leon Schidlowsky
• Karlheinz Stockhausen
• Friedrich Goldmann
• Cristóbal Halffter
• Luciano Berio
• Helmut W. Erdmann
• Anthony Braxton

See also

• Notation (music)
• Music graphics
• Action document

literature

• David Schidlowsky (Ed.): Musical graphics - graphic music. Leon Schidlowsky . Wissenschaftlicher Verlag Berlin, Berlin 2011, ISBN 978-3-86573-620-8 .
• Karlheinz Stockhausen : Music and Graphics . In: Darmstadt Contributions to New Music III , Schott (Mainz 1960)
• John Cage, A. Knowles: Notations . Reprint Services Corp., 1973, ISBN 978-0-685-14864-8
• Theodor Göllner (Ed.): Notation and performance . Symposium for the annual meeting of the Society for Music Research 1977 in Munich. Hans SchneiderVerlag, Tutzing 1980. Part of a series: Munich Publications on Music History , Volume 30.
• Erhard Karkoschka: The typeface of new music . 4th edition. Moeck, 1991, ISBN 978-3-87549-002-2