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@JeffreyBenjaminBrown
Last active January 29, 2019 06:10
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A dense music notation

todo - briefer representation of rhythmic repetition

pitch

horizontal lines|spaces = clusters of 3 chromatic steps

Any two lines or spaces congrent mod 2 represent the same three notes, modulo octave. Lines|spaces congrunet to 0 mod 4 are darker, to clarify the two-octave relationship.

vertical lines = centers of contemporaneity

For each group of simultaneous notes, a thin vertical line is drawn. Notes can be placed on that line, or immediately left or right of it.

pitch depends on horizontal and vertical position

Given any two adjacent, vertically aligned notes, the higher on the page is 3 chromatic steps higher in frequency. Given any two contemporaneous, adjacent, horizontally aligned notes, the farther right on the page is 1 chromatic step higher.

“the root” and even “the scale” is announced as text

Scale announcements are nonbinding; if the notation indicates something else, the notation wins. Root announcements are binding. The root is at every intersection of a contemporaneous vertical with a dark horizontal.

note shape depends on horizontal and vertical position

Notes on intersections are small squares. Notes on vertical lines are Xs. Notes on horizontal lines, right of the contemporaneous vertical, look like <. Left of the vertical, they look like >. Notes not on lines are dots.

duration

the empty contemporaneous vertical can appear anywhere

It can be useful to indicate that a group of notes has ended.

dark verticals indicate the meter

Notes can be drawn around the meter verticals just like other verticals.

repurpose the classical slur

If cluster X sounds until cluster Y, what looks like a classical slur is drawn from X to Y. If cluster X is composed of two subgroups X1 and X2, and only X1 sounds until Y, a circle around X2 indicates that. Circles can be drawn around the notes at the end of a slur, just like at the beginning of a slur, as needed.

numbers on a slur

counting is zero-indexed, not 1-indexed

the idea: slurs and numbers

Suppose the meter consists of A beats per bar, with each beat divided into B parts, and each of them into C, then D, etc. The expression “a.b.c.d” over a slur indicates that the slur represents the passage of a beats (that is, a/A of a bar), b Bths of a beat, c Cths of a Bth of a beat, etc.

Example: if a slur represents a beat plus a quarter of a beat, and A=B=C=2, then the number over it would be “1.0.1”.

omitt decimal points

If any two adjacent time divisions (e.g. A and B, or B and C, etc.) are both less than ten, the decimal between them may be omitted.

write the numbers vertically

(To conserve space, and allow the numbers to be huge.) The first number, representing the biggest metric division, is closest to the slur. The rest follow. Each could occupy two spaces, if readability demanded it.

divide slurs

A slur that crosses a metric vertical can be divided in two for clarity, and the duration omitted from the first of those two. If it crosses two, it could be divided into three. If it starts at one (metric, dark) vertical and ends on another, the slur need not be drawn at all.

slur across many bars

If a slur crosses many metric verticals, only the first and last metric vertical needs to be drawn. A slur should be drawn between them (not crossing either), and a number followed by two decimal points drawn over it.

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