Introduction to Notation Systems

This lesson is part of the Fundamentals of Sound & Music module.

Objectives

• Student will be able to critically assess the difference between an aural cue and its visual representation
• Student will learn the definitions of etic vs. emic; prescriptive vs. descriptive notations
• Student will be able to identify the emic/etic and descriptive/prescriptive aspects of various notations
• Student will assess the functionality of different notation system(s) according to specific goals (i.e. performativity vs. representation)
• Student will be familiar with various notation systems and the main sonic aspect they annotate, notably: guitar tablature, lead sheet notation, braille music notation, and electronic notation formats such as DAW diagrams, MIDI 1.0 and MusicXML files.

Resources

Readings

Notation Explained

• Handout on Prescriptive/Descriptive and Etic/Emic notations
• Granade, "Cracking the Code: What Notation Can Tell Us About Our Musical Values" (Open Access Musicology, forthcoming)
• Rowbury, From the Front of the Choir Blog:
  • "Music Notation: What is it good for and why does it matter?"
  • "The song is not the sheet music!"
  • "Using sheet music to teach and learn songs: the Pros and Cons"
• Global Notation: "Specifying the information you want."
  

Histories of Western Notations

• Bennett, "How was musical notation invented? A brief history."
• Williams, "The evolution of music notation."

Individual Notation Types

• Western notations through history
  • Chant Notation(s)
  • Rhythmic Modes
  • Shaffer, Open Music Theory: Protonotation
  • Figured Bass Notation
  • Fasola: Sacred Harp Shape Note Singing
  • Drum Book: Drum Notation
  • Hall, "The Art of Visualizing Music."
• Common popular music notations
  • Jazz Guitar Online: How to read jazz chords and lead sheets.
  • How Music Works: Slash Chord Notation
  • Guitar Thinker: Nashville Number System.
• Tablatures (historical and worldwide):
  • Music Notes Now Blog: "Guitar Tab Explained."
  • Chinese Gugin
• Other World Musics
  • Wikipedia: Epitaph of Seikilos
  • Javanese Gamelan Cipher Notation
  • Wikipedia: Chinese Gongche Notation
  • Locke, "Yewevu in the Metric Matrix"
  • Sadhana, Demystifying Hindustani Classical Music: "Notating Indian Classical Music."
• Various modalities
  • Braille notation
  • MIDI signals
  • XML (or other computer-coded notations)
  • DAW visualizations
  • Wikipedia: Dance notation

Instructor References

• Alvarez-Pereyre and Arom, "Ethnomusicology and the Emic/Etic Issue." (The World of Music 35.1: 7-33, 1993)
• Bauman, "Listening as an Emic/Etic Process in the Context of Observation and Inquiry." (The World of Music 35.1: 34-62, 1993).
• Chang, Chinese Gugin Playing and Notation
• Seeger, "Prescriptive and Descriptive Music-Writing." (The Musical Quarterly 44.2: 184-195, 1958)
• Sumarsam, "Introduction to Gamelan"
• Ultimate Guitar Tabs
• Jazz Studies Chord Charts Database

Tools

• MIDI Monitor (Software; Mac only)
• MIDIOX (Software; Windows only)
• Audacity (Software)
• Braille Music Notator

Class Activities

• Discussion and demonstration of different notation systems and their individual purposes, strengths and weaknesses
• Transcription of a simple melody in guitar tablature (given fretboard diagrams) and braille music notation
• Demonstration of the creation of various electronic notation formats
• Demonstration of MIDI signals using MIDI monitor software
• Listening and "quick" transcription of musical examples: compare to score and discuss differences based on notation's function.
• In-class interpretation of various notations on different instruments.
• If you have a Javanese gamelan: Have students perform from gamelan notation and illustrate non-written practices

Assignments

• Notating short melodies in different notation systems
• Transcription assignment: ask students to transcribe examples from various musical traditions with different aims and/or given different parameters (i.e. "notate the pitch parameter.")