Rethinking Traditional Notation
July 18th, 2006 by mabramo
The musical background and experience of most music educators is in the traditions, history, theory and performance of Western “art” music. The use of traditional music notation, which dominates this canon, often goes unquestioned as we set out to develop goals, curriculum, standards and pedagogies. As Jen H posted in her use of the box method, a form of graphic notation, there are many alternatives to the traditional notation system that is often a stumbling block for young students. Where traditional notation has its place, and purpose for young students - particularly those studying the Western canon - that music is only a small part of what exists in our wider society.
Exploring other forms of music notation, and asking students to create their own notation, can deepen their understanding of the role of notation, and help them construct personal meaning and connections in relation to music notation across various genres and cultures. Clive Jonathan Grogono created software to translate NotaBene notation into traditional notation. In Remix Magazine Robin Smith discusses notation systems for turntables and scratch DJing. The Block Museum of Art at Northwestern University has a fantastic site called Pictures of Music that explores nontraditional notation in Western “art” music.
I might go as far to say that most students don’t even need to learn traditional music notation to experience music, unless their particular interests create a need for it. With advances in technology, students can create, record, and produce their own music without a bit of traditional notation training. Any other thoughts on this issue? Should we be rethinking the role of traditional notation in our classrooms?
Last year I did an interdisciplinary project with Algebra asking “What does a linear equation sound like?” the Algebra class began by drawing two intersecting lines and figuring out what the corresponding equation would be. (it was 1B, remedial algebra with pretty unmotivated students). My Jazz band studied alternative notation,and we came up with the idea of using the x axis for duration and the y axis for pitch. Using the solution set for the equation, we made a matrix and utilized the whole tone scale to eliminate key signature complications. The result was two musical melodies that intersected in the same place the lines intersected. You should have seen their faces when the “heard” a math problem! For our final performance we wrote a tune based on the melodies and tonality generated as a “head tune” and my students improvised over the changes using notes from the solution set. It was called “Linear Earquations”- I have the video of the performance- it was wonderful and the student’s loved it! Contact me if you’d like more information.
Due to my interest in music literacy, over the years I have met countless people who have told me that they have invented a new notation. Several were so sure that their ideas would be purloined that they would not divulge their findings, and two or three have departed from this mortal coil without revealing their secret.
I must admit that in my youth I thought that I had found the true notation, but over the years I have come to respect our western way of notating music.
I think the reason for this is that it wasn’t designed by one person, but has evolved naturally. I am constantly in awe of its power, because with this notation we can compose any type of music, from simple folk songs to vast orchestral works - music for hundreds of different instruments, major, minor, pentatonic, whole tone, modes, we can move from one tonality to another by means of meandering from key to key.
So why are so many people trying to find a different way of notating and why are our children musically illiterate? Again, I have talked to many intelligent adults who have bemoaned the fact that they do not understand the theory of music and cannot read the notation. So, what is the problem?
I personally think that it is the way that music is put over at school. This has been done in the same way for the last two hundred years or so. Even the teachers who teach it do not truly understand certain aspects, such as time signatures. This is because they call a certain little note a ‘crotchet’ and then say a ‘crochet’ is a ‘one-beat note’. A complete distortion of the truth which leads to pupils to become totally bewildered because, if it is a ‘one-beat note’, what happens in 3/2 time, or 6/8 time, etc??? Only in 4/4, 3/4 and 2/4 is it a one-beat note. Of course, our American friends think we are crazy to call the notes by these archaic names, and I think they are, because if we call them by the fractional names it stands to reason that 3/8 means that the music adds up to 3 eighth notes in a bar, 4/2 – adds up to 4 half notes in a bar, and so on.
But this is only one aspect where I feel we show muddled thinking.
When I was a very little girl we had a brass fender where there were screws with ‘rosebud’ heads. I found that if I tore a piece of paper in a rough circular shape and put rings of colour on this paper, by taking out a screw, pushing it through the centre of the paper and spinning it on its ‘rosebud’ head, the colours mixed and merged into other colours. The red and yellow would turn to orange, and the blue and red to purple. I would also sit under our ancient Broadwood grand, where the strings were visible, and pluck the strings, realising that when you played two different sets, another sound was produced.
Again I had another game whereby I used tennis balls on our circular lawn and pretended each ball was a different note and I found that by jumping over to every other ball I could form chords.
Later on in life I realised that I had hit upon a truth, for as so often happens with the innocence of youth, one is not driven by convention. And so I found that if we put the scale into a circle a great deal could be revealed, such as all the major chords, and by going the opposite way, their relative minors. I also found that by graphing music out in the round, taking into consideration tones and semi-tones, whole notes and pitch, the true pattern of that particular piece of music was revealed.
There are many other aspects to my way of teaching, but with only a few simple moves children at the age of 7 and 8 (and even younger) are capable of composing meaningful compositions in ternary form, in various keys, using major and minor chords, the 4 cadences and passing notes. All this is done with real understanding, and not just the clever children – I have children in my classes who are autistic, dyslexic or who have other problems, but visiting observers cannot identify these individual children.
This material has been specially devised for the classroom teacher, who does not necessarily have to play any instrument other than pitched percussion, hand chimes, etc. It also integrates into other subjects, such as writing and mathematics. Colours and patterns are used at all stages and the children find it intriguing and engaging. Progress is therefore rapid. If you want to see this in action, look at www.tobinmusic.co.uk
Happy child, happy teacher.
Candida Tobin Hon FTCL LTCL
[…] Here’s a music education blog I will follow with interest though. This particular post is discussing how traditional notation fits in with contemporary music education. I’m still up for trad notation, though extended to suit popular music. I’m currently exploring songtrellis.com as a useful tool in learning about chord qualities and chord sequences. The site author has already been immensely supportive in discussions about using the tool for learners. I’ve been looking for something like this for a while - a web app that allows you to create music online, with the results displayed both as notation and sound (midi). […]
Gentlepersons,
Music education suffers from a user interface problem. Its two primary user interfaces — traditional notation and instruments — involve the display and control of pitches, while music theory happens at the higher level of intervals and the relationships among them.
If the display of musical information could be abstracted to the level of interval, with this abstraction tied to the concrete geometry of an isomorphic keyboard (on which any given interval has the “same shape” within and across keys), then music might become much easier to teach, learn, and play.
Or, at least, that’s what a lot of other music educators are telling me. You can explore these ideas for yourself here: http://www.thummer.com/blog/2007/09/thummusic-system.html
Almost everyone attempts to learn to play a musical instrumet at some point in their lives — often more than once. Yet only 4% of the US population plays a musical instrument monthly (7-9% annually), and a high proportion of these cannot read music. Hundreds of alternative music notations have been proposed over the centuries, but only one — guitar tablature — has succeeded in gaining widespread use. Why did tab succeed? Because it made a common musical interface — the guitar fretboard — easier to learn. The notaton proposed above makes it easier to teach, learn, and play music using a standard computer keyboard (and/or the expressive Thummer instrument, www.thummer.com). It is expected to augment, not replace, traditional notation.
I would welcome your comments.
Jim Plamondon
CEO, Thumtronics Inc
Austin, TX
Persian - The facts every owner of this cat breed should know…
The origins of the Persian cat are murky, at best. Some claim that the Persian is descended from the Sand cat, but this cannot be proven….