Notation Must Die: The Battle For How We Read Music

Many people feel that western notation makes it unnecessarily hard to read music. If we want to sight read, learn music theory or just practice an instrument, surely there’s a better way? Right? This has been a hot topic for almost 1000 years... AND I PUT IT TO BED RIGHT HERE! Support me on Patreon: View my content on Nebula: Tweet my Twitteriness: Come visit our Discord: Subtitles by Pentameron ---------- CHAPTERS ---------- 00:00 - Setting the stage 09:26 - Notation must die INTRO! 15:12 - Ancient Greek notation 19:40 - The history of western notation 31:57 - Chromatic staves 36:15 - The piano roll 42:54 - Clefs (and resistance to change) 44:42 - Muto method 46:45 - Notation & the aristocracy 48:25 - Tablature 51:40 - Guitar Hero 52:51 - Klavarskribo 54:08 - Other types of keyboard notation 55:47 - Musitude! 1:01:18 - Dodeca 1:03:01 - Accessibility 1:04:31 - Farbige Noten 1:06:49 - Jullian Carrillo’s system 1:08:26 - The best of the rest 1:11:52 - Where can we go from here? ---------- BIBLIOGRAPHY ---------- BOOKS Julian Carrillo: Sistema General de Escritura Musical (Mexico City: Ediciones Sonidos 13, 1895) Charles Francis Abdy Williams: The Story of Notation (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1903) Willi Apel: The Notation of Polyphonic Music, 900-1600 (The Mediaeval Academy of America, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1953) Gardner Read: Source Book of Proposed Music Notation Reforms (Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, 1987) ARTICLES AND BLOGS A timeline of music notation - Jon Silpayamanant (this is a wonderful resource with circa 900 notation systems covered) Adémar de Chabannes, Carolingian Musical Practices, and Nota Romana - James Grier - Journal of the American Musicological Society, Vol. 56, No. 1, pp. 43-98. - University of California Press Musical Clefs and their Abolition, T. L. Southgate - The Musical Times and Singing Class Circular, Vol. 30, No. 559 (Sep. 1, 1889) Cross eyed pianist on the topic of notation being ‘elitist’. The Muto Method Proposed redesign of piano sheet music Musitude The Modes of Ancient Greek Music VIDEOS Reconstruction of Greek music, led by Professor Armand D’Angour Offertorium: Jubilate Deo universa terra An introduction to mensural notation OTHER LINKS Daseian notation Style similar to Nonantolian notation Mensural notation wikipedia page (which is very good) Database of high-res scans of early Christian music Mensural notation scan: Missae partes decantari solitae: Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus et Agnus Dei cum notis musicalibus Mouth pictogram imagery by #query=mouth speaking&position=0&from_view=keyword&track=ais