Kurt Stone - New Notation for New Music II

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MENC: The National Association for Music Education

New Notation for New Music, Part 2Author(s): Kurt StoneReviewed work(s):Source: Music Educators Journal, Vol. 63, No. 3 (Nov., 1976), pp. 54-61Published by: Sage Publications, Inc. on behalf of MENC: The National Association for Music Education

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NewMusic,Part2

Thesamplenotation bove s from TheMaze" byLarryAustin.OURCE:Music f heAvant arde,Vol.1,p. 21,1967 @ 1967. Used bypermission.

Kurttone

The author,who has been a teacher, ecturer, nd writer

on music, as well as a long-time ditorand publisherofmusic, s director fthe ndexofNewMusical Notation.

Copyright@ 1976 byKurtStone

54 mej/nov76



Thissecond and final rticle nnew musicnotationwill dealwith omegeneral s wellas a numberof specific nnovationsn thefieldof instrumentalmusic. As in the firstpart,however, herecommended otationalsignswill be preceded ya glimpse ntothemaddeningmultitude f inventions evisedfor hesolution f ustonesingleproblem,nthis ase,quarter-toneotation.

There rethree olutions otheproblem fnotatinguarter-tones:1) a wider taffmorestafflines,ossibly pacedapartunequally) oprovideforquarter-toneubdivisionswithin

the taff;2) differentlyhapednoteheads;nd(3) differentlyhapedaccidentals.The first fthesesolutions s actually he

mostogicalbecause t iterallyubdivides heoctavemicrotonally,nstead foperating ithbasic pitches hat re madeto sound a littlehigher r lower.Evenso,none of thewider-staffystemshave ever gone beyondtheo-retical roposals.

Neitherhave the differentlyhapednote-heads.

Nearlyeveryone ses the thirdmethod--accidentals.Butthere s no agreements towhichof themanyproposednewaccidentals

shouldbe usedtosignifyuarter-tones.hereare womajor pproaches:daptationsf radi-tional ccidentals, rcompletely ewshapes.Adaptations re preferredy a majority fcomposers.Amongthe adaptations, harpspresent ewer roblemshanflats,s thefol-lowing xampleswill illustrate:

1/4-,1/2-, and3/4-toneharps:

4.5.

1/4-,2-, nd3/4-tonelats:

- ?1

?& B f~ (

6 bC b

Sharps nd flats reso obviously ifferentndesignthat t is almost mpossible o alterthem y denticalmeans.Moreover,heopenflatsshownbetween he twotriple olumns)areeasilymistaken or oorlywrittenrrepro-duced closed flats. speciallyunfortunatestheflat hat s open at thetop,because if toccurs n a spaceofthe taff,he stafflinehatbisects heflat lso closesthe oop'sopening:

Afurtherrawbackfmost,fnot ll,of he

signs hown bove s that hey o notpossessany characteristicshatclearly ell theper-former hetherhe ccidental aises r owersthepitchbyone or three uarters. he onlyexception o thiscriticismould be madeforthe harpsngroups and4. (Infact, umber4 is used a great eal.)Butnoneof heflatsresatisfactory.

The sharpshave additionaldrawbacks. fthenumberedharp-groups,umbers and5do not etainhe raditionalharp or alf-tonealteration,nd Number is redundantnthatboth the horizontal nd thevertical ars n-creasefrom ne to three.

Thereis, however, ne furtherystem fadaptation, system hat s self-explanatoryand thatdoes workfor harps nd flats like(althoughhe?/4-tonelat,dmittedly,s nonetooelegant)-thearrow ystem:

Confereesf the nternationalonferencenNew MusicNotationn Ghent see Part1 ofthis rticle) referredhis rrowed et of cci-dentalsfortwo reasons: 1) therehas beenincreasedacceptanceof the arrowsystem

among composers,ven

thoughhere s not

yet clearly iscernible referenceor nyofthesystems fadaptation hown; 2) arrowsare superior n clarity o any of the otheralterationsecausethey re self-explanatory.In otherwords,the conferees,n this case,based theirchoice on statistical s well asevaluative onsiderations.

One of the most distinctive nnovations innewnotation s not,as one mightpresume,anincrease in precision,but just the opposite-greater nterpretive reedom, r,at least, flexi-bility.The most prominentmanifestations fthisnew approach (and this is innonaleatory

music) are proportionatenotation,the nota-tion of clusters, and the notation of in-determinate epeats.

mej/nov76 55



ProportionatenotationProportionateotationalsocalled timenotation)sa systemnwhich

durations re"translated"ntohorizontal istances o that fthedura-tion f halfnote smadeequalto one nchofhorizontalpace, quarternoteequals half n inch, nd so forth.

I I I I I I I Io 1 2 3 4

Ifa differentpatialunit s chosen,for nstance, 1/2 inchesfor halfnote, hequarter illbehalf f hati.e., /4of n inch). nshort,ll dura-tionsmustbe notatedn spatialproportiono eachother.

If hedurations re taken areofbyhorizontal istances,hen here snofurthereed for urationalymbols,uch as thedistinctionntradi-tionalnotation etween lack nd white oteheads,rflags, eams,dots,triplet umerals,ndsoon. Allthat reneeded nproportionateotationarenoteheads o indicatepitches nd a singlebeam toshow howlong

thepitches reto sound beam= sound;no beam= silence).Notatednthisfashion,he astexamplewould ookas follows:

(Naturally,herereother raphicolutions,ut heprinciple-the qua-tionof durationwith pace-remainsthesame.)

Ifwhathasbeen hown o farwere hewholestory,twould meannomore han heexchange fone notationalystem or nother. utthis s

notthecase. The importancefproportionateotationies in areasnotcoveredbytraditional otationn that t enables us to freeourselvesfrom hesometimes rustratingecessity fhavingto fit ll durationsandrhythmsnto heratherrude at eastfor ur era'smusic) ndrigidgeometricrogressionfnotevaluesthat asexisted ince he ystemfmensural otationwas inventednthe hirteenthentury.orexample,itwasnoted nthefirstnstallmentf his rticle hat truly radual itar-dando oraccelerandowith controlled ateofspeedchangecannot enotated,etalonea simultaneous ccurrence f it. ndaccel. intwodif-ferentarts.With roportionateotation,ucha taskpresents o prob-lem:

Flute r

Flute II

Proportionatenotationdoes, however,requirethat all performers layfrom ullscores (barring fewexceptions) because theymustbe able tosee how theirown durations fit patially into the total rhythmic/dura-tional texture.Anothercharacteristic s thatperformances rompropor-

56 mej/nov76



tionate otation illalwaysbe somewhatnexactndetail ecauseof heabsenceof coordinatingountingystemameterignature). ountingregular eats s farmore ccurate han udgingdistances.

Proportionateotation asgivenusmore reedomhan raditionalo-tation nd certain ther dvantages hatwe did nothavebefore, utatthepriceofrhythmicxactitude. oteveryone, owever,wantsrhyth-micexactitude,s pointed utearlier. urthermore,ot llmusic s writ-ten nthis ystem-only certain ercentagef t.

Greaternterpretivereedom nd deliberatembiguityreno longer

isolatedphenomenandulgednbyextremists,uthave nfiltratedym-bolic notation, oo,turning p within therwise raditionallyotatedcompositionsoprovide ontrasts. bviously, roportionateotationshere o stay.

Composers ave dealtwith ctualsignsfor roportionateotationnvariousways.The mostpopularmethod s to retain hepsychologicaleffectfwhite nd blacknoteheads yusing hewhite nesfor elativelylongnotes, he blackones for horter otes, nd the cue-sizenotesforveryfastpassages.Of course,this methodbringsup thequestionofwhere xactly heborderlineiesbetween relativelyong"and "short-er."

Cello

When his uestion roseduringheGhent onference,he onsensuswas to eaveitopen.A good many onferees ere nclined, owever,odismiss heblack/whiteontrasts a nostalgic angover,ndto recom-mend nstead ouse onlyblacknoteheads,with ue-sizenotes s gracenotesfor ery ast assages theway theyhave alwaysbeenused):

A quitedifferentut lsofairly opularmethod fnotations todrawoutthe noteheads hemselves o showdurations:

-__or______"__or

Thismethod s bestsuitedfor ocalmusicor musicfor ingle-tonen-struments.t runs ntoproblemswhenused for henotation f mall n-tervals and chords:

Tenor Piano

Come with me

One should not completelydismiss thismethod ofdrawingthe note-heads out: It does possess a certaingraphicimmediacy. But forpurelypractical efficiency,he notes with the durationbeams are eminentlypreferable, specially because theywork forchords as well as for ingletones.

mej/nov76 57



ClustersClusters,r toneclusters, ave defied ota-

tional tandardization,venat theGhent on-ference,xcept or eyboardlusters. herea-sonfor hisgeneralndecisionsthat here resimply oo manydifferentypesofclusters,each with tsownnotationalequirements.

The major groupsare clustersnotated nsymbolic urational otationnd clusters o-tated n one ofthevarious ystemsfpropor-tionate otation.

Once this has been dealt with,there reseveralsubspecies,such as clustershavingspecified itches t eithernd, lusters avingapproximatewidths and/orpositions,andclusters hat hangepositionorwidthwhilethey sound. For solo clusters (mostlykeyboard)hethree ubspecies rechromatic,whitekeys only,and black keys only.En-semble lusters resent lightlyifferentrob-lems: n a score hey an be notated s if hey

weresolo clusters, ut n instrumentalarts,specific itchesmustbe assigned o the ndi-vidual players nd thesepitches houldalsobe representednthe core, bove theclusteror n a footnote.

The following cluster notations forkeyboard nstrumentswon" at the GhentConference:

(la) SymbolicNotation fPreciseClustersUse ordinary oteheads t either nd:

Allsuch clustersre ssumed o be chromatic.Forwhite-keylusters, lace a largenaturalsign nfront:

Forblack-keylusters, lace a large harporflat nfront:

If a givenwork or movement ontains nlywhite or black or chromaticclusters,a foot-

note should be placed at first ccurrence,or ageneral instruction should be given at thebeginning of the work. The large accidentalsmaythen be omitted. fmorethanone typeofcluster is used, the notation should be ex-plained at thebeginning of thework,consid-eringthe presentmultitude ofdifferent ota-tions.

(lb) Symbolic Notation of ApproximateClusters

Instead ofblack orwhite noteheads at eitherend of the cluster,the entire cluster acts as ablack or white notehead equivalent:

(2a) ProportionateNotation of PreciseClusters

Use noteheads nd duration eams:

(2b) Proportionate otationof Approxi-mate Clusters

Instead fblackorwhitenoteheadsteitherend of hecluster, se therectangularlustersshown n"lb." However, ince thedifferenceof black versuswhitenoteheadshas lost itsdurationalignificancenproportionateota-tion,t s possiblenow touse these colors" oindicatewhite-keylusters,lack-keylusters,and chromatic black and white) clusters,whichobviates heneedfor he arge cciden-tals:

= white-keyluster;

= black-keyluster;

chromaticluster

R.H.

L.H.

Thefairly idespread se of olid,horizontal-lydrawn-outlusters, hilevery graphic"nshowing he cluster ound,was discouragedat theGhentConference,xceptfor lustersthat hangewidth nd/orositionwhiletheysound:

rf Sfz i P

Needless to say, such clusters are best suitedformusic for horus orstring nsemble (partswould have to be worked out individually).Also, notation ofthis kind can onlybe used ina proportionately otated context.

IndeterminaterepeatsIndeterminate epeatsare used to createtex-

turesthat nvolve a mixtureof controlledandchance elements. The composer notatesshort,different atternsof pitches andlor rhythmsfor ome or all members of an ensemble. Thepatterns re repeatedoverand overagain for

specifieddurationoruntilthe conductorgivesa signto stop.The tempofor hepatterns fast,slow, steady,variable) as well as the silences

58 mej/nov76



between epeatsnd,occasionally,hedynam-ics arefreely hosenbyeach member f theensemble ndshouldbe differentt eachper-formance.

Themusicfromuch a performanceillberecognizable ythebasicpatterns, hich arealwaysthesame,but twill alwaysdifferntexturein density, usyness, nd sometimes

in its dynamics)because all thesevariablesare eft o the discretion fthe nterpreters.Indeterminateepeats hould be notated s

follows:

25 f pf"Soprano

What's ew? What's ew? Ah!cresc.empff

Alto MOe ZV

An-y- bod-y dead? Ah!Af. Lff6

Tenor o

Hear ye, hear ye! Si -lence!

ad ib. f pBass :eM

Noth ing but trou- le Ah!

The above example s, ofcourse,no morethan newayofnotatinguchtextures,nd arelativelyxplicit xample t that. hemateri-al to be

repeatedmaybe more r ess

specific.A few additional xamples for singlepartonly, o save space)follow:

Pitches ndtext yllablesgiven; hythmdlib. the hosen hythmatternmayberepeat-ed or changed, dependingon the instruc-tions):

I0i

n,

da day dee do

Choose pitches within a given range; usegiven rhythm attern:

3

I1: . :i1

Pitches ad lib. (the arrowat the end of thecontinuationline shows that the repeat pat-ternruns on):

Often, indeterminate instructions are

boxed. Dynamics ad lib. withina given range:

IPp mf

mej/nov76 59



Choose from boxed articulation or allnotes:

General nstrumentalotationIfat all possible,no signshould do double

duty.Although igns hat ook alikebutmean

differenthingsfor

differentnstruments

orvoice) generally o not bother herespectiveperformersbecausetheyonlysee thesignsthat ppear ntheparts heyplayfrom),uchsigns confuseconductors nd otherswhohave to follow he corewhere ll these ignsappeartogether.

Among hemostprevalent ymbolshat allinto hiscategoryre diamond- ndx-shapednoteheads, nd it is recommendedhat uchnoteheads eused esshaphazardlyhan sedtobethe ase.Thefollowing uggestions ereendorsed ytheGhentConference.

Diamond-shaped oteheads houldbeused

onlyformanipulations,uchasSilentdepression fpiano keys:

ff

Tablature for artificial harmonics onstringednstruments:

Half-valveounds onbrass nstruments:

A 2.

Keyslaps,pitched chieflysed for lutes):

Playing behind the bridge (stringed in-

struments):Sord.

Let me go with ou.Sounds lackinga definablepitchare no-

tated on a single line. Such a line should bedrawnabove thestaff ta distanceofapproxi-mately wospaces so that twill not be mistak-

enfor staffline.nly nvocalmusic shouldthe ine be drawn elowthestaff,ecausethenoteheads houldbe as close tothevocal textas possible. nstrumentalotation:

Double assTap at bodyof nstrument

Vocal notationinthis case spokenrhythmi-cally):

Speak to me!

Although -shaped oteheads rebest-likedforunpitched ounds,a fewspecific ffectshave come to be identified ithothernote-heads. Forexample, ierced, oundnoteheadssuggest reathyounds,such as blowing ir

throughheflute:

Incase of xtendedingle-line assages, hefive-linetaffhouldbe interruptednda linedrawn t theheight f he taff's iddle ine.

PercussionnotationAll thepreceding ecommendationsor he

use ofdifferentoteheads, nfortunately,recontradictedy the notation orpercussioninstruments.ut theres a compelling easonfor his nconsistency:he problems fper-cussionnotation annotbe solvedmerely yusingthree rfour ifferentote hapes.

Withthe enormous rowth, uring ecentdecades, of our percussionsections, t hasbecome ncreasinglyifficultoread henota-tion. One reasonfor his is thatthere s nosuch hing s a typical ercussionnsemble rsection-the instrumentationnvariably if-fers from work to work, so that no standard

score setup has developed as yet. Anothersource of confusion is the prevalence ofpitched percussion instrumentsvibraphones,marimbas,xylophones, glockenspiels, and soon). Since all these instrumentsmust be no-tated on regular five-line staves, it is oftenmisleading to also notate ndefinitely itchedinstruments n regularstaves.

After considering the countless experi-ments that have been made to improve thesituation, and the statistical and evaluativedata submittedbythe ndex project see Part 1ofthis article),theGhent conferees rrivedatthefollowingrecommendations:

(1) Confinethe use ofregularstaves to in-struments hatrequirethem. Forall oth-er percussion instrumentsuse single

60 mej/nov76



lines (for individual instruments)rgroups f ingle inesspacedsomewhatfartherpartthantheregular taffforinstrumentamilies,uch as cymbals rtom-toms).

(2) Base each score etupon thefollowingsuccessionofbasic categories,eadingdownwardfrom he top of the score:glass; metals;woods (without efinitepitches); pitched instruments inkeyboardrrangements;kins ndothermembraneswithoutdefinite itches);effects;ndtimpani.

Anotherspect hat asgainedgreat mpor-tance n proper ercussion otations that fbeaterndications,omethinghat nthepastwas ignoredcompletely. he recommenda-tionsofthe Ghent onferencere toonumer-ous to list in thisspace, but a fewgeneralprinciplesmight gainbe cited:

Roundheadsshouldbeused to ndicaterubberndplastic eaters:

Irregulareads hould eusedfor elt-coveredryarn-woundbeatersand others fsimilartexture:

Bass drum nd tamtam(gong) eatershouldhaverectangulareads:

For more specificdistinctions, erbal in-dications abbreviationsfpossible)mustbeused.

Concerningherange romoft ohard, herecommendedystems as followsthe oundheads areexamples nly ndmay f ourse ereplacedwithother ypes):

soft mediumard

woodeneadithmetalheads metal ore heads

One last percussion item s a favoredmeth-od of indeterminatenotation.Dots ofvarioussizes areplaced inboxed areas.The numberofdots in a box, as well as their vertical andhorizontalpositions, ndicateapproximate ex-tures density,busyness,and so on), as well asapproximatepitchesand rhythms. heir sizesdenote relativedynamics.

.', ." ?

Other ommonly sed signsHere s a brief,andomisting f omeof he

new signs that have alreadybecomenear-standard evices:

Playthehighest oteofyour nstrument:

trombone

Fermatasbeginning ith he raditionaler-mata):

2" 3"+

Timbral trillon woodwind and brass in-strumentsfingeringaybe added,especiallyon woodwind nstruments):

Bart6k izzicato: 6

Fingernail izzicato: ?2

Pianopedaling damper edalonly):

,AA_

LAJ

Ordinary edaling:

I AJ

Gradualifting

nddepressing

fpedal:

..-I"-

L_..- ""-._

Expansion fSchoenberg's ignsfor rincipalPart:H- 1 (Hauptstimme)nd SecondaryPart: F-- 1 (Nebenstimme)o more han wolevels:

Af "1 B'F- CF -1 etc.

Obviously, pace imitations ake t mpos-sible toprovide n exhaustive overage fallthenotationalategories,rtogo intogreater

detail. It is hoped, however,that the glimpseprovided here has clarified the followingas-pects of fundamental mportance: First,newnotation has long ago ceased to be a caprice ofa few fringe composers and eccentrics. Bynow ithas become an integralpartof ourera'smusic and must take its place among all theotherdisciplines that, ogether, onstitute hebasic curriculumof a propermusic education.Second, after wenty-five ears of notationalexperimentation, he time has come to stopinventing nd, instead,to strive owardunifi-cation and standardization of new notation(except of course in the fieldofaleatorymu-

sic), guided bytheprinciples ofpracticabilityand graphic clarity, s well as generalaccept-ability. !

Documents

Kurt Stone - New Notation for New Music II