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Pugly
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30 Jul 2007, 2:01 am

Despite being able to use it, I am generally not a big fan of standard notation.

Now, I know if I were to say this to any moderately, musically literate group... they would tell me to put a sock in it, and that being able to read music is one of the tenets of being a refined musician... or some such thing.

But since writing music on my computer, I've come to appreciate and really enjoy working in piano-roll notation.

All the patterns in music come alive when I am working in this system. I know the intervals I am using instantly. I can see the picture of chord quality and instantly associate a sound with an image. I skip the whole system of memorizing note names and just use pictures to represent music... which is a much more intuitive system. In standard notation, I have to associate all these sounds with a different key. A big waste of time, as far as I'm concerned.

Rhythm is also messy when anything complicated comes up.

I am getting experience using standard notation, I am taking Music Theory courses and getting As. And I suppose I can get used to it after a while, I am trying to get decent at Bass clef for playing Bass guitar.

Any other thoughts/opinions/complaints... am I just crazy? Or is standard notation antiquated... and just broken at times?


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Snowy Owl
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30 Jul 2007, 2:47 am

i kind of agree. it's not possible to notate enough with regular notation... it leaves a lot open to interpretation. that can be good and bad... on the one hand, with an alternate system of notation, it's possible to notate all the subtle nuances of a single performance, and get EXACTLY what the composer wants on paper. on the other hand, the gaps left in traditional notation is what makes classical music interesting- the many different interpretations of the same thing. this also saves the composer the hassle of figuring out exactly how he wants something to sound. i have on many occasions been pleasantly surprised when someone interprets something i've written in a way i would have never thought of. of course, the opposite also happens, and people butcher things i've written in ways i never would even have thought of.

traditional notation also makes expressing syncopated rhythms overcomplicated and difficult to read. that's a pet peeve of mine.



Scramjet
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30 Jul 2007, 8:01 am

I, for one, have never learned to read musical notes, but came across an alternative "system of notaton" when coding my first computer to play things I had previously learned to play on the guitar: Every note (both the black and the white piano keys) across seven or eight octaves had a consecutive number, and instead of "bars" there were "blocks" of e.g. 16 "slots" that the computer would play back at a set rate. To have an "instrument" play a note, you put the note's number in the right slot, along with another code to indicate which "instrument", or sound, should play that note.
The numbered-notes scheme makes for easy transposing; the computer merely needs to add a constant figure to the note codes. Each block had such a "transposing constant", which came in handy with e.g. a bass voice doing mostly the same thing in varying keys.

Another alternative idea I had long ago whilst pondering the "mystery" of musical notes, was basically a graph that had time along the horizintal axis, and pitch up the vertical one. Each instrument "voice" would simply be a curve on that chart...



UncleBeer
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30 Jul 2007, 8:23 am

Remember: music notation is steeped in history and tradition. It's developed in illogical non-linear ways for no better reason than because that's the way it's always been.

Image

The good news: it doesn't take that long to pick up. Also, Paul McCartney (arguably the richest musician ever) can't read musical notation at all. 8O



dawndeleon
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30 Jul 2007, 9:49 am

I have been through the classes, trained in notation and theory and STILL prefer to play by ear. Its just more pleasant and my eyes dont go all crossed when reading notes. When you play by ear, it seems like you have a lot more freedom in the music. Sure, it is sometimes essential to graph it, but it just doesn't come that easy. Its good to have a basic knowledge of theory to really enjoy the music and get creative with it.



Aradford
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30 Jul 2007, 4:41 pm

I play a lot of guitar and write a lot of music. I found learning to read music to only hinder me so I stopped learning.

Besides, I only play my own songs and don't want to learn to read other peoples music.

I taught myself guitar theory, although I tend to not strictly follow it because that just makes music way too easy.

I like mixing minor progressions with major gypsy scales, or major progressions with minor gypsy scales. I also like to play chromatics A LOT.

I also love 6/4 and 7/4 timings.... MMMMMMMMMM SO FUN TO WRITE IN!