music notation as music composition
TRANSCRIPT
MUSIC NOTATION AS
MUSIC COMPOSITION
BY WILLIAM ANDREW BURNSON
Monday, October 10, 11
Composition
Improvisation
Performance
Notation?
Rehearsal
What is the difference betweencomposition and notation?
<-- Sight ReadingPractice / Learning
ComposingAleatory/Indeterminacy
Realization
Preparation
Listening Self Ev
aluat
ion
Musical Experience
Score Study -->
Dictation -->
Recording -->
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INNOVATIONS IN COMPOSITION
Renaissance Accidentals
Baroque Loud and Soft
Classical Graded Dynamics
Romantic Cresc., Dim., Phrasing, Articulation
Early 20th c. Serial music, Percussion
Post WWII Aleatory, Proportional, Formalization, Graphic, Symbolic, Microtonal, Multiphonics, Textual, Abstract
Technologic Musique Concrète, Music Production Software, Interactive Music
Monday, October 10, 11
INNOVATIONS IN NOTATION
Renaissance Accidentals
Baroque Loud and Soft
Classical Graded Dynamics
Romantic Cresc., Dim., Phrasing, Articulation
Early 20th c. Serial music, Percussion
Post WWII Aleatory, Proportional, Formalization, Graphic, Symbolic, Microtonal, Multiphonics, Textual, Abstract
Technologic Musique Concrète, Music Production Software, Interactive Music
Monday, October 10, 11
Mycenae Alpha - Iannis Xenakis
Spiral Galaxy (Makrokosmos I,George Crumb)
An example Max/MSP (interactive music) session
An example GarageBand session
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MODERN DAY TYPESETTING
Monday, October 10, 11
MODERN DAY TYPESETTING
Monday, October 10, 11
MODERN DAY TYPESETTING
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MODERN DAY TYPESETTING
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GRAMMAR(notationally speaking)
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times; it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness; it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity; it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness; it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair; we had everything before us, we had nothing before us; we were all going directly to Heaven, we were all going the other way.
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times; it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness; it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity; it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness; it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair; we had everything before us, we had nothing before us; we were all going directly to Heaven, we were all going the other way.
=?
Compare the following renderings of the opening sentence to A Tale of Two Cities (Charles Dickens):
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GRAMMAR
Letters are different shapes, sizes.Words are not in the same location.
Strictly speaking these two snippets have nothing in common!
(notationally speaking)
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times; it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness; it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity; it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness; it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair; we had everything before us, we had nothing before us; we were all going directly to Heaven, we were all going the other way.
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times; it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness; it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity; it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness; it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair; we had everything before us, we had nothing before us; we were all going directly to Heaven, we were all going the other way.
=?
Compare the following renderings of the opening sentence to A Tale of Two Cities (Charles Dickens):
Monday, October 10, 11
GRAMMARThough the two passages differed graphically,
in the context of a typographic grammar, we consider them the same.
(notationally speaking)
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times; it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness; it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity; it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness; it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair; we had everything before us, we had nothing before us; we were all going directly to Heaven, we were all going the other way.
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times; it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness; it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity; it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness; it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair; we had everything before us, we had nothing before us; we were all going directly to Heaven, we were all going the other way.
Just like a written language, music notation also has a grammar.
Visually distinct representations can have the same underlying content.
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GRAMMARSide Note:
In the grammar of language we can also study it from two vantage points:
(notationally speaking)
I know what you mean. I know whatcha mean.
Prescriptive Grammar (English)
Descriptive Grammar (Linguistics)
OK
I know what you mean.I know whatcha mean.
People say this Probably don’t hear this too often...
Bad form:whatcha is not in the dictionaryDirect object is whatcha?Indirect object is whatcha?
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GRAMMAR
Which came first, the style guide or the language?
(notationally speaking)
Monday, October 10, 11
GRAMMAR
Which came first, the style guide or the language?
(notationally speaking)
In music notation we face a similar problem.
Many prescriptive music notation guides show recommended practiceas a set of rules.
Emulates conventions established through a centuries-long evolution of a naturally-occurring process of thousands of typesetters and composers
collectively solving a notational problem:
How do you project a multi-dimensional concept such as music(pitch, rhythm, voicing, instrument, dynamics, phrasing, articulation)
onto a two-dimensional canvas?
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GRAMMAR(notationally speaking)
Music notation developed organically in response to the needs ofcomposers and typesetters, rather than being authored by any one
person or specific group.
In designing a representation of music notation,we need to know something descriptive about the notational grammar
A prescriptive set of case-by-case rules that handle most casesis not sufficient to represent all notational possibilities that carry meaning.
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GRAMMAR(notationally speaking)
?Monday, October 10, 11
REPRESENTATION
Score
Part Measure
A pervasive approach to representing music comprisespart-based (row first) multidimensional containers.
Part-Based Containers (i.e. measures in parts in score)
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REPRESENTATION
Score
Part Instants
Alternatively, a time-based (column first) container can be used
Time-Based Containers (i.e. instants in parts in score)
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REPRESENTATIONCaveats of a container-based representation:
1) Example of Part-Based failure: Ossia Staff
2) Example of Time-Based failure: Grace notes
In what order should the notes appear?
Is this a part with hidden measures?
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GRAPH THEORYOrganizes relational information by nodes and links
Link(or “Edge”)
Node(or “Vertex”)
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GRAPH THEORY
Used to solve a number of difficult problems. For example:
1) Traveling Salesman ProblemGiven a list of cities (nodes) and connecting roads (links), what is the shortest path that visits each city without any repeat visits.
2) The Map Coloring ProblemGiven a map of countries, what is the fewest number of colors that can be used so that no two adjacent countries use the same color. Answer: 4, but most maps use 5 to make the problem easier.
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GRAPH THEORY
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BELLE, BONNE, SAGEOpen-source (free) software for typesetting music
Provides support mechanisms for printingmusic regardless of the final medium
(PDF, notation software, web, and so on)
Takes form in some current programs:Chorale Composer (music theory)
Lune (early development,algorithmic notation)
Baude Cordier“Belle, Bonne, Sage”
from 14th Century France
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