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A Julius Schoen sub-page production! Click here to go back.
Last updated: July, 2007. I’ve created my own musical notation because I find traditional music notation too abstruse and confusing. The system I’ve come up with pleases me very much, maybe it will please you too! Here are some excerpts from the introduction to the main document “Schoen Musical Notation.doc” (public download available below):
This all came about as I was re-learning Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata in C#m. I’d memorized this piece before, had forgotten it, and went back to the sheet music to pick it up again. Traditional sheet music for the professional musician may not be a problem, but for an untrained, or self trained, music lover it is pure pain.
As an aside, my first efforts at notating Moonlight Sonata were so successful (in terms of the ease with which I could read and interpret) that I started notating a song I had done long ago for piano (it was scored traditionally with MIDI software) and found it incredibly easy to re-learn ( it was done in B Major in which =everything= is a sharp!). Since I proved to myself that the notation was useful for me, then I believe it will be useful for a lot of people, taking the most complex songs and making them available, in the original key, to anyone who can learn where the A, B, C, D, E, F, and G keys are, what octave they are in, what a sharp, flat, and natural are, and the concept of the duration of a note. All the other accents and such can come along later for the novice, but the novice will be able to quickly learn, and perhaps more easily sight read, complex pieces.
While researching my new notation needs I came across a web site entitled “MNMA: Music Notation Modernization Association” (http://www.speechskript.com/mnma.htm). They note the following deficiencies of traditional music notation: 4 clefs when only one is needed. It is biased to C Major for “easy” reading, all tonalities should be as easy. Numerous accidentals and awkward key signatures. Tends to place noteheads in a deceptive and confusing manner. To these I add the following: Hard to read. Hard to determine beat and melody. Must know Italian (you can still know it if you like) for tempo, dynamics, and expression! Treble clef and bass clef put notes in different positions! Doubles the difficulty since what is a “C” in the treble clef is an “E” in the bass clef.
One point I want to emphasize here: clarity, simplicity, readability, easy to handwrite, and, as much as possible, language and cultural independence. The notation is not intended for professionals (though they may find an occasional use for it) nor for the music theorist. But it =is= intended for everyone else. It has the capability to express complex music and simple music, and, as we’ll see in more advanced sections, to expand on music notation so that the synthesizer music of today (so much more variable in it’s abilities than traditional instruments) can be scored as well.
DOWNLOADS: Feel free to download the documents detailing my musical notation system. All the documents are saved in Microsoft™ Word™ format. The ZIP file contains all four files (main document describing how the notation is to be used, the addenda, quick start, and the reference sheet). The addenda file is provided separately in case you’ve already read the main document and just want to see what’s new. Schoen Musical Notation Addenda (last updated 5/22/2004) The quick start guide is a simplified discussion of Schoen Musical Notation designed to present the most basic aspects of Schoen Musical Notation in a simplified manner to get you playing quickly. Schoen Musical Notation Quick Start The Reference Sheet is a summary of Schoen Musical Notation symbols for quick reference. Schoen Musical Notation Reference Sheet New, November 2, 2004, Sheet Music : Finally finished my Schoen Musical Notation editor enough to do simple songs! So finally have a download available that shows a song in it’s entirety in Schoen Musical Notation. This is a “simple” blues/honky tonk piece that can give you an idea of whether SMN is useful to you for playing/learning songs. Click below to download the sheet music to your computer: Henry's Honky Tonk Song Sheet Music in Schoen Notation Use of Schoen Musical Notation: Home individual personal use is permitted within the restriction below. Any use of this music notation system for profit is forbidden without prior written permission and/or licensing. Feel free to pass these documents to anyone who is interested. Schoen Musical Notation is Copyright © 2004 by Julius H. L. Schoen, all rights reserved. I just developed this system during the winter of 2003-2004. There are not yet many transcribed songs. I will be providing more sheet music as it becomes available. Others than the one above will be anything interesting that’s in the public domain. So, check back soon and check for more tunes to play!
A Julius Schoen sub-page production! Click here to go back. Copyright © 2004-2007 Julius H. L. Schoen, all rights reserved. |
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