4 ms·
Think of it as data compression that shows you the notes you're most likely to play, without taking up space for notes you probably won't. If there's a piece i
by drblast 9y ago
Think of it as data compression that shows you the notes you're most likely to play, without taking up space for notes you probably won't.
If there's a piece in C, for example, in most traditional Western music you're unlikely to play off-key notes. So why take up valuable space for those when you can denote that unlikely event with a sharp/flat symbol?
Traditional music notation made no sense at all to me until I realized this.
Edit: For those that don't know, in most western music you're only going to use 8 out of the 12 possible notes most of the time. This is not universally true especially of modern non-pop music, but traditionally if you played off-key notes people thought you might summon evil spirits so it's easy to understand why things would be written down this way. Not only is it space efficient, but you wouldn't accidentally summon the devil. To summon the devil you have to really want to and write a flat or sharp in there.
- calflegal 9y agoThis is a really great answer! This is also a big part of why different instruments read different clefs.
- areyousure 9y ago> Edit: For those that don't know, in most western music you're only going to use 8 out of the 12 possible notes most of the time. You mean 7 notes. Traditional music notation and terminology is confused in many ways, one of which is a fencepost-counting error. As a result: octaves are actually seven notes apart in a scale, two major seconds make a major third (2+2=3?), and two octaves make a fifteenth (8+8=15!?).
- harrumph 9y ago>Traditional music notation made no sense at all to me until I realized this. Can't thank you enough because your characterization is the first one I've heard that adequately explains the foundation of the visual system as one of condensation. I've been shrugging my shoulders about this for many decades!