4 ms·

Here, I propose yet another take on music notation: http://www.essential-music-theory.com/images/grand-staff-spaces.jpg http://www.essential-music-theory.com/i

by ronyeh 14y ago

Here, I propose yet another take on music notation: http://www.essential-music-theory.com/images/grand-staff-spaces.jpg http://www.essential-music-theory.com/images/grand-staff-spa... Instead of difficult to read/write symbols which map to letters, which map to pitches, why not just use the letters themselves? I would totally love to just learn with letters written on the staff. And over time, maybe my sheet music app could randomly replace letters with black filled circles, and then eventually with standard music notation.

gfodor 14y ago
jesus this would have been so helpful back when i was playing music at a kid. i'm sure after a while you can swap out the letters with notes without missing a beat, just like you can remove the letters from a keyboard after learning to touch type. but, along the way you never actually are forced to "learn" the positions. (which is incredibly challenging when you are trying to learn to play at the same time.) honestly this makes me want to re-try to learn piano with this type of notation. perhaps even a notation that would let me focus more on the piano and less on deciphering the notation. brilliant in its simplicity, thanks for sharing.
- ronyeh 14y ago
  Yup. If I was teaching a 6 year old to play piano, I wouldn't start by teaching them how to read standard notation. The key is to make it fun and easy in the beginning, so that piano players don't give up! Then, make it harder once they are motivated to learn.... and you can show them why standard notation is more expressive/compact/better than the letter notation they started out with.
stuartmemo 14y ago
This already exists for beginners. See http://s.ecrater.com/stores/159585/51208eb2d0e25_159585b.jpg http://s.ecrater.com/stores/159585/51208eb2d0e25_159585b.jpg
- ronyeh 14y ago
  Yup, I think this would be the second step, once the beginner is used to the bare letters on the staff. This introduces extra visual noise, but begins to teach the player what standard notation looks like. With software, the view can adapt over time as the player becomes more comfortable reading notation. If the sheet music was displayed on a tablet, eventually the little letters could disappear. This could be a nice set of "training wheels" for beginner pianists.
ronyeh 14y ago
And the most natural notation would simply be "piano roll notation" which when oriented vertically looks like this: http://synthesiagame.com/ http://synthesiagame.com/ The drawback is that this notation is less compact. But, it's the best notation for teaching beginners. I'm trying to figure out how Hummingbird notation is any better than "piano roll" notation or simply putting letters on the staff. It's definitely a cool idea (infovis-wise), but I think it needs to be user tested: standard vs. hummingbird vs. letters-on-staff vs. "piano roll"...
- bbx 14y ago
  I've come across Synthesia before and it's well-thought learning tool. But its major drawback is that it's only aimed at piano players. I think Hummingbird's goal is to become an alternate standard of global music notation, based on the fact that it resembles the traditional one (and actually uses it as a base). But Hummingbird also has its flaws (that I mentioned in another comment).

by ronyeh 14y ago

gfodor 14y ago

jesus this would have been so helpful back when i was playing music at a kid. i'm sure after a while you can swap out the letters with notes without missing a beat, just like you can remove the letters from a keyboard after learning to touch type. but, along the way you never actually are forced to "learn" the positions. (which is incredibly challenging when you are trying to learn to play at the same time.) honestly this makes me want to re-try to learn piano with this type of notation. perhaps even a notation that would let me focus more on the piano and less on deciphering the notation. brilliant in its simplicity, thanks for sharing.

ronyeh 14y ago
Yup. If I was teaching a 6 year old to play piano, I wouldn't start by teaching them how to read standard notation. The key is to make it fun and easy in the beginning, so that piano players don't give up! Then, make it harder once they are motivated to learn.... and you can show them why standard notation is more expressive/compact/better than the letter notation they started out with.

stuartmemo 14y ago

This already exists for beginners. See http://s.ecrater.com/stores/159585/51208eb2d0e25_159585b.jpg http://s.ecrater.com/stores/159585/51208eb2d0e25_159585b.jpg

ronyeh 14y ago
Yup, I think this would be the second step, once the beginner is used to the bare letters on the staff. This introduces extra visual noise, but begins to teach the player what standard notation looks like. With software, the view can adapt over time as the player becomes more comfortable reading notation. If the sheet music was displayed on a tablet, eventually the little letters could disappear. This could be a nice set of "training wheels" for beginner pianists.

ronyeh 14y ago

And the most natural notation would simply be "piano roll notation" which when oriented vertically looks like this: http://synthesiagame.com/ http://synthesiagame.com/ The drawback is that this notation is less compact. But, it's the best notation for teaching beginners. I'm trying to figure out how Hummingbird notation is any better than "piano roll" notation or simply putting letters on the staff. It's definitely a cool idea (infovis-wise), but I think it needs to be user tested: standard vs. hummingbird vs. letters-on-staff vs. "piano roll"...

bbx 14y ago
I've come across Synthesia before and it's well-thought learning tool. But its major drawback is that it's only aimed at piano players. I think Hummingbird's goal is to become an alternate standard of global music notation, based on the fact that it resembles the traditional one (and actually uses it as a base). But Hummingbird also has its flaws (that I mentioned in another comment).