MUSIC NOTATION AS MUSIC COMPOSITION BY WILLIAM ANDREW BURNSON. Monday, October 10, 11

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1 MUSIC NOTATION AS MUSIC COMPOSITION BY WILLIAM ANDREW BURNSON

2 What is the difference between composition and notation? Composition Aleatory/Indeterminacy Composing Improvisation? Notation Realization Recording --> <-- Sight Reading Practice / Learning Score Study --> Performance Preparation Rehearsal Musical Experience Listening Self Evaluation Dictation -->

3 INNOVATIONS IN COMPOSITION Renaissance Baroque Classical Romantic Early 20th c. Post WWII Technologic Accidentals Loud and Soft Graded Dynamics Cresc., Dim., Phrasing, Articulation Serial music, Percussion Aleatory, Proportional, Formalization, Graphic, Symbolic, Microtonal, Multiphonics, Textual, Abstract Musique Concrète, Music Production Software, Interactive Music

4 INNOVATIONS IN NOTATION Renaissance Baroque Classical Romantic Early 20th c. Post WWII Technologic Accidentals Loud and Soft Graded Dynamics Cresc., Dim., Phrasing, Articulation Serial music, Percussion Aleatory, Proportional, Formalization, Graphic, Symbolic, Microtonal, Multiphonics, Textual, Abstract Musique Concrète, Music Production Software, Interactive Music

5 Mycenae Alpha - Iannis Xenakis An example GarageBand session Spiral Galaxy (Makrokosmos I, George Crumb) An example Max/MSP (interactive music) session

6 MODERN DAY TYPESETTING

7 MODERN DAY TYPESETTING

8 MODERN DAY TYPESETTING

9 MODERN DAY TYPESETTING

10 GRAMMAR (notationally speaking) Compare the following renderings of the opening sentence to A Tale of Two Cities (Charles Dickens): 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.

11 GRAMMAR (notationally speaking) Compare the following renderings of the opening sentence to A Tale of Two Cities (Charles Dickens): 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. Letters are different shapes, sizes. Words are not in the same location. Strictly speaking these two snippets have nothing in common!

12 GRAMMAR (notationally speaking) Though the two passages differed graphically, in the context of a typographic grammar, we consider them the same. 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. = =

13 GRAMMAR (notationally speaking) Side Note: In the grammar of language we can also study it from two vantage points: Prescriptive Grammar (English) I know what you mean. OK I know whatcha mean. Bad form: whatcha is not in the dictionary Direct object is whatcha? Indirect object is whatcha? Descriptive Grammar (Linguistics) I know whatcha mean. People say this I know what you mean. Probably don t hear this too often...

14 GRAMMAR (notationally speaking) Which came first, the style guide or the language?

15 GRAMMAR (notationally speaking) Which came first, the style guide or the language? In music notation we face a similar problem. Many prescriptive music notation guides show recommended practice as 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?

16 GRAMMAR (notationally speaking) Music notation developed organically in response to the needs of composers 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 cases is not sufficient to represent all notational possibilities that carry meaning.

17 GRAMMAR (notationally speaking)?

18 REPRESENTATION A pervasive approach to representing music comprises part-based (row first) multidimensional containers. Part-Based Containers (i.e. measures in parts in score) Part Measure Score

19 REPRESENTATION Alternatively, a time-based (column first) container can be used Time-Based Containers (i.e. instants in parts in score) Part Instants Score

20 REPRESENTATION Caveats of a container-based representation: 1) Example of Part-Based failure: Ossia Staff Is this a part with hidden measures? 2) Example of Time-Based failure: Grace notes In what order should the notes appear?

21 GRAPH THEORY Organizes relational information by nodes and links Link (or Edge ) Node (or Vertex )

22 GRAPH THEORY Used to solve a number of difficult problems. For example: 1) Traveling Salesman Problem Given 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 Problem Given 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.

23 GRAPH THEORY

24 BELLE, BONNE, SAGE Open-source (free) software for typesetting music Provides support mechanisms for printing music 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