It's a scan of a hand-written document, so it's not as clear as
perhaps it should be.

---------------------
Chord:  C  -  F  -  G  -  E  -  a  -  d  -  E  -  A
    Key:  C                     a                    A
---------------------

The initial stack of "scale dots," to the left of the crescent-scaped
JIMS clef, indicate the diatonic scale (Do, Re, Mi, Fa, So, La, Ti,
Do).  Each note is indicated by a circular dot, except for Do. The
diamond-shaped scale dot on Do indicates that it is the tonic. Hence,
the song starts in "diatonic Do-mode" (Ionian/major).

The scale dots provide a guide to *harmonization.*  In any scale (as I
understand it), one builds a chord on a given root by stacking scale-
based thirds on it. The scale dots indicate the stack of notes from
which such scale-based thirds are to be drawn. Melodic lines can, and
often do, depart from the harmonizing scale, albeit usually in
systematic ways (which are beyond the scope of this posting).

The above progression's first three chords, built by stacking thirds
from the current (diatonic) scale, are:
DoMiSo (C-E-G)
FaLaDo (F-A-C)
SoTiRe (G-B-D)

...commonly known as the "I-IV-V" chord progression or cadence.

Then there's:
(1) A mode change, from Do-mode to La-mode.  No UI gesture is required
on the Thummer's keyboard to effect this change, because the same
pitches are associated with the same biuttons before and after a mode
change. It is just information provided to make the piece's harmonic
context clear.

(2) A scale change, from diatonic to harmonic minor.  No UI gesture is
required. The new stack of scale dots does not include So, but does
include Si. The scale dots indicate that Si should be used instead of
So when stacking thirds for harmonization. Having this information is
very useful when improvising.

Note-head shape: natural notes use the traditional oval note-head
shape. Chromatic alterations use a triangular note-head shape, with
the direction in which the note-head points (up or down) indicating
the direction of alteration.  Sharpened intervals (those on the right-
hand side of the Thummer's Wicki/Hayden note-layout) are indicated
using upward-pointing triangles ("sharp on top"); while flattened
intervals (those on the left-hand side) are downward-pointing
triangles ("flat on top"). For example, Si, being the sharpened
version of So, is indicated with an upward-pointing triangle, whereas
Le, being the flattened version of La, is indicated with a downward-
pointing triangle, both on the same vertical staff location (i.e.,
both appearing on the line between the So-space and the La-space).

The progression's next three chords, built by stacking thirds from the
current (harmonic minor) scale, are:
MiSiTi (E-G#-B)
LaDoMi (A-C-E)
ReFaLa (D-F-A)

Then there's:
(3) A mode change, from La-mode to Do-mode. No UI gesture is required.

(4) A scale change, back to diatonic. No UI gesture is required.

(5) A key change, notated as being "down a minor third" from Re down
to Ti.

For key changes, a UI gesture is required.
- Press and hold the shift button (to indicate that something's about
to change),
- tap Re (which indicates the start of a key-change gesture),
- tap Ti (indicating the "interval of modulation," relative to Re),
then
- release the shift button (to execute the change).

This gesture transposes the note-button mapping by the specified
interval, from Re to whatever (in this case, down a minor third to
Ti).

This same key change could have been notated as being "up a major
sixth" instead, with an arrow pointing from Re up to Ti (rather that
down to Ti, as shown). The latter results in notes that are an octave
higher than the former. In either case, the notation unambiguously
describes the key change interval -- and thereby the button-presses
needed to effect the key change.

The chords would usually be played with the left (accompanying) hand,
whereas the key change gesture would be played with the right
(melodic) hand.  (Left-handers would probably reverse these roles.)
The need to play a key-change UI gesture is a "cost," relative to the
traditional mapping of buttons to fixed pitches, but one gets an
enormous amount of flexibility -- and a tiny keyboard, with all of the
expressive capabilities thereof -- in return. Think of it as changing
crooks on a pre-valve brass instrument, or moving the capo on a
guitar...but much faster.  Because of this need to transpose pitches
on key changes, JIMS notation is only useful on trivially-transposed
instruments such as the Thummer & human voice.

The progression's final chords, after the key change, are
SoTiRe (E-G#-B)  [or, preferably, SoTiReFa (E-G#-B-D)]
DoMiSo (A-C#-E)

g# is Si before the key change, and Ti afterwards.  Same pitch,
different buttons.  Why different buttons? Because that pitch fills a
different tonal role in C Major (and a minor) than it does in A Major,
and JIMS notates tonal roles, not pitches.

I've notated all of the chords in root position, for clarity.  In
practice, the progression would probably use a mix of inversions to
provide better voice leading, but that's beyond the scope of this
discussion. I've also described the chords in "XxYyZz" form, rather
than using ThumChord or ThumField symbols, again for clarity.

The resulting JIMS notation provides:
a) a complete harmonic analysis of the notated music.
b) a 1:1 mapping between "notes on the staff" and "buttons to hit,"
just as traditional notation does.  This is a pre-requisite for its
use in performance.

By providing such detailed harmonic analysis/context, JIMS is arguably
more "complicated" than traditional notation. But if that information
is NOT provided, then deriving it oneself -- as one must do when using
pitch-based notation -- is even MORE complicated, requiring the use of
parallel notations such as Roman numeral notation, figured bass,
Nashville Numbering, etc.

Likewise, transposing a piece written in JIMS notation to another key
is trivial. Indeed, you'll note that in the attached example, no key
is notated.  The notation is the same in all keys. If a key must be
specified, then a single pitch (e.g., C4) can be associated with the
initial tonic diamond. To transpose the notation, erase the C4 and
write in some other pitch, and voila! -- it's transposed.

Similarly, the notaton -- and the buttons pressed on the keyboard --
is the same for all tunings of the syntonic temperament. Whether the
tuning  has 5, 7, 12, 17, 19, 22, 24, 31, or an infinite number of
notes per octave; whether it's equal or unequal; whether it's regular
or irregular; even if it is a Just Intonation tuning -- in all of
these cases, the notation *and fingering* of a given piece is exactly
the same. This consistency of notation and fingering is essential for
dynamic tonality (www.igetitmusic.com/papers/DynamicTonality.pdf).

I appreciate this group's continued interest in this approach.

Thanks!  :-)

--- Jim