MuseScore plugin for colored notes minimal 6-6 notation system

[Paul Morris]

Greetings all!  Recently I've been playing around some more with this "Minimal 6-6" notation system, that I originally proposed in 2015, that's documented on this MNP wiki page:

https://musicnotation.org/wiki/notation-systems/minimal-6-6-notation-system-by-paul-morris/

In 2015 I posted images and pdf files for the "dotted notes" version and only mentioned the other variations that I had experimented with.  Now I've added those other versions including "colored notes", "rectangle shape notes", "flipped notes", and "diamond shape notes".  Each of those versions now has images, pdf files illustrating them, a couple example sheet music pdfs, and a LilyPond file for creating sheet music using LilyPond. 

Probably the most interesting new development is I've created a MuseScore plugin for the "colored notes" version, that lets you easily color notes in a 6-6 pattern using MuseScore.  (MuseScore plugins cannot currently change the note head shape or type, so colored notes is all we can do.)  That makes the "colored notes" version a much more practical option for people to try out or use.  The plugin is linked from the wiki page.

What is the point?  Some (many?) people will never try an alternative notation system with a chromatic staff, but they might try something like this.  To quote the wiki page: "This system provides the advantages of having a visible 6-6 pitch pattern while only diverging from traditional notation in minimal ways that are additive and do not disrupt [or break with] the semantics of the traditional system."

You can read more about it on the wiki page, but basically shape note notation is a big inspiration here.  By only changing the note heads, shape note is able to build on the traditional system, in an additive way, and provide compatibility with the traditional system so that knowledge of one system transfers to the other and vice-versa with minimal friction.  That makes trying out and using such an alternative system much easier and very low risk.  "Why not try it?  If you do and you don't like it, you haven't really lost anything."

I'm not 100% sure what's the best variation on this approach, and that's why I've put up the various versions I've tried.  That way others can see them and decide for themselves.  (I have come to the opinion that the "dotted notes" version is not my favorite.)

For example, it's hard to pick colors that work well and are neutral enough, and colors have issues like making handwriting harder, etc.  (Maybe the plugin should make it easy to pick the colors you want to use, but I didn't want to put more time into that knowing the plugin system is changing in future versions of MuseScore,  At least you can change the colors by changing the color values in the plugin's source code.)  The same goes for choosing shapes for shape notes, etc.  The shapes should be different enough, but not too visually disruptive.  Rectangles don't work well in chords, diamonds are too small, etc.

Maybe you like one more than the others?

Cheers,
Paul

[Douglas Keislar]

Hi Paul,

Re:

I'm not 100% sure what's the best variation on this approach, and that's why I've put up the various versions I've tried.  That way others can see them and decide for themselves.  (I have come to the opinion that the "dotted notes" version is not my favorite.)

Before I read your whole message, I looked at the notation examples. I actually thought that the "dotted notes" version was the most visually distinctive -- the easiest one in which to see the two different types of notes (the two whole-tone scales). But it would be impossible to write by hand. The colored version could be the most visually distinctive if one wasn't trying to keep the coloring subtle.

I understand your motivation for these systems, which you carefully described. My first reaction was that the diatonic staff is so inherently non-isomorphic that I didn't see a huge advantage in trying to add the isomorphic 6-6 representation into it. But on closer inspection I can see how it might be useful for some purposes.

Best,

Doug

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[drtec...@gmail.com]

Doug, Paul,

 

Lately I've been exploring the LinnStrument, which is isomorphic with default fourths (5 semitone) offset between rows or "strings". It occurs to me that with this spacing, or any odd spacing, as with Janko, the most critical distinction is odd vs. even semitone intervals. So any of your "minimal 6-6" notations, which clearly distinguish odd vs. even intervals, should work well for such instruments.

 

I also particularly like the "dot" notation as this seems to be the clearest, although as you say, perhaps not the easiest to implement.

 

For LinnStrument, or any isomorphic instrument, I would think shape-notes would also be useful as they provide key independence while also relating to the traditional diatonic scale.  The common shape-note systems, however, do not readily distinguish odd and even intervals, especially in the case of accidentals, which retain the notehead shape of the natural, even though they are in the other wholetone series.  Of course, I would prefer a 12-symbol notation, such as my Chromatonnetz.

 

Joe Austin aka DrTechDaddy

"Music is poetry;

why print is as prose?"

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[Paul Morris]

Hi Doug,

Thanks for taking a look and sharing your thoughts.  I think you might be right about the dotted notes version being more visually distinctive.  Maybe I'll have to try colors with a stronger contrast for the colored notes one.

I think this kind of system would be most useful with music with few accidentals, because in that case the interval patterns are consistent.  You can rely on the two kinds of notes to indicate the kind of interval.  But once accidental signs are involved, then you can't count on that consistency.  Although if you're playing an instrument that has a 6-6 pattern or layout, then having that pattern in the notation system is useful even with accidentals. 

In any case it takes traditional notation in a more isomorphic direction, and that's an improvement IMHO (although modest compared to other systems).  And if someone is already using MuseScore it only takes a few clicks to try it, and maybe that could be the first step into seeing the value of alternative notation systems.

Cheers,

Paul

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[Paul Morris]

Hi Joe,

The LinnStrument looks pretty cool.  I can see how it would feel familiar for guitar players.  Do you have one and how do you like it? 

I wouldn't be surprised if new isomorphic instruments like this lead to more interest in alternative notation systems.  I think you're right that any system that makes intervals easy to recognize would really compliment such instruments, whether that's a system with a 6-6 pattern or a 12-symbol one like your Chromatonnetz.

Good to know that you also like the dotted version among those "minimal 6-6" systems.

Cheers,

Paul

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