Fwd: loose versus compact layout

[John Keller]

Hello Forum members,

> One thing I have noticed in playing Bach from Express Stave:
>
> The more compact the notation layout, the easier to read!
>
> Compare the E flat major fugue book 2 in 1 versus 2 pages.
>
> My eye takes in more information easily when the notes are closer together.
>
> Anyone else notice this?
>
> John Keller
>

[thirdeaglebooks]

Yes, but I think there is a point of no return. If the clefs are too compacted horizontally, you lose the visual relationship between the two clefs vertically. See the same Bach fugue as transposed into my Gabriel music notation system. Let me know if you can see the attachment okay.

[John Keller]

Yes the attachment is good thanks. Can you tweak the layout to fit in 2 pages neatly? Do you play this yourself?

John

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<Fugue_in_E_flat_Major-Clav..pdf>

[thirdeaglebooks]

I tried to compress the music with Musescore 3 and Musescore 4 but could not quite get it small enough to fit on two pages. Yes, I can play it but I am strictly an amateur pianist.

Several months ago I wrote a three page letter describing my notation along with two pages of illustrations and sent it to 300 colleges and universities with the largest music programs here in the United Sates. It's hard to believe but I did not get a single response. Maybe the problem is that music notation has much more to do with design rather than with music. The interest today appears to be less than it was fifty years ago when I first invented Gabriel notation.

William

[tinma...@gmail.com]

John,
On my website I have a condensed version of Bach's WTC Prelude 1 on one page!
I just hate turning pages.

I don't know about compact, but I do think the page layout matters.
My signature line says it: "Music is Poetry; why print it as Prose?"

I try to make the printout match the form of the music.
For pop songs, this is typically 4 bars per line, 4 lines per page.
And I break lines at phrases, like hymn books, not necessarily at bar lines.
(I mostly use Lilypond for my scores, with ShapeNote noteheads--I also sing--and color-coding of sharps and flats.)

On the other hand, I notice that music publishers often favor 3 bars per line.
Fitting 4 bars on a line on standard printer paper often requires squeezing the notes closer together.

I am just an amateur player, but I've come to the conclusion that, except during the very early learning phases,
I do not actually "read" music--I just use it as a cue to a "memorized" performance of the passage.
So it makes sense that, if I can see a complete musical "thought" in one glance, that's easier to "understand"
than a string of notes stretched out along a line, or even worse, two lines or even two pages.

This is the reason I suspect that "improved" notation is most valuable for beginning learners,
and relatively less useful for professionals who are already experienced with reading standard music.
But I would assume you have formed a much more valid position on that from your use of ExpressStave in your teaching.

Joe Austin
aka DrTechDaddy
"Music is Poetry; why print it as Prose? "

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