Advertisement in Teaching Music magazine.

[William Tapley]

I'm pleased to announce that the music education magazine, "Teaching Music" has printed an advertisement for my new system of music notation, "Gabriel Music Notation" (GMN) in their January 2026 issue. If you receive this publication, my ad is found on page 35 following an article by another author on Guido d'Arezzo. For those who do not subscribe, my advertisement is basically an order form for my four books which describe GMN: "All Keys Are Easy", "Easiest Way to Read Music", "Easy Keyboard for Beginners" and "Christmas Carols". For more information check out my website thirdeaglebooks.com under the "Music" tab. To purchase these books look under the "Book Order Form".

[John Keller]

Congratulations, William Tapley, on getting your Gabriel Music Notation ad in the Teaching Music magazine! 

I was thinking that your system should be listed on the Music Notation Project website.

It does seem to satisfy all the criteria.

I noticed you referred to your web designer “in Australia” on one of your YT videos.

Would you mind letting me know who this it is?

I am trying to set up a website myself.

Best Wishes,

John Keller

Express Stave Pianoforte Notation

On 15 Jan 2026, at 11:01 am, 'William Tapley' via The Music Notation Project | Forum <musicn...@googlegroups.com> wrote:

I'm pleased to announce that the music education magazine, "Teaching Music" has printed an advertisement for my new system of music notation, "Gabriel Music Notation" (GMN) in their January 2026 issue. If you receive this publication, my ad is found on page 35 following an article by another author on Guido d'Arezzo. For those who do not subscribe, my advertisement is basically an order form for my four books which describe GMN: "All Keys Are Easy", "Easiest Way to Read Music", "Easy Keyboard for Beginners" and "Christmas Carols". For more information check out my website thirdeaglebooks.com under the "Music" tab. To purchase these books look under the "Book Order Form".

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[Third Eagle Books]

On Wednesday, January 14, 2026 at 09:07:17 PM EST, John Keller <expres...@gmail.com> wrote:

Congratulations, William Tapley, on getting your Gabriel Music Notation ad in the Teaching Music magazine! 

I was thinking that your system should be listed on the Music Notation Project website.

It does seem to satisfy all the criteria.

I noticed you referred to your web designer “in Australia” on one of your YT videos.

Would you mind letting me know who this it is?

I am trying to set up a website myself.

Best Wishes,

John Keller

Express Stave Pianoforte Notation

Hi John,

I keep her pretty busy myself but I will try to forward this message to her.

William Tapley

On 15 Jan 2026, at 11:01 am, 'William Tapley' via The Music Notation Project | Forum <musicn...@googlegroups.com> wrote:

I'm pleased to announce that the music education magazine, "Teaching Music" has printed an advertisement for my new system of music notation, "Gabriel Music Notation" (GMN) in their January 2026 issue. If you receive this publication, my ad is found on page 35 following an article by another author on Guido d'Arezzo. For those who do not subscribe, my advertisement is basically an order form for my four books which describe GMN: "All Keys Are Easy", "Easiest Way to Read Music", "Easy Keyboard for Beginners" and "Christmas Carols". For more information check out my website thirdeaglebooks.com under the "Music" tab. To purchase these books look under the "Book Order Form".

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[Joseph Austin]

Interesting.  Might I assume that for notes like C-flat or E-sharp, you would use white parallelograms in the same position as the  enharmonic ovals?

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From: 'William Tapley' via The Music Notation Project | Forum <musicn...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Wednesday, January 14, 2026 7:01 PM
To: The Music Notation Project | Forum <musicn...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: [MNP] Advertisement in Teaching Music magazine.

I'm pleased to announce that the music education magazine, "Teaching Music" has printed an advertisement for my new system of music notation, "Gabriel Music Notation" (GMN) in their January 2026 issue. If you receive this publication, my ad is found on page 35 following an article by another author on Guido d'Arezzo. For those who do not subscribe, my advertisement is basically an order form for my four books which describe GMN: "All Keys Are Easy", "Easiest Way to Read Music", "Easy Keyboard for Beginners" and "Christmas Carols". For more information check out my website thirdeaglebooks.com under the "Music" tab. To purchase these books look under the "Book Order Form".

[William Tapley]

In response to Joseph Austin, the notes for white keys are always oval shaped and white in color and the notes for black keys are always rectangular and black. Noteheads for C flat and E sharp as well as double flats and double sharps follow the same rule. They are differentiated by adding one or two "dots" to the printed notehead.  You can find examples on my YouTube video: "Analysis of Chromatic Prelude by Beethoven in Gabriel Music Notation."

[John Keller]

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1NWTR7rtyVJ_LjPF-ZKEG5VYTlnOWlQ57/view

On this scale pdf, there are examples of E# and Cb. But it seems, William, you have two different ways of notating them. 

I like the idea of the white parallelogram inside the oval rather than dots inside the notehead. 

I also saw (somewhere) double sharps and double flats as white key notes with the same shapes.

The only questionable notes would be black key doubles, such as Bx  or Cbb.

Also, I notice mistakes in the Db major scale (key signature 5 flats). F and C should just be normal naturals.

Cheers,

John Keller

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/musicnotation/405c0179-ac31-45bb-9a87-f2284c5c354dn%40googlegroups.com.

[Third Eagle Books]

Hi John, good catch!

Yes, back when I was printing Gabriel notation by hand with tee squares and triangles I placed a white rectangle inside the oval for E#, Cb etc. However, several years ago when I commissioned a computer program to automatically transcribe standard notation into Gabriel I switched to "dots" inside the ovals. The four books I now offer use the "dot" system. Personally, I believe the "dots" are an improvement but either system will work. Ultimately musicians themselves will determine which direction they prefer. Of course, everyone sees things a little differently so maybe there will be adherents for both approaches. Which system do you prefer? Thanks for your input.

William Tapley

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/musicnotation/BDF1FAF7-F22B-415A-9683-24B98D5DDF2E%40gmail.com.

[John Freestone]

Hi William,

I thought I spotted a mistake too, but I might have misunderstood. In the Guide.pdf, under the heading 9B) ACCURATE INTERVALS... the diagram compares TN with Gabriel, and the second chord has an Fb at its root; the Gabriel has what looks like a double flat (from the table further up the page), a black oval with a white parallelogram inside. The TN doesn't seem to show it as 'bb'.

Kind regards,
John F

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/musicnotation/143540521.1037467.1768540992626%40mail.yahoo.com.

[John Keller]

William,

I definitely prefer the white key sharps and flats to be hollow natural ovals with the subtle parallelogram inner shape.

They look at first glance like normal naturals and only reveal as the different enharmonic on a closer look.

So they can be ignored if you want, but named by the correct enharmonic if required. (Like the accidentals in Clairnote)

Gabriel Notation has some similarity with my Express Stave. 

The keyboard symmetry about D is mirrored in the staff notation, and the alphabet unit ABCDEFG is neatly centred in each stave.

Also the fact it is a 7/5 system, aligning with the keyboard (and with standard note naming terminology across all instruments).

I like that sharps and flats (or rather, black keys) are black parallelograms but slightly oriented differently. Again a subtle cue.

I am not so keen on the uneven stave line spacing and the way B and F notes look.

Your web designer has contacted me. Thanks for that!

John Keller

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/musicnotation/143540521.1037467.1768540992626%40mail.yahoo.com.

[Joseph Austin]

A Proposal: Transposed Gabriel Music Notation

It seems that the lines in Gabriel notation correspond to the "cracks" on the keyboard between F-F# and Bb-B, thus dividing the keyboard into groups of 5 and 7 keys.  But the keyboard is already more intuitively divided 5-7 between B-C and E-F. By a simple transposition of GMN, the lines could represent B-C and E-F. Thus, the smaller space would contain two black keys while the larger space contained three. The notes "on" lines would always be white, and trivial to locate on the keyboard. I think this would make piano music reading even more intuitive.

Joe Austin  aka DrTech Daddy

"Music is poetry; why print it as prose?" 

---

From: 'William Tapley' via The Music Notation Project | Forum <musicn...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Wednesday, January 14, 2026 7:01 PM
To: The Music Notation Project | Forum <musicn...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: [MNP] Advertisement in Teaching Music magazine.

I'm pleased to announce that the music education magazine, "Teaching Music" has printed an advertisement for my new system of music notation, "Gabriel Music Notation" (GMN) in their January 2026 issue. If you receive this publication, my ad is found on page 35 following an article by another author on Guido d'Arezzo. For those who do not subscribe, my advertisement is basically an order form for my four books which describe GMN: "All Keys Are Easy", "Easiest Way to Read Music", "Easy Keyboard for Beginners" and "Christmas Carols". For more information check out my website thirdeaglebooks.com under the "Music" tab. To purchase these books look under the "Book Order Form".

[John F]

Hi Joe, William, and everyone,

Those are the staff lines my notation uses! I'm pleased to hear you suggest using the cracks between the white notes - those two groups seem to stand out the most on the keyboard (though other instruments are available). I hit upon the idea about four years ago when I first got serious about designing an AN and joined the group (I tried just about every other combination of lines I could before that!). It may be a little while yet before I publish. I'm writing an app to transcribe MusicXML and/or MIDI into my notation - current working title, "Freenote". Anyway, I don't want to hijack the thread.

Congratulations William!

As you were, guys,

John F

[John Keller]

Gabriel Notation, Joe's transposed idea and now FreeNote use their staff lines as the ‘cracks' between the piano keys, and divide the staff into 5 and 7 units.

As I see it, the problem with this is that no note then actually goes right ON each line, ie across each line neatly.

I think William's idea was to have a white key and a black key each side of the line for the crack, rather than two white keys, 

since the latter would be more prone to mix ups with both crossing the line in proportions 1/3 and 2/3.

Express Stave on the other hand divides the staff into 6 and 6 units and each line does represent a note, namely D and ‘L’, the two centres of symmetry.

Cheers,

John Keller

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/musicnotation/6cac6388-16a6-46b6-9b6a-dcfdaf80b68en%40googlegroups.com.

[Third Eagle Books]

To John Keller and Joe Austin:

When I first devised Gabriel notation, I arranged the notes as you suggested with the three black key grouping in the wider section and the two black key grouping in the narrow section which seemed the most logical arrangement. I soon discovered a problem: since the two oval notes intersected lines,  B-C and E-F looked similar. Also 4 of the 5 black rectangular notes were tangent to lines and again looked very similar. With the current Gabriel schema, each line is intersected by one white oval note and one black rectangular note thus providing greater visual contrast. Also, 3 of the 5 black notes intersect lines rather than sitting tangent on them which also increases their visual identification. (You run into the same problem if you use white notes to indicate black keys and black notes to indicate white keys). Although it is counter intuitive, the current Gabriel design is much more legible and from my personal experience is easier to learn. 

Thanks for your interest and input, William Tapley

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/musicnotation/6B4955CA-AC59-4362-91CE-3CD9BA3769A0%40gmail.com.

[John Freestone]

I agree entirely with John Keller's point, also reiterated by you, William (and it's interesting you started with that idea and changed it to the current staff). Differentiating the 'crack notes' is one of the biggest challenges I faced in designing Freenote, and definitely remains a weakness despite some visual tweaks (a simple solution would be to use a different head shape, although you have quite a few already with specific meanings, and I do too with other meanings).

The process of designing alternative notations involves making compromises, and for me the 'small' and 'large' groups (C-E and F-B) came higher in my priority list. I took the lead from Cornelis Pot on that one. I notice immediately that I would have to learn most other AN staffs, whereas I look at Klavarskribo and Freenote and I virtually just see the notes of the keyboard.

I'm just pleased that we're offering more choice for music learners, and one notation will suit each learner better than another.

Returning to your point, John - you said crack notes would cross the line in proportion 1/3 and 2/3 - but I thought Gabriel noteheads overlapped each other by 1/3. If that's the case, wouldn't each crack note overlap the line by only 1/6? That should be enough for fairly easy recognition.
John F

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/musicnotation/399655904.1445155.1768621598042%40mail.yahoo.com.

[Joseph Austin]

Those familiar with my history will recall that I also advocate for shape notes, and have proposed the Chromatonnetz system with a different notehead shape/color for each tone in the chromatic scale.

I had even proposed "house" shaped pentagons for distinguishing notes without any staff. In principle that would distinguish between two notes "on" a crack line.  Unfortunately, I no longer have a working system for creating Chromatonnetz (computers keep changing) so I haven't tested my noteheads, or even Gabriel's, on the Transposed Gabriel staff. 

I will look into ScaleShift as a possibility.

If the hype about AI is true, we may soon be able to create software for a satisfactory transcriber/editor for ANs. Unfortunately, having retired from academia some years ago, I'm no longer personally "in the loop" for the latest advance in software engineering.

BTW,  I thought at one time my Chromatonnetz was on the MNP website, but I can't find it anymore.

Joseph Austin aka DrTechDaddy

"Music is Poetry; why print it as prose?"

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From: musicn...@googlegroups.com <musicn...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of John Freestone <j.r.fr...@gmail.com>
Sent: Saturday, January 17, 2026 8:35 AM
To: musicn...@googlegroups.com <musicn...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: [MNP] Advertisement in Teaching Music magazine.

 

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/musicnotation/19ceea40-f478-4612-9446-336f0c288a0d%40gmail.com.

[Joseph Austin]

William,

I'm curious why you scored the Ave Maria in D, given that the Bach Prelude typically used as the accompaniment is in C.

Joe Austin

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From: Joseph Austin <drtec...@gmail.com>
Sent: Saturday, January 17, 2026 12:41 PM

[Douglas Keislar]

Joe,

Re: BTW,  I thought at one time my Chromatonnetz was on the MNP website, but I can't find it anymore.

It seems the MNP site no longer has a search function, but I found your system here:

https://musicnotation.org/systems/gallery/

https://musicnotation.org/system/chromatonnetz-by-joe-austin/

Doug

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/musicnotation/DU2P193MB2324229A507AC133723E2897A18AA%40DU2P193MB2324.EURP193.PROD.OUTLOOK.COM.

[Third Eagle Books]

To Joe Austin:

The C major scale is more difficult to play than either D major or B major. The C major scale is taught first because without accidentals it is easier to read in standard notation. Given the chance, I like to transpose into keys with many sharps and flats because they are easier to play and with Gabriel notation, easier to read. In the future, scales with 4, 5, or 6 sharps and flats will be the first scales taught. Thanks for the comment.

William Tapley

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/musicnotation/CAO-VhJqywMfQd0bWC8%3DBskXu0RiKTfgkd26svdi8gKYLfR1teQ%40mail.gmail.com.