ABC MUSIC NOTATION Ailler-Brennink Chromatic Notation
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Albert Brennink ABC MUSIC NOTATION Ailler-Brennink Chromatic Notation araumus Association for Research of an Alternative and Universal Music Notation araumus Our music has developed from the Middle Ages and there are five new black keys on the organ to the 21st century in giant steps. It is the deve- keyboard. Yet there have been no great changes to lopment from the church modes of the Gregorian the essence of notation; a fifth line was added to Chant to more modern modes and atonality, or from the staff and the accidentals were invented for the seven notes to twelve notes in the octave. Our mu- black keys on the keyboard. sic notation is still lagging slightly behind this rapid development. Therefore the ARAUMUS Associati- It seems to have taken a long time for the world of on has set itself the task of finding or developing an music to realize that this is a poor, makeshift soluti- alternative notation for more modern music. To this on. After all, musical performances were becoming end, the already known proposals for alternative more and more magnificent. Today, however, after notations will first be tested. Secondly, after an having advanced from diatonic to atonal music, and evaluation, the best notations will be compared. since pianos and organs are tuned not only to be And thirdly, one dodecaphonic music notation well-tempered, but also to be in equal temperament, will be provided for future use as an alternative to we have come to the point where a new dodecapho- traditional notation. nic or twelve-tone notation is urgently needed. Research into the history of European music The notation proposals primarily target the repre- notation has long since been accomplished. sentation of the black keys on the keyboard. What Therefore in this review we will only go back as we need is a notational system in which there is far as attempts at alternative notations have been a fixed place for every one of the 12 notes of the published. Through the centuries music notation octave, i.e. a staff system for the chromatic scale. has developed in both theory and practical use, not only positively but, unfortunately, also negatively. With note symbols moving from a line into a space Therefore it is not surprising that active musicians between two lines, we will need six lines and six suggested improvements as early as the eighteenth spaces for 12 notes. The result is a staff with six century. lines. However, this is not enough, because music can move further, maybe to the next octave and The system of a horizontal staff of four lines with on the grand piano keyboard there are up to seven the note symbols, called neumes, developed during octaves. This example already shows how compli- the late Middle Ages and worked well for the cated music can be. church modes that were used in Gregorian Chants. It is based on the system of a graph, in which pitch The first known musician to publish an alternative is shown on the vertical and duration on the hori- notation with a staff and note symbols was Roualle zontal extension. de Boisgelou in 1764 in Paris. He used a staff with seven lines. We will not go into more detail In the church modes the octave had only seven here. It is sufficient to know that mainly during the notes and organs had only the white keys on the 19th and 20th century new proposals were made keyboard. In this article we cannot pursue the whys continuously. In 1985, an association was founded and wherefores of musical developments. But four in the USA* to conduct research into this particular hundred years later we have 12 notes in the octave subject and in 1997 a Directory of Notation Pro- 2 araumus posals was published with 548 notation proposals. of a new global or universal music notation. This number indicates the importance of searching If it becomes obvious in future that music of earlier for a better solution. centuries can be played from sight more easily when it is printed in the new notation – and not Fortunately, there have always been committed only by beginners, but also by more advanced individuals who have carried out intensive research musicians – some music publishers might enter the work in this field on their own initiative. However, scene and start publishing new editions of master- so far the official world of music has not heeded pieces from the early times of equal temperament the current situation. And the music publishers are to modern times. We are convinced that with this guarding their storerooms filled with music books, initiative we are providing a valuable service to the as if someone was planning to commit burglary. world of music and we hope that future generations will be able to benefit from the advantages of the One pioneer of a new world, Arnold Schoenberg, new music notation. showed the way when he said and wrote that in the same way as in his time children had to learn two Time has not stood still over the last fifty years and alphabets, the German and the Latin handwriting, today we are able to offer alternative music nota- similarly in future musicians would have to learn tions as complete ready-to-use systems. As a first two music notations. In view of the efforts of many new notational system we present here the ABC individuals with a similar vision who have invented Notation by Albert Brennink. After thirty years in new notations, these ideas should no longer simply Canada, the author has returned to Europe and is a be rejected. Instead it is necessary to cooperate to member of our Association. find a satisfactory solution. Here we would like to point out that the new music notation was initially developed for the age of the dodecaphonic scale, the equal temperament 12-tone scale. We should also remember that in China, for example, the temple bells represent exactly this scale. The application of the two whole-tone scales Feng and Huang, which when played alternately result in the 12-tone scale also originated in China. This is also known as the semi-tone scale. The chromatic scale, which was introduced into Europe- an music in the nineteenth century (Wagner), appa- * engl.: staff, staves = Liniensystem rently already existed in other parts of the globe in * Music Notation Modernization Association prehistoric times. Therefore it is possible to speak P.O. Box 241, Kirksville, Missouri, 63501 USA 3 araumus Albert Brennink ABC MUSIC NOTATION Ailler-Brennink Chromatic Notation * After 40 years of intensive research work and side by side; the English title was The Chromatic more than 30 publications, the ABC Notation is a Notation, a Graphical Representation of Music. complete notational system. The existence of 20 music books printed in chromatic notation provides In the following year, a charitable non-profit foun- sufficient proof of its usefulness. Following a dation for the reform of music notation, 'Fondation review of the historical developments, we will give Chroma', was founded in Montreux, Switzerland, an introduction to the main characteristics of this the author's residence, and the publishing company notation as well as a complete list of publications. moved from Frankfurt to Montreux VD, Switzer- land. In 1978 the French and Italian version of the Albert Brennink, an architect by profession, has booklet was also published: La Notation Chroma- occupied himself with music since childhood; his tique, l'écriture par demi-tons, une representation instruments are piano and harpsichord plus organ graphique de la musique and La Notazione Croma- and voice. Early on he became irritated by the tica, una rappresentazione grafica della musica. inadequacy of our traditional music notation and experimented with alternative solutions, trying the Accompanying the first booklet, in 1976, the first keyboard notation Klavarskribo, published in 1931, three Contrapuncti of J.S. Bach's The Art of Fugue for instance. ** were also published in Chromatic Notation as an example of more complicated music. However, as a result of these early experiments he came to the conclusion that we need a notation A press conference was organized at the Frank- based on the chromatic scale which shows pitch furt Book Fair and a review by the notation in exact proportion. After more research work and expert Karkoschka appeared in the Swiss music some discarded experiments, his efforts finally re- magazine Schweizerische Musikzeitschrift. But sulted in the complete system of his ABC Notation. there was little reaction. However, one remark in Karkoschka's review struck the author: “Once In 1975 his system was ready for printing. He visi- more, one of around 50 new notational proposals.” ted 12 music publishers in person and all of them If there were already so many proposals, what did turned his booklet down. Therefore he saw himself they look like? compelled to start his own music publishing company. In 1976 the EDITION CHROMA was To obtain more information Brennink organized founded in Frankfurt am Main, West Germany (as a an international enquiry for new notations, starting branch of dipa-Verlag + Druck GmbH). The book- with music magazines in Europe. After emigrating let with only 26 pages appeared in print for the first to Canada in 1979, he did the same in North and time in 1976: Albert Brennink Die Halbtonschrift South America and overseas. In 1983 the results oder Die chromatische Notation, eine graphische were published simultaneously by 'Fondation Chro- Darstellung der Musik. The booklet was printed in ma' in Montreux VD, Switzerland (the German a two column layout, showing German and English version) and by 'Chroma Foundation' in Victoria 4 araumus BC, Canada (the English version) under the title: refused.