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-

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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

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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

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BC, Canada (the English version) under the title: refused. As the 70-year waiting period after the Chromatic Notation, the Results and Conclusions author's death had not yet elapsed, Brennink deci- of the International Enquiry by the Chroma Foun- ded to create his own dodecaphonic music. dation. While the international enquiry was still running, he published the composition Blütezeit or Blossom The international enquiry brought more than 100 Time. He composed a cycle of songs based on his proposals for alternative notations. Many of these own lyrics in the form of a cycle of sonnets. As the concerned improvements to the traditional notation, musical basis he used the two whole-tone scales for instance by marking the note heads instead of and in this way new music, real six-tone music having accidentals. Others showed new instrument developed. Thus in 1983 the first musical compo- notations for the strings of a guitar or for the keys sition in ABC Notation was published: Blossom of a piano. We have only collected notations that Time, A Cycle of Songs for Voice and Piano. The show the chromatic scale with exact equivalency of book contains 22 songs; all lyrics are in German the note steps. Here we have to distinguish between and English, translated by Alex Page, Amhurst, two kinds: firstly, the graphical representation of Massachusets, USA. half steps and, secondly, the graphical representati- on of whole steps. The first performance by Michael Kreikenbaum, baritone, and Joachim Hess, piano, took place on 3 The difference is that with a half-step graph each November 1986 at the Kurtheater Bad Homburg. half step moves up or down; while with a whole- The musicians played according to the ABC Nota- step graph only the whole steps move up or down; tion. A second performance took place on 27 April every second half step, however, stays on the same 1988 at the School of Music in Cologne (Musik- line and a different note head shows the half-step hochschule Köln), and a third one on 18 August move. These whole-step notations do not fulfil our 1988 at the University of East Anglia in Norwich, first criteria and are not dealt with in detail. England, in connection with an international conference of the Music Notation Modernization The final result showed 24 half-step notations and Association, MNMA. Up to now the Blossom Time eight whole-step notations. The half-step notations song cycle has been performed 12 times. then went through a further evaluation, for which the staff system became the main criterion. As a The abbreviation MNMA brings us onto a new final result, two staff systems of four-line staves subject. The international enquiry set a ball rolling plus two ledger lines for each octave seemed to be which is still rolling today: the idea of improving the best solution, the systems published by Albert music notation. Musicians who were discontent Brennink in 1976 and by Franz Grassel in 1983. with the old notation suddenly had a contact point and were able to find like-minded individuals. To demonstrate the usefulness of the ABC Notati- on, Brennink had planned to show piano pieces by In this way, on 29 June 1983 Thomas S. Reed Arnold Schoenberg and contacted the Schoenberg with his wife Mabel and two children came from Foundation in Los Angeles. The author's son Law- Kirksville in Missouri, USA, and arrived on Van- rence Schoenberg gladly gave his permission, but couver Island in Canada to meet the organizer of the publishers, who had the first rights to publish, the international enquiry. From the first meeting on,

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a friendly cooperation developed. It was possible characteristic details, is presented. In a later chapter to make great progress in the research activities musical examples are compared in the old and new because Tom Reed had already gathered around notation, and finally whole-page music pieces are him a circle of notation specialists and had been shown in the new notation. In 1994, the French and sending out his 6–6 Newsletter for many years. the Chinese versions were published and became the standard work in the field of music notation After the first contact and further consultations, research. the idea of organizing an association for alternative notation research arose and Tom Reed took on While this publication opened the doorway to a the task of heading up this organization. In 1985 new era of music representation, the year 1993, in Kirksville, Missouri, USA, the Music Notation with the computer program NoteWriter and its ad- Modernization Association, MNMA, a charitable aptation for the ABC Notation brought material and (non-profit) organization, was founded. The mem- tools for building a new world of music books. As bers were amateur and professional musicians, well as publishing his own compositions, Brennink teachers, composers and other notation inventors. also edited and published 20 music books from At its peak the association had 130 members in 17 Bach to Debussy, including such comprehensive different countries. titles as J. S. Bach's The Well-Tempered Clavier, I and II with 48 preludes and fugues. He proved that Independently of this organization, in 1987 Gardner the ABC Notation is not only easy to read and clear Read published a Source Book of Proposed Music and instructive for theory studies such as voice Notation Reform at Greenwood Press Inc. with leading, but can also become a visual, aesthetical 99 notation proposals. Within this list, alongside pleasure due to its simple graphical representation. Brennink's notation, there is another notation with four line staves per octave; it was published in In 2001 Brennink also published a Tutorial for 1904 by Johann Ailler in Stetteldorf am Wagram piano and organ playing according to chromatic (Austria). Since this discovery Albert Brennink's notation, with the co-operation of Joachim Hess, notation has been called the Ailler-Brennink Chro- pianist, and Carsten Lenz, organist, volume I. In matic Notation. this book, the ABC Notation is explained in detail. In the part for beginners, the first exercises are not Meanwhile Brennink's research work continued on the keys C, D, E, but on the black keys F-sharp, and, after improving some details, he was able to G-sharp, A-sharp, because this is the most obvious present his ABC Notation as a final edition. In 1992 group of keys on the keyboard and easiest to the English version Equal Temperament Music recognize. The notes have the names of the system Notation, The Ailler-Brennink Chromatic Notation, 'do-re-mi' with new names for the black keys. The results and conclusions of music notation reform book is for beginners, not for small children. by the Chroma Foundation was published; and in the same year the German version Wohltemperierte After having published his book on architecture Notenschrift also appeared. Structural Architecture (later also in German), Brennink created his last music book in 2009: J. In this book 56 chromatic notations are examined S. Bach The Art of Fugue in Proportional Music and as a final result the ABC Notation, with all its Notation. Instead of using the term 'ABC Notation',

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the author writes 'proportional notation', because * There is no patent involved. proportional representation of pitch is the main ** Klavarskribo, P.O.Box 39, NL-2980 AA Ridder- element of his notation. An introduction in German kerk, Netherlands and English begins with the words: “Make structure visible and make it pleasing the eye”. These words originate from his architectural philosophy, but are equally valid for music.

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System of ABC Notation

The system of ABC Notation is shown here with a few examples. The two main advantages compared to traditional notation are:

1. Instead of five traditional clefs, there is justone clef, the ABC Grand Staff. 2. There are no accidentals, because the staff is based on the chromatic scale.

The ABC Notation is built on the system of a graph, where pitch is shown on the vertical and Example 2: The ABC-grand staff duration on the horizontal extension. The chromatic scale, on which our system is based, has 12 notes in the octave. To represent these 12 steps, we need six lines and six spaces. With two octaves and 12 lines the situation is made readable by the omission of two lines in each six line staff and by putting notes in the now wider space on two ledger lines. Thus we have a four-line staff with two ledger lines for each octave. For clarity and ease of reading both of these two ledger lines have to be printed.

Example 1: System of a graph  The ABC Grand Staff is a continuous octave scale. An octave is the eighth note of a diatonic Example 3: The four-line staff for one octave scale (let us say C major); physically it is double the note's frequency (for instance the distance of  the note a' = 440 frequency to a" = 880 frequency). In the grand staff the octaves are numbered 1 to 7 from bottom to top. As music usually develops around the middle octave, a special frame marks the middle octave no. 4. The four-line staff for two octaves

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If in the course of the piece an octave extension is In the ABC Notation the note C is always on the needed, another four-line staff can be added to the top line of the four-line staff. Thereby the chroma- system. tic scale follows as pictured in Example 6. The note A is situated in the middle space of the four-line staff.

Für Musiker, die gerne auf die Tasten der Klaviatur schauen, wenn sie an Musik denken, ist die Erken- For musicians who like to look at a keyboard when thinking of music, recognition is made easy: the Example 4: Staff extension bunch of three black keys on the keyboard, with the note F-sharp on the left or as the first key, matches If there is not enough space for extending the staff the four-line staff with F-sharp on the bottom or system, the new octave number is framed and first line. printed into the existing staff. As the scope of the human voice does not reach far over two octaves, we need only one or two staves to notate music for the human voice. The same is true for most of the orchestra instruments. For organ and harpsichord we need four staves and for the grand piano it can go up to seven staves. However, this practically never happens because it is very rare to play on the lowest and the highest octave at the same time. In principle, only staves Example 5: Staves with octave numbers where there are notes should be printed.

Example 6: Note names

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Example 7: Notes and rests leading. In a four-part piece the bass always has the  stem on the left, the tenor on the right, alto on the One important detail of the ABC Notation should left and soprano on the right. The bass is the main be singled out: the new application of the note indicator. Therefore, with a three- part piece, the stem. Contrary to traditional notation where the soprano has the stem on the left. note stem is only used up to the right and down to the left, in the ABC Notation the stem can also be used up to the left and down to the right. In piano music we make use of this possibility in two diffe- rent ways.

As we have only one clef – there is no F-clef for the left hand and G-clef for the right hand – we use the note stem for marking the hands: stem to the right is right hand, and stem to the left is left hand. Example 9: Voice leading

Finally a few important remarks remain to be made. Making use of the traditional note symbols is quite a relief for professional musicians who will have to acquire two notations. They need only get used to the new staff system, which might take about four weeks of practice. Here are the words of the pianist Joachim Hess: “If I think back, in how little time (about 2 –3 weeks) it was possible to play your Example 8: Note stem music and how easy it has been since then to chan- ge from traditional to your chromatic notation, and The second application of the note stem is for be it for one evening only, then in my view – there polyphonic music, especially for recognizing voice should be no substantial obstruction to introducing

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the new notation.” * appear in smaller print and the latter squeezed three different half steps into a slightly wider space Composers might be grateful for the only change, between the staff lines with the aid of angled ledger the symbols for whole and half rest, because the old lines. The many inventors who sculptured the note symbols, above or under the line, are not easy to heads into triangular or other shapes for indicating place when writing fast. half steps are only mentioned in passing here. They apparently did not realize that a note is only a dot, a Notwithstanding the fact that in ABC Notation somewhat enlarged dot, on a line. more space is needed in the vertical extension, the usage of space on paper is generally the same as The fact that the grand staff is not a new invention in traditional notation. This was the great surprise at all seems to have bypassed the world of experts. when the first music books printed in ABC Nota- Even in The Oxford Companion to Music you can tion were published. Abolishing the accidentals read: “This is a fictional notational device rather generally saves so much space in the horizontal unnecessarily introduced by musical pedagogues extension that it balances out the greater amount of for explaining the clefs”. Apparently the knowledge space used in the vertical. had been lost that J. S. Bach, his family and circle of musicians were writing and playing harpsichord By arguing that five more notes in the octave and organ music according to a grand staff system. will need more space on paper, many notation They made use of a combination of F-clef with inventors have been mistaken. Even maestros such C-clef on the bottom line (soprano clef). The space as Busoni and Schoenberg were not sufficiently between the two systems is made very narrow, and well-informed in this respect: they did not know only the note B is placed into this space. This is a of or discarded the possibility of a grand staff. To perfect grand staff in the old system. save on space, the former had the higher octaves

Example 10: Bach's grand staff

Please compare with the manuscript edition (Faksimile-Ausgabe): J. S. Bach: Orgelbüchlein, Bärenreiter 1981, J. S. Bach: Klavierbüchlein für Anna Magdalena Bach 1725, Bärenreiter 1988, J. S. Bach: Die Kunst der Fuge (VEB Deutscher Verlag für Musik Leipzig 1979) Musikverlag B. Schott's Söhne. 11 araumus

Albert Brennink PUBLICATIONS

EDITION CHROMA

The newsletter Chroma Report was published quarterly from July 1997 until 2000 and half-yearly from Spring 2000 until Fall 2001; in total 16 issues. Issues included discussions of notation proposals by Schoenberg and Busoni. The last two years were in three languages: English, French and German.

Manuscript Paper with 4-line-staves, format: height 42 cm x 29 cm 10 sheets 5, - €

Please order on our website: www.araumus.com

Legend:

* The size is, if not indicated differently, (hight) 27, 5 cm x 21, 5 cm

hc = hard cover / sc = soft cover

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Books about the ABC Notation by Albert Brennink

1 1976 Die Halbtonschrift oder Die Chromatische Notation, eine graphische Darstellung der Musik The Chromatic Notation, a graphical Representation of Music booklet A 5 * 26 pages cs sold out

2 1978 La Notation Chromatique ou L'Ecriture par Demi-Tones Une representation graphique de la musique La Notatione Chromatica, una reprezentatione grafica della musica booklet A 5 * 26 pages cs sold out

3 1983 Chromatische Notation Die Ergebnisse und Schlussfolgerungen der internationalen Umfrage durch die Fondation Chroma, format 31 x 23, 5 cm 48 pages cs sold out

4 1983 Chromatic Notation The results and conclusions of the international enquiry by the Chroma Foundation, format 31 x 23, 5 cm 48 pages cs sold out

5 1992 Equal Temperament Music Notation Results and conclusions of the music notation reform by the Chroma Foundation 96 pages hc 25, - €

6 1992 Wohltemperierte Notenschrift Ergebnisse und Schlussfolgerungen der Notenschrift-Reform durch die Chroma-Stiftung 96 pages hc 25, - €

7 1994 Le Temperament Egal en Notation Musicale La Notation Chromatique Ailler Brennink Results et conclusions de la réforme de la notation musicale par la Fondation Chroma 96pages hc 25, - €

8 1994 Chinese Version of Equal Temperament Music Notation 112 pages hc 25, - €

9 2001 Tutorial for Piano and Organ Playing according to Chromatic Notation, Part I in co-operation with Joachim Hess, Pianist, and Carsten Lenz, Organist. (broadside) 52 pages sc 20, - €

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Music Books in ABC-Notation edited by Albert Brennink

10 1976 The first Three Contrapuncti from J. S. Bach's 'The Art of Fugue' in ABC Notation as a supplement to the booklet "The Chromatic Notation" Format A4 12 pages sc sold out

A. BRENNINK 11 1983 Blütezeit, ein Lieder-Zyklus für eine Singstimme und Klavier Blossom-Time, a cycle of songs for voice and piano 22 Gesänge, 22 cantos; German & Englisch Format 33 cm x 25, 5 cm 76 pages sc 40, - €

J. S. BACH 12 1995 The Well-Tempered Clavier I Foreword: English, French, German 118 plus 10 pages hc 40, - €

J. S. BACH 13 1996 The Well-Tempered Clavier II Foreword: English, French, German 138 plus 10 pages hc 45, - €

J. S. BACH 14 1996 Organ Works I Orgel-Büchlein with 4 Faksimiles (broadside) Foreword: English, French, German 86 plus 10 pages hc 35, - €

Albert Brennink 15 1996 Christmas-Sinfonia (broadside) 44 pages sc 20, - € Four organ pieces wherein a transition is performed from a subject with the tonality of the whole-tone scale to a chorale melody with diatonic tonality.

J. S. BACH 16 1997 Inventions and Sinfonias With introduction by Joh. Seb. Bach 1723 62 plus 10 pages sc 20, - €

J. S. BACH 17 1998 Organ Works II Chorale Partitas and Schübler Chorales Broadside 21, 5 cm x 31 cm 84 pages sc 25, - €

J. S. BACH 18 1998 Chromatic Fantasia und Fugue 16 Seiten sc 10, - €

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J. S. BACH 19 1999 Organ Works III Preludes und Fugues Part I Broadside 21, 5 cm x 31 cm 116 pages sc 30, - €

J. S. BACH 20 1999 Clavier-Exercises Part I: Partitas With a dedication by the author 1731 114 plus 10pages sc 30, - €

L. van BEETHOVEN 21 1999 Sonatinas and Early Sonatas 54 plus 6 pages sc 20, - €

L. van BEETHOVEN 22 2000 Rondos and Other Piano Pieces 48 plus 6 pages sc 20, - €

R. SCHUMANN 23 2000 Album for the Young Volume I composed in 1848 for younger players 22 plus 6 pages sc 15, - €

R. SCHUMANN 24 2000 Album for the Young Volume II composed in 1848 for more advanced players 40 plus 6 pages sc 20, - €

R. SCHUMANN 25 2000 Kinderszenen 16 pages sc sold out

F. MENDELSSOHN-BARTHOLDY 26 2000 17 Variations Serieuses 22 pages sc 15, - €

J. S. BACH 27 2001 Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring and 12 pages sc 10, - € 4 Chorales from Orgelbüchlein for Piano

C. A. DEBUSSY 28 2002 Children's Corner petite suite pour piano seul 1906 – 1908 24 pages sc 15, - €

C. A. DEBUSSY 29 2003 Two Arabesques 1888 16 pages sc 10, - €

J. S. BACH 30 2009 The Art of Fugue in proportional notation Introduction in German and English 82 plus 14 pages hc 30, - € sc 25, - € 15 ARAUMUS e.V. Association for Research of an Alternative and Universal Music Notation

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araumus

Association for Research of an Alternative and Universal Music Notation