25 March 2015

My microtonal notation systems, revisited

I've written about this before, but I've devised two systems of notating microtonal intervals, usually 72 equal divisions to the octave.

The first uses a combination of standard accidentals, quarter-tone symbols (called Tartini-Couper) and standard accidentals with attached arrows. Bartók wrote arrows above notes or accidentals to mark small inflections of time, what he vaguely called "quarter tones", in his own works and transcriptions of folk tunes. I call this system "Tartini-Couper-Bartók", or TCB for short.

The fractions underneath mark fractions of a whole tone (200 cents in 72-edo; 1/12 tone = 16.67 cents):


If I want to indicate exact degrees of 72-tone, I may use shape notes instead. These are normally used in old American hymnals. I took the seven-shape system and adapted them, in a very nonstandard way, where any shape can fall on any note. The regular oval, or 'so' shape, indicates a pitch that does not deviate from 12-tone equal temperament.


Remember, the shapes do not represent the notes of the diatonic "do-re-mi" scale. Also, the shape for 'fa' is turned 180° when the note stem points downward (or, in the case of whole notes, would be if it had a stem).

These are just two possible notation systems. I don't pretend to offer a be-all-end-all solution to anything.

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