Graphic notation
Encyclopedia
Graphic notation is the representation of music through the use of visual symbols outside the realm of traditional music notation. Graphic notation evolved in the 1950s, and it is often used in combination with traditional music notation. Composers often rely on graphic notation in experimental music
, where standard musical notation can be ineffective.
composers such as Morton Feldman
, Karlheinz Stockhausen
and Krzysztof Penderecki
as well as the works of experimental
composers such as John Cage
and Earle Brown
during the 1950s and 60s. In the late 1970s, the Brazilian composer Emanuel Dimas de Melo Pimenta
started producing graphic notation in four dimensions, inside virtual reality.
After working as Stockhausen's assistant, Cornelius Cardew
began work on a massive graphic score, which he titled Treatise
. The piece consists of 193 pages of highly abstract scores. The score itself is almost its own separate work of art.
In 2008, Theresa Sauer edited a compendium featuring graphic scores by composers from over fifty countries, demonstrating how widespread the practice has become.
This notation may be, like music on traditional staves, a time-pitch
graph system. In the above example, time is still represented by reading left-to-right.
Experimental music
Experimental music refers, in the English-language literature, to a compositional tradition which arose in the mid-20th century, applied particularly in North America to music composed in such a way that its outcome is unforeseeable. Its most famous and influential exponent was John Cage...
, where standard musical notation can be ineffective.
History
A common aspect of graphic notation is the use of symbols to convey information to the performer about the way the piece is to be performed. These symbols first began to appear in the works of avant-gardeAvant-garde
Avant-garde means "advance guard" or "vanguard". The adjective form is used in English to refer to people or works that are experimental or innovative, particularly with respect to art, culture, and politics....
composers such as Morton Feldman
Morton Feldman
Morton Feldman was an American composer, born in New York City.A major figure in 20th century music, Feldman was a pioneer of indeterminate music, a development associated with the experimental New York School of composers also including John Cage, Christian Wolff, and Earle Brown...
, Karlheinz Stockhausen
Karlheinz Stockhausen
Karlheinz Stockhausen was a German composer, widely acknowledged by critics as one of the most important but also controversial composers of the 20th and early 21st centuries. Another critic calls him "one of the great visionaries of 20th-century music"...
and Krzysztof Penderecki
Krzysztof Penderecki
Krzysztof Penderecki , born November 23, 1933 in Dębica) is a Polish composer and conductor. His 1960 avant-garde Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima for string orchestra brought him to international attention, and this success was followed by acclaim for his choral St. Luke Passion. Both these...
as well as the works of experimental
Experimental music
Experimental music refers, in the English-language literature, to a compositional tradition which arose in the mid-20th century, applied particularly in North America to music composed in such a way that its outcome is unforeseeable. Its most famous and influential exponent was John Cage...
composers such as John Cage
John Cage
John Milton Cage Jr. was an American composer, music theorist, writer, philosopher and artist. A pioneer of indeterminacy in music, electroacoustic music, and non-standard use of musical instruments, Cage was one of the leading figures of the post-war avant-garde...
and Earle Brown
Earle Brown
Earle Brown was an American composer who established his own formal and notational systems...
during the 1950s and 60s. In the late 1970s, the Brazilian composer Emanuel Dimas de Melo Pimenta
Emanuel Dimas de Melo Pimenta
Emanuel Dimas de Melo Pimenta is a Brazilian musician, architect, and intermedia artist. His works have been included in art collections and have been recognized by institutions such as the Whitney Museum of New York, the Ars Aevi Contemporary Art Museum, the Venice Biennale, the Kunsthaus Zürich,...
started producing graphic notation in four dimensions, inside virtual reality.
After working as Stockhausen's assistant, Cornelius Cardew
Cornelius Cardew
Cornelius Cardew was an English experimental music composer, and founder of the Scratch Orchestra, an experimental performing ensemble. He later rejected the avant-garde in favour of a politically motivated "people's liberation music".-Biography:Cardew was born in Winchcombe, Gloucestershire...
began work on a massive graphic score, which he titled Treatise
Treatise (music)
Treatise is a musical composition by British composer Cornelius Cardew . Treatise is a graphic musical score comprising 193 pages of lines, symbols, and various geometric or abstract shapes that eschew conventional musical notation...
. The piece consists of 193 pages of highly abstract scores. The score itself is almost its own separate work of art.
In 2008, Theresa Sauer edited a compendium featuring graphic scores by composers from over fifty countries, demonstrating how widespread the practice has become.
Examples of Graphic Notation
- Graphic scores, in which the music is represented using symbols and illustrations:
This notation may be, like music on traditional staves, a time-pitch
Pitch (music)
Pitch is an auditory perceptual property that allows the ordering of sounds on a frequency-related scale.Pitches are compared as "higher" and "lower" in the sense associated with musical melodies,...
graph system. In the above example, time is still represented by reading left-to-right.
- Line staves showing relative pitchRelative pitchThe term relative pitch may denote:* the distance of a musical note from a set point of reference, e.g. "three octaves above middle C"* a musician's ability to identify the intervals between given tones, regardless of their relation to concert pitch * the skill used by singers to correctly sing a...
, with the actual pitches being decided upon performance.
- Altered Notation can be seen in George CrumbGeorge CrumbGeorge Crumb is an American composer of contemporary classical music. He is noted as an explorer of unusual timbres, alternative forms of notation, and extended instrumental and vocal techniques. Examples include seagull effect for the cello , metallic vibrato for the piano George Crumb (born...
's work where he uses traditional notation but presents the music on the page in a graphic or nontraditional manner such as spirals or circles.
Composers who have used graphic notation
Practitioners of graphic notation include:- Cathy BerberianCathy BerberianCatherine Anahid Berberian was an American soprano and composer. She interpreted contemporary avant-garde music composed, among others, by Luciano Berio, Bruno Maderna, John Cage, Henri Pousseur, Sylvano Bussotti, Darius Milhaud, Roman Haubenstock-Ramati , Igor Stravinsky.She also interpreted...
- John BergamoJohn BergamoJohn Bergamo is an American percussionist and composer. Since 1970 he has been the coordinator of the percussion department at the California Institute of the Arts....
- Anthony BraxtonAnthony BraxtonAnthony Braxton is an American composer, saxophonist, clarinettist, flautist, pianist, and philosopher. Braxton has released well over 100 albums since the 1960s...
- André BoucourechlievAndré BoucourechlievAndré Boucourechliev was a French composer of Bulgarian origin.Born in Sofia, Boucourechliev studied piano at the Conservatory there. Subsequently he studied in Paris at the École Normale de Musique de Paris, where he later taught piano...
- Aurelio de la Vega
- Earle BrownEarle BrownEarle Brown was an American composer who established his own formal and notational systems...
- Herbert BrunHerbert BrunHerbert Brün was a composer and pioneer of electronic and computer music. Born in Berlin, Germany, he taught at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign from 1962 until he retired, several years before his death.-Career:...
- John CageJohn CageJohn Milton Cage Jr. was an American composer, music theorist, writer, philosopher and artist. A pioneer of indeterminacy in music, electroacoustic music, and non-standard use of musical instruments, Cage was one of the leading figures of the post-war avant-garde...
- Cornelius CardewCornelius CardewCornelius Cardew was an English experimental music composer, and founder of the Scratch Orchestra, an experimental performing ensemble. He later rejected the avant-garde in favour of a politically motivated "people's liberation music".-Biography:Cardew was born in Winchcombe, Gloucestershire...
- Randolph ColemanRandolph ColemanRandolph 'Randy' Coleman is an American composer and educator. He was the first chairman of the national council of the American Society of University Composers , a position later held by Frank Zappa.-Biography:...
- George CrumbGeorge CrumbGeorge Crumb is an American composer of contemporary classical music. He is noted as an explorer of unusual timbres, alternative forms of notation, and extended instrumental and vocal techniques. Examples include seagull effect for the cello , metallic vibrato for the piano George Crumb (born...
- Brian EnoBrian EnoBrian Peter George St. John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno , commonly known as Brian Eno or simply as Eno , is an English musician, composer, record producer, singer and visual artist, known as one of the principal innovators of ambient music.Eno studied at Colchester Institute art school in Essex,...
- Eric EwazenEric EwazenEric Ewazen is an American composer and teacher. Ewazen studied composition under Samuel Adler, Milton Babbitt, Gunther Schuller, Joseph Schwantner, Warren Benson, and Eugene Kurtz at the Eastman School of Music and The Juilliard School...
- Morton FeldmanMorton FeldmanMorton Feldman was an American composer, born in New York City.A major figure in 20th century music, Feldman was a pioneer of indeterminate music, a development associated with the experimental New York School of composers also including John Cage, Christian Wolff, and Earle Brown...
- Jerry GoldsmithJerry GoldsmithJerrald King Goldsmith was an American composer and conductor most known for his work in film and television scoring....
- Michail GoleminovMichail GoleminovMichail Goleminov is a Bulgarian composer, pianist and conductor.He studied music in Sofia, Amsterdam and Vienna - orchestra conducting and twelve tone composition with Konstantin Ilijev of the Academy of Music in Sofia, composition with Roman Haubenstock-Ramati of the Academy of Music in Vienna,...
- Barry GuyBarry GuyBarry John Guy is a British composer and double bass player. His range of interests encompasses early music, contemporary composition, jazz and improvisation, and he has worked with a wide variety of orchestras in the UK and Europe...
- Alfred HarthAlfred HarthAlfred 23 Harth is a German multimedia artist, band leader, multi-instrumentalist musician, and composer who mixes genres in a polystylistic manner...
- Roman Haubenstock-RamatiRoman Haubenstock-RamatiRoman Haubenstock-Ramati was a composer and music editor who worked in Kraków, Tel Aviv and Vienna.Haubenstock-Ramati studied composition, music theory, violin and philosophy in Kraków and Lemberg from 1937 to 1940. Among his teachers were Artur Malawski and Józef Koffler. From 1947 to 1950 he was...
- Mauricio KagelMauricio KagelMauricio Kagel was a German-Argentine composer. He was notable for his interest in developing the theatrical side of musical performance .-Biography:...
- Panayiotis KokorasPanayiotis KokorasPanayiotis Kokoras is a Greek composer, musician, teacher, writer and Vice President of HELMCA -Studies:Kokoras studied composition with I. Ioannidi, K. Varotsi and Anri Kergomard as well as classical guitar with E. Asimakopoulo in Athens. In 1999 he moved to England, for postgraduate studies at...
- Anestis Logothetis
- György LigetiGyörgy LigetiGyörgy Sándor Ligeti was a composer of contemporary classical music. Born in a Hungarian Jewish family in Transylvania, Romania, he briefly lived in Hungary before becoming an Austrian citizen.-Early life:...
- Robert MoranRobert MoranRobert Moran is an American composer of operas and ballets as well as numerous orchestral, vocal, chamber and dance works.-Life:...
- Linda O Keeffe
- Krzysztof PendereckiKrzysztof PendereckiKrzysztof Penderecki , born November 23, 1933 in Dębica) is a Polish composer and conductor. His 1960 avant-garde Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima for string orchestra brought him to international attention, and this success was followed by acclaim for his choral St. Luke Passion. Both these...
- Aphex TwinAphex TwinRichard David James , best known under the pseudonym Aphex Twin, is an Irish-born electronic musician and composer described as "the most inventive and influential figure in contemporary electronic music"...
- Randy Raine-ReuschRandy Raine-ReuschRandy Raine-Reusch is a Canadian composer, performer, improviser, and multi-instrumentalist specializing in wind and string instruments from around the world, particularly those from East and Southeast Asia....
- Bernard RandsBernard RandsBernard Rands is a composer of contemporary classical music.Rands studied music and English literature at the University of Wales, Bangor, and composition with Pierre Boulez and Bruno Maderna in Darmstadt, Germany, and with Luigi Dallapiccola and Luciano Berio in Milan, Italy.He held residencies...
- Roger ReynoldsRoger ReynoldsRoger Reynolds is an American composer born July 18, 1934 in Detroit, Michigan. He is a professor at the University of California at San Diego. He received an undergraduate degree in engineering physics from the University of Michigan where he later studied composition with Ross Lee Finney...
- Sven-David SandströmSven-David SandströmSven-David Sandström is a Swedish composer best known for his compositions operas, oratorios, battets, and choral works, as well as orchestral works.Sandström studied art history and musicology at Stockholm University...
- Leon SchidlowskyLeon SchidlowskyLeon Schidlowsky is a well known Chilean-Israeli composer and painter. He has written music for orchestra, chamber ensemble, choir, and instruments including the piano, violin, cello, flute, mandolin, guitar, harp, organ, as well as about sixty-five pieces of music with graphic notation...
- R. Murray SchaferR. Murray SchaferRaymond Murray Schafer is a Canadian composer, writer, music educator and environmentalist perhaps best known for his World Soundscape Project, concern for acoustic ecology, and his book The Tuning of the World...
- Stuart Saunders SmithStuart Saunders SmithStuart Saunders Smith is a notable and widely performed American composer, percussionist, and poet. He was born in Portland, Maine and grew up in Portland and central Maine, to a family that had originally come from central Maine.He studied with Edward Diemente at the Hartt School of Music...
- Wadada Leo SmithWadada Leo SmithIshmael Wadada Leo Smith is a trumpeter and composer working primarily in the fields of avant-garde jazz and free improvisation.-Biography:...
- Juan Maria SolareJuan María SolareJuan María Solare is an Argentine composer and pianist.-Education:Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Solare studied and received his diploma in piano , composition and conducting at the Conservatorio Nacional de Música Carlos López Buchardo...
- Karlheinz StockhausenKarlheinz StockhausenKarlheinz Stockhausen was a German composer, widely acknowledged by critics as one of the most important but also controversial composers of the 20th and early 21st centuries. Another critic calls him "one of the great visionaries of 20th-century music"...
- Jennifer WalsheJennifer WalsheJennifer Walshe is an Irish composer, vocalist and artist.-Biography:Jennifer Walshe was born in Dublin, Ireland in 1974. She studied composition with John Maxwell Geddes at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, Kevin Volans in Dublin and graduated from Northwestern University with a...
- John WilliamsJohn WilliamsJohn Towner Williams is an American composer, conductor, and pianist. In a career spanning almost six decades, he has composed some of the most recognizable film scores in the history of motion pictures, including the Star Wars saga, Jaws, Superman, the Indiana Jones films, E.T...
- Christian WolffChristian Wolff (composer)Christian G. Wolff is an American composer of experimental classical music.-Biography:Wolff was born in Nice in France to German literary publishers Helen and Kurt Wolff, who had published works by Franz Kafka, Robert Musil, and Walter Benjamin. After relocating to the U.S...
- Iannis XenakisIannis XenakisIannis Xenakis was a Romanian-born Greek ethnic, naturalized French composer, music theorist, and architect-engineer. He is commonly recognized as one of the most important post-war avant-garde composers...
- John ZornJohn ZornJohn Zorn is an American avant-garde composer, arranger, record producer, saxophonist and multi-instrumentalist. Zorn is a prolific artist: he has hundreds of album credits as performer, composer, or producer...
- Emanuel Dimas de Melo PimentaEmanuel Dimas de Melo PimentaEmanuel Dimas de Melo Pimenta is a Brazilian musician, architect, and intermedia artist. His works have been included in art collections and have been recognized by institutions such as the Whitney Museum of New York, the Ars Aevi Contemporary Art Museum, the Venice Biennale, the Kunsthaus Zürich,...
- Conlon NancarrowConlon NancarrowConlon Nancarrow was a United States-born composer who lived and worked in Mexico for most of his life. He became a Mexican citizen in 1955.Nancarrow is best remembered for the pieces he wrote for the player piano...
Further reading
- Cage, JohnJohn CageJohn Milton Cage Jr. was an American composer, music theorist, writer, philosopher and artist. A pioneer of indeterminacy in music, electroacoustic music, and non-standard use of musical instruments, Cage was one of the leading figures of the post-war avant-garde...
, and Alison KnowlesAlison KnowlesAlison Knowles in New York City is an American visual artist known for her soundworks, installations, performances, and publications. Knowles was very active in the Fluxus movement, and continues to create work inspired by her Fluxus experience....
(1969). Notations. New York: Something Else Press. - Sauer, Theresa (2009). Notations 21. New York: Mark Batty Publisher. ISBN 978-0-9795546-4-3
- David Schidlowsky (ed.) (2011) Musikalische Grafik—Graphic Music: León Schidlowsky. Berlin: Wissenschaftlicher Verlag. ISBN 978-3865736208.
External links
- Pictures of Music at Northwestern University
- Bergstroem-Nielsen, Carl: Experimental improvisation and notation practise 1945-1999; Experimental improvisation and notation practise, addenda 2000-. Online bibliographies.
- Real-time interpretation of Rainer Wehinger visualization of György LigetiGyörgy LigetiGyörgy Sándor Ligeti was a composer of contemporary classical music. Born in a Hungarian Jewish family in Transylvania, Romania, he briefly lived in Hungary before becoming an Austrian citizen.-Early life:...
's electronic work Artikulation - An online collection of graphic scores curated by the New York Miniaturist Ensemble
- Notations21, an anthology of innovative musical notation
- a blog dedicated to graphic scores
- HighC: a graphic score-based composition system inspired by Iannis Xenakis' UPICUPICUPIC is a computerised musical composition tool, devised by the composer Iannis Xenakis. It was developed at the Centre d'Etudes de Mathématique et Automatique Musicales in Paris, and was completed in 1977. The name is an acronym of Unité Polyagogique Informatique du CEMAMu...
system. - IanniX : A graphical real-time open-source sequencer for digital art
- Cuaderno de Yokohama by Llorenç Barber The complete series of 17 graphic scores that Barber created in Yokohama (Japan) in 2005. Ràdio Web MACBA: Barcelona, 2009.