Re: Melody line indicator
Andrew C. Dawrant ( (no email) )
Thu, 22 May 1997 14:23:29 -0700
Believe it or not, a similar system is in widespread use throughout Asia; I
can verify that it is used extensively among professional and studio
musicians in Hong Kong, Taiwan, China, and Japan. Lead sheets there are
written numerically, i.e. both the melody and the chords. To indicate that
a melody note is up or down an octave from the middle octave, a dot is
placed over or under it. The default value for each note is a quarter note;
a bar on top makes it an eighth note, two bars a sixteenth note, and so on.
Rests and ties are written the standard way.
When you get used to the system, it is actually more logical and amenable
to analysis than Western musical notation, and makes transposition a snap.
Of course, it only works with lead sheets, and becomes cumbersome when you
try to write out specific voicings and multi-part scores.
If you would like to check it out, go to a large bookstore in the Chinatown
of any large North Amercian city and check out the 'Karaoke' books.
Andrew Dawrant
dawrant@interlog.com