More thoughts on Klavarskribo, and refactoring music
I want a DDR-like game for Klavarskribo. I woke up with more ideas this morning. I’m just going to spew them out so I don’t forget any of them.
I’ve often complained about common (traditional) notation as like reading “assembly language” for music. It leaves so many intentions of the composer implicit. Yes, certain things can be easily ascertained, like the key of the music (from the key signature) and that a certain passage should be repeated (from the repeat signs). But there are so many other structures and patterns that I wish were explicit in order to save me a lot of time as a learner/performer of the music. In programming, I would never dream of copying and pasting a whole ream of code just because I want the same thing to happen in another context except for one little change in the middle. Yet in music notation, that is the order of the day. As a student of the piece, I have to manually double-check that, yes, everything in this section is exactly the same as that other section, except for this little riff right here. Or perhaps it’s exactly the same, but it’s in a different key. If I were writing software, I would store the current key in a local variable. Then, if I wanted to do exactly the same thing but in a different key, I would just call the same function, initializing the key accordingly. Or I’d compose the function with a “transpose” function. For Pete’s sake, I wouldn’t copy and paste all of my code, and then update all the hard-coded pitches, when they’re all the same fixed interval from a sequence of pitches I’ve written elsewhere. But in music that’s how it’s been done for a thousand years or so (except that “copy and paste” was a bit more painstaking).
So that’s why I liken common notation to assembly language. How does Klavarskribo improve on this? It doesn’t. If anything, things are much worse, i.e. if you take “assembly language” pejoratively. But I’m starting to recognize Klavarskribo as a “better assembly language” for music. If you’re going to leave structures and patterns and intentions implicit, then you might as well go the whole way, and encode the notes in a normalized, clean-slate sort of way. In Klavarskribo, there’s no distinction between G-sharp and A-flat, for example. Likewise, there’s no key signature. Klavarskribo gives you a notation that strips music of its theory.
Why would I want this? Wasn’t I just complaining about all the effort it takes to figure out a piece of music when the composer leaves so many intentions unspecified? I do hate that process of figuring out what shouldn’t have to be figured out and is only that way because the notation doesn’t support it. My attitude when writing a book is that it’s much better for me to put in the extra effort upfront in researching a technology or specifying a behavior, etc. Otherwise, that extra effort will have to be multiplied a thousand-fold, leaving it up to my readers to repeat that work when I could have saved them all the trouble. As an author, I want to save my readers all that trouble and throw them as many bones as I have at my disposal. I don’t blame composers; they’re just using the traditional medium they have. But I do long for musical representations that make more intentions explicit.
That still doesn’t answer why I like Klavarskribo. Correct, Klavarskribo doesn’t help in that arena at all, except perhaps to provide a cleaner slate from which to build. By removing all theory (other than the assumption of a 12-note world), it creates a clean, not-tonally-biased notation. I suppose for atonal music it does help, because it removes lots of misleading hints (accidentals that aren’t really accidentals, etc.).
Right now, the reason I like Klavarskribo is its great promise for enabling easier sight-reading. And not just sight-reading, but reading a piece for the first time which I ultimately intend to play from memory. I’ve always been a terrible sight-reader. There are so many variations to digest when sight-reading a piece. I won’t lie. The key signatures do help, especially if there aren’t a lot of accidentals and I’ve been practicing my scales. “Okay, I won’t be playing any of those notes that aren’t in the key of D-flat.” That certainly simplifies things. So I do have some unanswered questions about how Klavarskribo will fare without highlighting accidentals. But I see a lot of potential in totally equalizing the keyboard landscape and removing fear of the black keys for beginners. Heck, you don’t need to know anything about music to start reading Klavarskribo. Common notation is laden with concepts like “keys” and “sharps” and “flats” and “naturals” and “clefs”. I’ve been playing piano since I was six years old, I have a professional music degree, and I still suspect that I will never completely overcome the cognitive overhead of all these potential combinations and variations that are hard-wired into traditional notation.
To me, sight-reading is a different species of musicianship. I watch proficient sight-readers and I’m amazed at how unquestioning they are about what they see. You could throw a bunch of “wrong” notes in the manuscript and they would keep on playing without skipping a beat. Perhaps they’d have some mild bemusement, but they won’t get derailed like I would. There is more of a direct relationship between what they see on the page and what their fingers do on the keyboard. Their ears don’t get in the way, and I mean that in the best way possible. For me, all the notational clutter clogs up that channel. And I suspect that’s true for a lot of people.
In the computer game I’m envisioning, you would get visual feedback on what you’re doing, just like you do in DDR. In fact, there should be a free-play mode where what keys you play show up instantly in Klavar notation on the screen. That way, you can start with what you’re thinking about musically, e.g. a C-major chord, and then instantly see what it looks like in Klavar. It seems like that way you could start hooking up the neural connections without any effort. Play around and see the notes appear on the screen. “So that’s what Klavar notation looks like.” (With traditional notation, you’d have to first answer all these questions like what clefs to use, what key are we in, is this a G-sharp or A-flat, etc.) Rather than reading music, you’re watching it appear on the screen in response to what you do, and the correspondence between the keys you hit and what you see is quite natural and obvious.
In the play-along mode, you would have the notation scroll up the screen, like a piano roll, and just like the arrows do in DDR. This is where you test your sight-reading ability, getting immediate visual feedback on the screen about how you’re doing, just as you do in DDR with messages like “PERFECT!”, “GOOD!”, etc.
I would also want a silent-play mode where your ears truly have no opportunity to get in the way. You would still know when you hit a wrong note based on the visual feedback, but you won’t get derailed by weird-sounding notes, whether right or wrong.
Heck, I’d maybe even want a random mode, where you can really push the bar on this “mindless”, or rather unconscious, intuitive connection being forged between your eyes and fingers.
Klavarskribo and accompanying learning tools are only one piece of the picture that I envision for refactoring music representation. In software engineering, refactoring means “improving the design of existing code”–without changing its behavior. To me, refactoring a piece of music would mean changing the representation–or adding multiple representations, while leaving the content unchanged. All for the purpose of making the piece easier to comprehend, and at multiple levels. More on that later…
Matt Constantine said,
November 7, 2007 @ 5:18 pm
I couldn’t agree more with your description of traditional notation as assembly language for music. As you know, I’ve had many of the same issues with and complaints about traditional notation. It is far too cluttered, obscuring even the simplest relationships.
In the last couple of years I’ve taken an interest in the Ruby on Rails web development platform. The mantra for Ruby developers is Don’t Repeat Yourself. DRY for short. I spend much of my days finding the DRYest way to write code, a process that almost always leads to remarkably simpler and clearer presentation of the code.
So in the spirit of DRYing up music notation, Klavar might be improved by introducing a shade of grey that denotes phrases that have already been introduced. So where you have two phrases that are identical, except for a little riff, the second phrase would be greyed out with the little riff standing out in black.
I’d love to see what the DRY mentality looks like when taken even further.
Evan said,
November 8, 2007 @ 8:41 pm
Hi Matt, thanks for your response. I keep re-writing my comment in response and then thinking I’ll write another blog post instead. I want to put some more thought into this.
I see regular Klavar notation as being the lowest-level of a set of representations. (However, that really does depend on the piece. Some pieces may not warrant a higher-level representation, e.g. short atonal pieces or pieces in C Major that don’t have any repeating structure.) I agree with DRY in engineering, but I don’t think of the Klavarskribo notation of a whole piece as something you would “hand code”. Rather it would be the final result that gets generated from your higher-level representation (which perhaps contains snippets of Klavar notation). DRY isn’t an injunction to the compiler; it can repeat itself all it wants. In my higher-level representation (which I actually do hand code), I would definitely follow the DRY mantra. For example, if a melody appears twice, once in E Major and once in A Major, I might first represent it in Klavarskribo in C Major and then just refer to it later, noting that it should be transposed to E and A, respectively…
But what I’m a little stuck on and what’s really going through my head right now are how the use cases vary in contrast to software engineering, the static nature of composed pieces (no maintenance issues), and the fact that a computer isn’t necessarily involved (no syntax errors, need for a standard language).
I think examples are the way forward. The notation will emerge naturally from that in my mind. I’ll try to pick a piece to look at for a blog post.
Sam Goede said,
November 3, 2008 @ 10:38 am
Hello everybody.
Interesting comments on klavarskribo.
I am reading and playing klavarskribo on the piano for over 40 years now.
When I started at the age of 15, I mastered sight reading in a few months.
Half a year later I played Beethovens Moonlight sonata on a piano tournament for young musicians whre I got a second place.
Many of my relatives who are really gifted in playing the piano did this the hard way, meaning studying music from the traditional notation. A piece is rated as difficult the more pre signs are used in the key.
The ultimate trick is the fact that a traditional note reader has to perform two
steps before the corresponding tone can be played.
At first the reader has to interpred the symbol from the given harmonic context,
from there he has to find the corresponding key on the key board.
When you are trained in this discipline at a very young age (6 year old) and you practise reading and playing every day for at least four hours, you might end up playing a respectable piano concerto.
Most of the amator musicians never get there, unless they discover the benefits
and advantages of klavarscribo.
If you like to play the piano or organ o.i.d. klavarskribo is the way to go.
Virtually any piece of classical piano music is available in klavarskribo.
Looking forward to comments and reactions
Evan said,
November 8, 2008 @ 9:01 am
Hi Sam,
Thanks for your comment!
It’s inspirational to hear stories like yours and it makes me want to continue get moving on my video game project for Klavarskribo (PianoNinja), to open up this way of learning music to an even wider variety of people.
Russell said,
January 29, 2009 @ 3:22 am
Evan, I noticed you have had a look at keyPlay music notation in 2007. (keyplay.co.uk). See also my ebay listing:-
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&item=330303145365
I have advanced it a lot since then and would appreciate your comments on it compared to klavarscribo. I would also be interested in having a DDR game written. If you give me some ideas on how it would work this would be helpful, regards Russell Ambrose
Sam Goede said,
June 25, 2009 @ 10:30 am
Hello Evan,
It has been a while, but I have something to add.
I think that Klavarscribo can have a very positive impact in music lessons
on primaty school or later.
Sam
Evan said,
June 25, 2009 @ 10:43 am
Hi Sam,
Thanks for the reminder, and for re-focusing attention on how these otherwise-idle ramblings could be redirected to serve the needs and enrich the lives of others. I can definitely see how Klavarskribo could make learning piano easier and more fun for young students.
Evan
Johannes K. Drinda said,
August 31, 2011 @ 11:23 am
Hi Evan,
I just thought up a special JANKO notation, which shouldn’t be to hard for you to design a software, similar to the Klavarskribo program. It’s an ideal notation for a 3-row JANKO Kbd. layout, consisting of only of 6 lines. Notes on lines are played on the middle Kbd. It would be great if you could design such a handy program, which (like Klavarsksribo) converts MIDI and XML files to this new JANKO notation.
I think it makes lots of sense, for it’s a “user friendly” notation, which (like Klavaskribo) is wysiwyg.
Most young people would love to play a musical instrument, if only it would be less cumbersome than the traditional notation. This notation offers us a step closer towards this aim. I uploaded it here:
http://hotfile.com/dl/128523032/88b2516/Janko_Notation1.bmp.html
Johannes
jhutsehai Monhamster said,
December 14, 2016 @ 11:33 pm
Hi colleagues, good article and pleasant arguments commented here, I am truly enjoying by
these.
migliori pentole a pressione said,
January 2, 2017 @ 2:23 am
Admiring the commitment you put into your site and in depth information you present.
It’s great to come across a blog every once in a while that isn’t the same out of date rehashed material.
Excellent read! I’ve saved your site and I’m including your RSS feeds
to my Google account.
Zapatos New Balance Hombre said,
January 8, 2017 @ 8:25 am
The courier service business can be veruy uncomfortable in some cases,zapatos salomon barato,however fitting a bank deposit service on the business willincrease profits and grow soon enough. You should also conduct the just the same thing advantaged on the case,tienda de Pantalones, if you discover carrying one.
賓果éŠæˆ²çŽ©æ³• said,
January 14, 2017 @ 11:52 am
This web site can be a walk-through for all of the info you needed about this and didnî–¹ know who to ask. Glimpse right here, and youî–±l undoubtedly uncover it.
賓果éŠæˆ²çŽ©æ³• said,
January 14, 2017 @ 11:52 am
Iî–© need to verify with you here. Which is not something I usually do! I enjoy reading a put up that will make individuals think. Additionally, thanks for permitting me to remark!
賓果éŠæˆ²çŽ©æ³• said,
January 14, 2017 @ 11:53 am
It’s a pity you don’t have a donate button! I’d without a doubt donate to this superb blog! I suppose for now i’ll settle for bookmarking and adding your RSS feed to my Google account. I look forward to new updates and will share this website with my Facebook group. Talk soon!
賓果éŠæˆ²çŽ©æ³• said,
January 14, 2017 @ 11:54 am
Thanks , I’ve just been searching for info about this subject for ages and yours is the greatest I’ve discovered so far. But, what about the bottom line? Are you sure about the source?
å°ç£å½©åˆ¸è³“æžœ said,
January 14, 2017 @ 11:55 am
I am always searching online for articles that can help me. Thanks!
è³“æžœé–‹çŽ said,
January 14, 2017 @ 11:55 am
Oh my goodness! an incredible article dude. Thanks Nonetheless I’m experiencing problem with ur rss . Donî–¹ know why Unable to subscribe to it. Is there anybody getting similar rss problem? Anyone who knows kindly respond. Thnkx
å°ç£é‹å‹•å½©åˆ¸ said,
January 14, 2017 @ 11:55 am
Thanks a lot for sharing this with all of us you really know what you’re talking about! Bookmarked. Please also visit my site =). We could have a link exchange agreement between us!
賓果éŠæˆ² said,
January 14, 2017 @ 11:55 am
Can I just say what a aid to search out someone who actually knows what theyre talking about on the internet. You positively know the right way to carry an issue to light and make it important. More people must read this and perceive this facet of the story. I cant consider youre not more common because you undoubtedly have the gift.
八方娛樂城 said,
January 14, 2017 @ 11:56 am
What i don’t realize is actually how you are not really much more well-liked than you may be right now. You’re very intelligent. You realize thus significantly relating to this subject, made me personally consider it from so many varied angles. Its like men and women aren’t fascinated unless it is one thing to do with Lady gaga! Your own stuffs excellent. Always maintain it up!
賓果賓果 said,
January 14, 2017 @ 11:56 am
Together with every little thing which appears to be developing throughout this area, all your viewpoints are generally rather refreshing. Having said that, I beg your pardon, but I do not give credence to your entire plan, all be it exciting none the less. It appears to everyone that your remarks are actually not completely justified and in fact you are generally yourself not even fully confident of your argument. In any case I did take pleasure in reading through it.
åšé¦¬å¨›æ¨‚城 said,
January 14, 2017 @ 11:56 am
Heya iî–² for the primary time here. I found this board and I find It truly helpful & it helped me out a lot. I hope to present something back and help others such as you helped me.
WaisosysonWed said,
January 28, 2017 @ 1:38 am
asd
Mallie Warr said,
February 24, 2017 @ 4:26 pm
I have to point out my affection for your kind-heartedness giving support to those individuals that need help with in this situation. Your special commitment to getting the message all through has been exceedingly invaluable and has all the time allowed employees like me to arrive at their endeavors. Your own insightful guideline entails this much a person like me and much more to my office colleagues. With thanks; from everyone of us.
Puma By Rihanma Creepers Femme said,
March 21, 2017 @ 4:34 pm
Product Reviews :: Ecco Shoes That Improve Posture Ecco has a simple philosophy: The shoes is required to follow the foot. When you wear a set of shoes that enable the foot to steer, it could change the way your body feels, acts and responds. These shoes can improve your posture, even when you?re standing still. In 1963, Karl Toosbuy sold his car and home and transferred to Bredebro, Denmark, where he opened his first factory for his new company, Ecco Sko A S (later renamed Ecco). Early work foc
chasport said,
March 25, 2017 @ 2:48 am
Sports :: How to Do the Limbering-up Exercises When you clothe themselves in the clothes that you would like to wear inside running and prompt to begin with to run, wait one minute, it is not the time to perform. Maybe your emotions have been primed fine to own, however, your body is however not ready. It may not be suitable to complete the sports if you do not do anything for one day. Formerly you begin to run, you must arrange your body well, it does not take consequence in the limbering-up ex
Arnulfo Elhosni said,
April 3, 2017 @ 2:27 am
I’ve recently started a web site, the info you offer on this site has helped me greatly. Thank you for all of your time & work. “One of the greatest pains to human nature is the pain of a new idea.†by Walter Bagehot.
SALOMON serie in esecuzione said,
May 1, 2017 @ 9:07 pm
Robert Earle Howells is really a expert journalist. He is the first sort manager in the Exterior Journal Customer’s Guidebook, current manager in particular regarding Nationwide Geographic Adventure, and a accredited fanatic pertaining to footwear. Watch profile
SALOMON serie in esecuzione http://www.trailonfoot.com/presa-b20154-salomon-speedcross-3-donne-trail-cs-scarpe-da-corsa-grigio-jade-in-vendita.html
chiropractor in Beverly Hills said,
June 2, 2017 @ 3:41 am
chiropractor in Beverly Hills
Evan Lenz » More thoughts on Klavarskribo, and refactoring music
Snowman refrigerated cooling said,
June 29, 2017 @ 4:55 pm
Heya I am a newbie to your website. I found this page and it is really useful. I wish to give something back.
jackhek said,
July 16, 2017 @ 2:47 am
Please enable javascript and reload the page to continue using this site.
The brand invests billions of dollars into research to innovate a product and hence price their products in a way to recover all the overall cost.
You can find all the details and a registration form on through this link General Mining Induction Sunshine Coast Thanks Pete russ April 15, 2010 Reply the dates for the generic mining course this weekend 17th and 18th april  is there a spot left?
kamagra oral jelly france
score hero hack said,
July 19, 2017 @ 11:09 am
Hello, after reading this amazing post i am also delighted to share my
familiarity here with mates.
Belinda1979 said,
July 23, 2017 @ 3:02 am
Hi blogger, do you monetize your evanlenz.net
? There is easy way to earn decent money every month, just
search on youtube : How to earn $25/hour selling articles
gunship battle second war hack said,
August 12, 2017 @ 2:13 am
Wonderful, what a webpage it is! This website gives helpful information to us, keep it
up.
michael kors watch for Women rose gold leather said,
August 29, 2017 @ 10:50 am
michael kors watch for Women rose gold leather
Evan Lenz » More thoughts on Klavarskribo, and refactoring music
potencja said,
September 2, 2017 @ 3:52 am
Most of the girls are choosing the basic sheepskin slip shoes, as they are comfortable
and stylish. The Unitron website includes detailed description of the features and benefits from this product.
Moccasin UGG slippers are quite popular among the men.
Alana said,
March 8, 2018 @ 6:52 pm
Thank you for sharing your info. I really appreciate yyour
efforts and I am waiting for your next post thanks once again.
Iva said,
September 4, 2018 @ 5:11 am
whoah this welog is magnificent i really like reading your
articles. Keep up the great work! You already know, lofs of persons are searching round forr this info,
you could help them greatly.
Www.Makeupartistlosangeles.Org said,
September 2, 2019 @ 2:14 am
Feeling uncomfortable about your make-up application will simply make you
miserable. Most make-up artists do charge for the trial
while they need to schedule time on the appointment book.
A trustworthy friend who are able to give you truthful opinion regarding the consequence of the makeup and hairstyle – Other Important Points
You Need to Remember During a Makeup and Hair Trial – Don’t hesitate to communicate with your stylist the style that you would like to achieve.