Evan Lenz

In my almost-daily scouring of the Web for Klavarskribo-related information (in English, as I don’t yet speak Dutch), I came across a thread on the Cakewalk forums where Johannes Drinda was proposing a Klavar-like notation for MIDI editing. (I’m not a Cakewalk user, so I don’t really know the context.) Anyway, I admired this whistling philosopher’s persistence and enthusiasm, so I emailed him.

In his response, he pointed me to the Janko keyboard design. Quoting him (with his permission): “What a shame, that true revolutionary notions, such as Klavarskribo and Janko keyboard pattern have almost vanished. They are indeed invaluable tools to create a system, which offers/ enables any musically minded (hobby/ home) musician to play MIDI instruments the easiest way.” So he shares my passion to reduce the cognitive overhead that’s built into conventional notation (and/or instruments). He also has created instructions for a DIY Janko keyboard overlay project (PDF file), which I found quite impressive.

That led me to some YouTube videos about the Chromatone, which is based on the Janko keyboard. Pretty interesting stuff. If nothing else, it helps situate my understanding of the traditional piano keyboard. But I’m keeping my mind open to what role it might play in my investigations. I’m also keeping an eye on what Thumtronics is doing, and I subscribed to its founder’s blog, which has a bunch of fascinating reading.

If you have experience with Klavarskribo or are particularly interested in it, please contact me. I’m hoping to get feedback once I’m able to get an initial release of this game out, and more ideas and suggestions in the meantime.