Note recognition Scores to written F - F2 - F3 why ?

nasxxx · Post by **nasxxx** » Wed Dec 12, 2007 3:14 pm

When I play songs I just look at the notes, but have seen some music written as
A F2 E2 B etc. which I don't really relate to as i'm accustomed to notes on scores is it necessary to memorise the letters as written without scores ? I know this is a newbee question but something which was bugging me after reading some music without scores, which I don't see the point unless you use something for note duration like a 1,2,3,4 0.5 etc also rests. So why do peeps write music without scores to me its lazy, but I supose if you have a good ear for notes can be quickly jotted down then scored at a later point.

flutepicc06 · Post by **flutepicc06** » Wed Dec 12, 2007 3:58 pm

So are you asking whether it's necessary to read music that's written like this:

F#2 E2 D2 G#2 C3 etc...

rather than actual notes written in normal sheetmusic? If so, then no, you don't need to be able to do that, but it's good to be familiar with that system of naming pitches in case a discussion arises about some part of the music. Most likely people write the music that way because they don't have a way to display normal sheetmusic (I'm guessing you've found examples of this shorthand mostly on the internet), or they aren't skilled with with notation, or simply don't have enough musical training to know that pitches alone without durations are not sufficient to convey a piece of music.

musical_Kat · Post by **musical_Kat** » Wed Dec 12, 2007 7:05 pm

Unless she is talking about maybe seeing chords notations written above lyrics on a lead sheet. That's really the only time i've seen it used. And in that sense it's actually used quite a lot.

flutepicc06 · Post by **flutepicc06** » Wed Dec 12, 2007 7:11 pm

musical_Kat wrote:Unless she is talking about maybe seeing chords notations written above lyrics on a lead sheet. That's really the only time i've seen it used. And in that sense it's actually used quite a lot.

True, but if you look at the examples provided ("A F2 E2 B etc."), they read much more like individual pitches than chords. I suppose we'll have to leave it up to Nasxxx to clarify if they think it's necessary.

nasxxx · Post by **nasxxx** » Thu Dec 13, 2007 6:17 am

musical_Kat · Post by **musical_Kat** » Thu Dec 13, 2007 6:45 am

wow...now that is really odd....I've actually never seen that before!

fluttiegurl · Post by **fluttiegurl** » Thu Dec 13, 2007 7:13 am

I have seen this before, but I was not sure this is what you were talking about until I saw the example. This is fairly common with some ethnic music (for instance - Dizi music is where I have seen the most examples). My background includes Ethnomusicology and I have spent some time studying these short hand notations. They can be quite interesting. It is not that unusual for an ethnic group to make up a form of notoation other than what we are used to. Most of this music is passed down by oral tradition. After several gerenations, someone takes it upon themselves to write it down, but this person may or may not be trained in music. It is very uncommon to see these published as in most cases, someone will notate them in our standard notation before publishing. Depending on the ethnic group this came from, it may or may not be related to what we know as our pitch names. it may also be for a specific instrument in a specific key.

LimuHead · Post by **LimuHead** » Tue Sep 09, 2008 12:31 pm

This type of notation is known as ABC.

It was invented as an easy way to input folk melodies into the computer.

There are programs that will take the notes and translate them into standard written notation:

http://www.concertina.net/tunes_convert.html

Just copy and paste the ABC notation into the textfield (from 'x' to the end of the tune).

There are literally thousands of tunes that have been notated this way.

nasxxx · Post by **nasxxx** » Tue Sep 09, 2008 3:54 pm

LimuHead good find, just tried it and it transposes it

must sticky that link and try it with other ABC writings.