Rousseau Music

http://normanschmidt.net/rousseaumusicpad/index.html

Rousseau Melody Notation

Rousseau numbered musical notation is now available on the iPhone, iPad and Mac. The Rousseau App has a seven-note keypad
that produces ordinary or numbered notation on the screen to the sound of an Italian harpsichord. Various buttons allow for
playback, key and octave change, accidentals, and formatting. Melodies are saved and opened with the iReal Pro App or exported
to other music programs using ABC, Midi or MusicXML formats.
Make no mistake about it. Geneva-born philosopher Jean-Jacques
Rousseau (1712-1778) was a master musician and composer. Many
people haven't read or otherwise ignore his first published work
entitled Dissertation sur la Musique Moderne (in french) in which
he thoroughly explains numbered musical notation. This book was
printed in Paris in 1743 and expands on material from his previous
Project Regarding New Signs for Music (french with english
translation) presented to the French Royal Academy of Sciences a
year earlier. The Academy wrongly considered this work
unoriginal, yet commended the young Rousseau for his effort and
excellent presentation. There is no doubt that inventing and using
numbered notation played an important role in his own musical
education. Rousseau's progression from amateur to professional
musician is very well documented and we are fortunate that he was
extremely qualified to share his knowledge.
The Rousseau App is based on his original musical system. The
symbols, special usage of numbers for notes and ideas on rhythm
were all programmed directly from the historical texts (minus the
prose). The result is a universal iOS and Mac based sketch pad for
musical ideas and for exploring music theory anywhere you please.
Rousseau numbered musical notation allows non-musicians and
musicians of all levels to benefit from modern technology in a fun
and easy way.

1 of 4

2/18/15 11:18 PM

Rousseau Music

http://normanschmidt.net/rousseaumusicpad/index.html

To get an idea of how numbered musical notation works, take the

following example of this 18th century popular song, Lisette Quitt
La Plaine. An actual photograph of Rousseau's hand-written
manuscript is presented on the left. In the middle the notes have been entered on an iPhone. And on the right, the song is shown in
ordinary musical notation (obtained by pressing the bottom right button in the iOS App).

Manuscript from the Geneva Public Library.

Numbers for Notes

The keypad on the screen (or keyboard of the computer) was used to enter the numbers 1 through 7 that represent the notes of the
diatonic scale. Depending on the key you are in, a number can have a different pitch. The numbers stay the same from octave to
octave and from key to key. For example, in the key of C the notes of the diatonic scale are:

and in the key of G :

The very first musical example (in the key of G) found in Rousseau's published works shows how to use dots to move from one
octave to the one directly above or below.

2 of 4

2/18/15 11:18 PM

Rousseau Music

http://normanschmidt.net/rousseaumusicpad/index.html

The melody starts with the numbers 1 7 1 2 representing Rousseau's year of birth, which correspond to the notes Sol, Fa dise, Sol,
La. In anglo-saxon notation this would be G, F#, G, A. Notice that the dot below the 7 tells us to move to the octave below. The
following dot above the 1 tells us to return back up to the octave where we came from.

Position for Rhythm

As we have just seen, in numerical notation the information for pitch is contained in the numbers themselves. In ordinary notation
this information is indicated by the position of the note on the staff. A similar opposition exists for rhythm! In Rousseau's notation,
rhythm is determined by position whereas in ordinary musical notation the notes themselves contain the timing information. When
writing music with numbers, it is through positioning (using spaces, the comma and dots) that rhythmic value is given to the
numbers in each measure. This is perhaps best understood by comparing a few incipits showing "number-view" with "note-view"
mode directly beneath it. (Click on a staff to open the musical example in the iReal Pro App if installed.)

3 of 4

63 3 766 366 76

1, 27 1 2, 7 6663 0

Eb

1, 1 7 56, 7 1 1, 6 5

67, 1 3 2 6 , 66 66, 53 3,6

656 , 56 6 , 56 1 656 , 56 6 , 56

2/18/15 11:18 PM

Rousseau Music

http://normanschmidt.net/rousseaumusicpad/index.html

Rousseau MusicPad Control

Moving the song cursor
tap the left and right edges of the screen for playback
a single tap near the center of the screen moves the cursor left or right
swipe left goes to the previous measure
swipe right goes to the next measure
swipe up goes to the beginning of the song
swipe down goes to the end of the song
pinch resizes the text
Main options
? help screen
switches between text and note-view mode
X erases and restores the melody
exports the melody to the iReal Pro app, MusicXML or ABC
Music editing buttons
1) change key signature or modulate (root note = 1)
2) dot next to a note makes it longer, button to add a sharp (/)
3) space after a note makes it longer, button to add a flat ()
4) dot above = octave up, dot below = octave down
5) comma separates a measure in two, zero = rest
6) bar line
7) backspace
System requirements: iPad/iPhone/iPod touch iOS 4.3 or later or Mac OSX 10.6 or later
2011-2014 Norman Schmidt www.normanschmidt.net

4 of 4

2/18/15 11:18 PM