The art of visualising music

Journal CULTURE 4 minute read 15 comments

Photography
avant-garde graphic design graphic notation
Design

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@ Copyright David Hall 2019

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Design and music intersect in many ways; fashion, album art, set
and instrument design. Graphic notation is one side that is
relatively unknown outside the sometimes rare ed world of orchestral
and experimental music.

Composers have always grappled with ways to express themselves and in the
twentieth-century, a number of them began using this radical graphical approach to
writing scores. It was a two- ngered salute to the prevailing musical establishment.

Graphic notation functions the same way as traditional musical notation, but instead,
uses abstract symbols, images and text to convey meaning to the performers. A few of
these composers incorporate traditional notation and then bend it in unique ways.

The visual comparison between traditional and modern graphic notation can
be striking. Traditional notation is linear and rigid. Modern graphic notation is open,
can offer exibility, and allow the performer to interpret the composer’s ideas.

Traditional versus Graphic-Notation

It all started around 840 C.E. when a former monk named Aurelian of Réôme created
one of the rst examples of Western musical notation. This was a basic attempt to
create a treatise on music theory called Musica discipline.

Page from Musica Discipline

By the Baroque era in Europe, composers wanted to set down their work with greater
consistency and leave less interpretation open to performers. Now musical language
was becoming codi ed. Yet various composers like Beethoven, then Gustav Mahler
in the late nineteenth-century, strained to break free of the traditional boundaries.
Their orchestral scores are full of scribbles, footnotes and marks as if sticking to the
rules was too much for them.

This is Beethoven’s score from 1844. Even in its constraints, you can see him breaking
free.

Page from Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony Discipline

In the early twentieth-century, composers such as Henry Cowell began experimenting

with notation and his New
New
NewMusical
Musical
MusicalResources
Resources
Resources (1930) was a radical attempt to change
musical notation. Increasingly throughout the twentieth-century and following the
horrors of the Second World War, there was a growing feeling among composers that
traditional Western notation was inadequate to express their musical ideas.

The earliest example of a full-blown graphic score is Morton Feldman’s Projection 1

(1950) for solo cello. It features an entirely original notation, which looks more like a
circuit diagram. It sounds and looks ahead of its time. Listen
Listen
Listento
to
toit
it
ithere
here
here.
here

Throughout the 50s and 60s, Graphic notation started to be taken seriously by the
new generation of heavyweight post-war composers like Krzysztof
Krzysztof
Krzysztof
Penderecki
Penderecki
Penderecki,
Penderecki Karlheinz
Karlheinz
KarlheinzStockhausen
Stockhausen
Stockhausen,
Stockhausen John
John
JohnCage
Cage
Cage,
Cage Roman
Roman
RomanHaubenstock-Ramati
Haubenstock-Ramati
Haubenstock-Ramati.
Haubenstock-Ramati

Arguably the
the
thegreatest
greatest
greatestmusical
musical
musicalscore
score
scoreever
ever
everdesigned
designed
designed,
designed a pinnacle of graphic notation is by
Cornelius
Cornelius
CorneliusCardew
Cardew
Cardew,
Cardew entitled Treatise (1963-1967). The piece consists of 193 pages of
highly abstract scores. This is the Sistine Chapel of notation. His training as a graphic
designer is obvious. He even used principles of cognitive psychology, which is central
to design.

The score was created to inspire creativity and interpretation of the performer. No
other instructions were given, not even what instruments to use. It’s a dense piece.
De nitely not a soundtrack to a romantic evening in while entertaining your partner –
unless your partner is a food blender. It’s a rewarding experience if you follow along
with the score. Listen and watch
watch
watchthe
the
thescore
score
scoreunfold
unfold
unfold.
unfold

Morton Feldman’s Projection 1

As the complexity and abstraction of music increased, so too did the scores. Many of
the pieces that these scores are referencing are obtuse to the point of
incomprehensibility, but there remains real beauty in them.

There are many contemporary musicians using graphic notation such as Brian Eno and
Johny Greenwood, yet I’m not so sure this will make it any less esoteric or more widely
used even with the rise of some great music notation software.

Here are a few great examples from the last sixty years.

John Cage, Fontana Mix (1958)

Toru Takemitsu, Study for Vibration (1962)

Cornelius Cardew, Treatise (1963-1967)

Cathy Berberian, Stripsody (1966)

Andrzej Panufnik, Universal Prayer (1968-69)

George Crumb, Spiral Galaxy (1972)

Roman Haubenstock-Ramati, Konstellationen (1972)

Albert Bernal, Impossible music #9 (2006-)

Wadada Leo Smith, Kosmic (2008)

References

Gallica,
Gallica,
Gallica,digital
digital
digitallibrary
library
libraryof
of
ofthe
the
theNational
National
NationalLibrary
Library
Libraryof
of
ofFrance
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Notations
Notations
Notations21
21
21by
by
byTheresa
Theresa
TheresaSauer
Sauer
Sauer

Morton
Morton
MortonFeldman
Feldman
Feldmanby
by
byPaul
Paul
PaulGrif
Grif
Grif ths
ths
ths

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15 comments

Graham Reply
30 Mar 2019 - 3:21 pm

Is there a book that has these and more in?

David Reply
01 Apr 2019 - 8:38 am

The only book I know that deal with this subject is Notations
Notations
Notations21
21
21 by Theresa Sauer,
but nothing that charts the history of it.

Andria Nicodemou Reply

30 Jan 2019 - 3:35 pm

Hi! I would love to know who is the composer of the colorful score on the top.
Thank you,
A.

David Reply
31 Jan 2019 - 5:44 pm

Hi Andria, it’s by Roman Haubenstock-Ramati for his score, Komposition (1974)

Leonzio Cherubini Reply

11 Aug 2018 - 11:07 am

Also. Graphic scores, who evolve on screens, are exciting questions of our time. We
are going toward a “multimedia music notation” with no doubt. The potential
developments are not simply considered in their technological aspects, but to
enlarge the art of sound, composition, interpretation and performance. This
because music notation always been adapted to new technology, from the Neums
and even before, to our time.

https:/
https:/
https://www.leonzio.ch/graphic-scores/
/www.leonzio.ch/graphic-scores/
/www.leonzio.ch/graphic-scores/

Daphnia Reply
06 May 2018 - 3:15 pm

Good article! You should also check a pretty new book called Tonebook which was
published by Impatient Press with works by Phill Niblock, Lea Bertucci, Stephen
Vitiello, Alan Courtis, Zeena Parkins, Elliott Sharp, Aki Onda and more:
https:/
https:/
https://inpatientpress.bigcartel.com/product/tonebook
/inpatientpress.bigcartel.com/product/tonebook
/inpatientpress.bigcartel.com/product/tonebook
here you can also check some of the scores:
https:/
https:/
https://www.thewire.co.uk/galleries/gallery-the-tonebook-collection-of-
/www.thewire.co.uk/galleries/gallery-the-tonebook-collection-of-
/www.thewire.co.uk/galleries/gallery-the-tonebook-collection-of-
graphic-scores
graphic-scores
graphic-scores

David Reply
08 May 2018 - 8:44 am

Thanks for these examples. Amazing creativity.

Lindsey Jacob Reply

12 Jan 2018 - 6:01 pm

Very interesting read, but don’t you mean George Crumb rather than Robert
Crumb as the composer for Spiral Galaxy? It is from his collection of piano pieces
entitled, “Makrokosmos”.

David Reply
12 Jan 2018 - 10:09 pm

Hi Lindsey. That’s a funny slip. Robert is a very different character. Thanks for the
heads up.

Cory Gledhill Reply

02 Nov 2017 - 3:43 pm

I’m curious about your article on graphic music notation. You have a great
collection there. It seems most graphic notations embraces a kind of extreme
subjectivity that is to me beautiful, unattainable by tradition notation, but also
troubling. If the purpose of notation is to communicate to the listener (via the
performer) a set of concepts, feelings, emotions; which the composer has carefully
crafted, then the precision of traditional notation (or something like it) is
necessary. But if the composer wants the performer to construct their own
conceptual world in which the listener is to inhabit, then graphical notations are
apt.

You may be interested in my new notation called pitch bracket notation. It adopts a
more precise method like traditional sheet music. But my notation embraces
mathematics and art unlike traditional sheet music.

pitchbracket.com

David Reply
06 Nov 2017 - 11:43 am

Hi Cory, Pitch Bracket Notation looks really interesting. I’d like to see some real
world examples or even the notation synched to music like the Cardew piece
https:/
https:/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMzIXxlwuCs
/www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMzIXxlwuCs
/www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMzIXxlwuCs.
/www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMzIXxlwuCs

Doug Reply
17 Aug 2017 - 2:18 pm

Nice work. You might like to pass this link on to Wikipedia: they seem to be having
trouble breaking loose from notion that screen savers represent the apex of music
visualization. 😉

You might like to take a look at: https:/

https:/
https://visualfutureofmusic.blogspot.ch/
/visualfutureofmusic.blogspot.ch/
/visualfutureofmusic.blogspot.ch/

This blog maps out (based on a real life proof-of-concept) possibilities that span
world music notations, instrumentation and music theory models, art,
psychophysics and esoterica.

I would love to see some of these images brought to life by score during playback.

Haoyang Li Reply
06 Feb 2017 - 3:40 am

The graphic scores is very beautiful, just like a painting. However, can the
performers really understand them? What if they cannot perform the correct
music the composer created?

Mees Vandervelde Reply

25 Jul 2017 - 5:05 pm

Most of the graphic scores don’t have the meaning of playing the exact music that
the composer was thinking of. It’s an interpretation of the music, thats the meaning
of graphical scores. You are free to make your own piece of the score, just follow
the movements and rules.

Graphic Scores Avant-Garde : Andre | Emily Buzzo Reply

26 Jan 2017 - 9:58 am

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