US393054A

US393054A - Paul atjstman

Info

Publication number: US393054A
Authority: US
Publication date: 1888-11-20
Anticipated expiration: 1905-11-20

Description

(No Moel.) K

P. -AUSTMAN.

MUSICAL NOTATION.

Pa. .nted Nov. 20, 1888.

Maiori* Scale n any nel.

Mwave@ 701/672207* d'4 '45 (MM- v UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

PAUL AUSTMAN, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI.

MUSICAL NOTATION.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 393,054I dated November 20, 1888.

` Application filed December E20, 1887. Serial No. 258,528. (No model.)

- ing, writing, thinking, and playing or singing music, and is easily mastered by both performer and vocalist.

My invention consists in the peculiar arrangement of the staff.

In the drawings, Figure l is a major scale on the new musicsystem with permanent syllable names, (the second andv seventh being changed for obvious reasons.) Figs. 2 and 3 show my method of Writing notes without a prepared staff or beyond the same. represents improved sharp and flat notes. Fig. 5 has the common chord of various keys written uniformly by the new method. Figs. 6 and 7 show the simplicity of the improved method as com pared with the old.

In my arrangement the middle of the staff is designated by a heavy divisionline, II, two lines on each side of which will form a 'staff of four lines and four spaces for notes. This arrangement of the stati?` has very great advantages over the old staff-as, for instance, in the old plan the same note written on a line in one octave will be in a space the next higher or lower octave, and vice versa. This change of lines with spaces takes place with every primitive note in every diderent octave invariably in both the so-called G and F clefs. In my systemthere is but one position for every primitive note, line, or space, and the octaves above or below will have a like position, and will be equally distant from their tetrameters77 or heavy lines, by which their (relative) pitch is to be ascertained. In the ordinary notation every note must be learned anew in each successive octave and again in each clef, for reasons above stated, while the key-note, with its relative scale, wanders up or down with the assistance of sharps and flats to retain the relations in the different keys, causing an almost insurmountable obstruction to performing music intelligently.

Fig. et

Music written by my improved notation has successively 1 2 3 4 below and 5, 6, 7, and 8 above heavy line in all keys and in all octavesin the treble and in the bass. The heavy line H, on which no notes are written, divides the scale into its natural tetrachords or half-scales. The bass is indicated by placing the clef or octave-sign one space lower for one and two spaces lower for two octaves, 80e. In like manner the treble may be raised one or more octaves, Fig. 2. Accidental notes I represent by notes differently formed, which makes the natural unnecessary. Long accidental notes are represented by ovals written verticallythe augmented by a full (0) and the flatted by a half (G D) oval. Short accidentals are given by an oblique cross for the sharp and onelialf of the same for flat notes, Fig. 4, K L M N.

That all music be written in one standard key is very desirable, since every octave is capable of two hundred and sixty-four transpositions in the major and minor keys, the same being so many and so complex that by the old method all keys are mastered only by experts. According to the new method all music is represented by a standard position, and a transposition keyboard is used to render it properly on the instrument. The key of a piece of music is marked at the beginning, and the absolute pitch of middle C is indicated by a small note, O, near the bottom treble clef, making it easy to adj ust the transposition key-board, and showing whether the absolute pitch of the music is written high or low. rIhe notes written on the lower line ot' the treble clef are the keynotes from G below middle O to F above it, thus varying the formal or relative pitch not more than two and onehalf steps from the real or absolute pitch, except in the keys of F-sharp and G-tlat,which will be three full steps from the key of C.

Instead of the common names of notes and pauses indicating their length, I use the following: hu; @j ha; ,1, ho; .i\, he; Ja, hi; h, (pronounced hoo, hah, h, ha, h, h.) If a dot is placed after the note or pause,'short i is added, thus: J x, hoi, (pronounced h-i.) To indicate the movement I use the Roman gures I to VII. I denotes grave; IV, moderato; VI, allegro; VII, presto.

I am aware that patents have been granted IOO lli

for systems ol' notation with three lines and lines and four spaces for notes, with :L heavy two spaces, with ive lines :uid four spaces, division-line in the middle, substantially as Io the heymote ou a heavy line or wide space, or above Set forih.

the reverse, with lines only for notes, and also ,A x T 5 with spaces only for notes. L UL A UhlMAB Vhat I eiaimas my invention, and desire to \\"itnesses:

seeure'by Letters Patent, is IYIERMAN SAUEmVmN,

A musiesheet provided with a Staff of 'onr PAUL Mom.