AN IMPROVED NOTATION TO BE EMPLOYED IN FACILITATIng the TeachING OF MUSIC."
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Edward Morgan, of Oxford Street, in the
County of Middlesex, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED NOTATION TO
BE EMPLOYED IN FACILITATIng the TeachING OF MUSIC."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Edward Morgan
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 26th August 1870.
I, GEORGE EDWARD MORGAN, of Oxford Street, in the County of
Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN
IMPROVED NOTATION TO BE EMPLOYED IN FACILITATING THE TEACHING OF MUSIC," to
be as follows, (that is to say) :-
:-
My Invention has reference to an improved system of simplifying the
mode of teaching music, by employing in addition to the usual printed
formula explanatory letters upon the same, whereby each note to be
played is at once known and expressed by the letter, and thereby read

page_text: with greater facility than when merely depending on the staves and
spaces as at present; and consists in founding type with raised or sunken
letters let into the said moulds by separate blocks, so as to admit of the said
letters being formed upon the type and printed with the same either
separately or in the series forming an octave from A to G, producing ini
like manner type music cut or stamped out upon sheets of metal from
which impressions are obtained and employed as lithographic transfers
upon stone in licu of drawings.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said George Edward Morgan in the Great Scal Patent
Office on the 14th February 1871.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
EDWARD MORGAN, of Oxford Street, in the County of Middlesex, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-sixth day of August, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy, in the thirty-fourth
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said George Edward Morgan, Her special licence, that
and
I, the said George Edward Morgan, my executors, administrators,
assigns, or such others as I, the said George Edward Morgan, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with,
and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during the
term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise,
and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the
Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "AN IMPROVED
NOTATION TO BE EMPLOYED IN FACILITATING THE TEACHING OF MUSIC," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said George Edward Morgan, my
executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my,
or their, or one of their hands and seals; should particularly describe
and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner
the same was to be performed, and cause the same to be filed in the
Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and immediately
after the date of the said Letters Patent.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said George Edward Morgan, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement, and the Drawings therein referred to (that is to
say):
My Invention has reference to an improved system for simplifying the
mode of teaching music by employing in addition to the usual printed
formula or sheets of music explanatory letters upon the notes thereof to
be printed with or otherwise upon the same, whereby each note to be
played is at once known and expressed by the said letter thereof, and
thereby read with greater facility than when merely depending on the
staves and spaces as at present, and consists in employing for the above
object type of any suitable description or dimensions, having raised or
sunken letters cast, engraved, or otherwise formed thercon, so that on
the said type being set up and printed from in the ordinary manner each
note so formed and arranged in musical order shall show or represent on
every printed sheet of music a white letter of any of the series forming
the octave from A to G on each of the black notes, or a black letter on
white notes in like manner in place of the notes aforesaid.
And in order that my said Invention may be more fully understood
and readily carried into effect I now proceed to describe the same by aid
of the accompanying Drawings, reference being had to the letters and
figures thereon marked (that is to say).
Fig. 1 represents a single note or type furnished with the letter corre-
sponding thereto, Figs. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, & 7, the remaining notes of the
octave lettered in like manner; Fig. 8 similar views of music type showing
the employment of letters within the open notes aforesaid; Fig. 9 a
portion of a sheet of music printed in accordance with my improved
system of notation; and Fig. 10 a corresponding piece of music furnished
with letters in the open (ordinary) notes. In each Figure the same
letters of reference denote similar corresponding parts.
a, a, music type, stereotype, engraved block, or otherwise, upon which
the lettered note is founded, impressed, or otherwise formed for being set
up and printed from as at present. b, b, b, staves and spaces formed
conjointly with the type or blocks as aforesaid, or printed separately with
the lettered notes as in practise may be found necessary, together with
the bars, rests, or other musical formula, all of which is well known to
need further explanation.

page_text: In conclusion to the foregoing description it may be here necessary to
remark that various other means may be employed for printing the
characteristic letter of the note upon the same, either by the employment
of type above described or through the medium of engraved or impressed
plates, dies, or otherwise, so that in obtaining printed impressions or
sheets of music therefrom for instruction or instrumental practise the
said sheets or copies of music so obtained shall have the letter descriptive
of each note printed therewith as represented at Figs. 9 & 10, with any
or all of the various modifications or changes in the composition and
arrangement of_the_notes-constituting the piece to be played.
And I would further remark that upon my improved principle the
printed sheets or impressions of the improved music may be obtained
as aforesaid and subsequently transferred to other surfaces, such as
lithographic stones, or zincographic plates, and impressions taken there-
from by any of the ordinary methods or processes known and in use for
the said purpose, or through the medium of the well-known action of
acids upon stone, copper, or other metallic surfaces, as also by transfers
from the original impressed plates or engraved blocks, or direct from the
common music or other type previously lettered in manner above
explained.
And I would lastly observe that I am aware that letters upon the
notes of printed sheets of music have before been used in connection with
other systems of musical notation, but independently and without reference
to the letters of the octave and mode of arranging the same as employed
by me.
Having now fully described and ascertained the nature of this my said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed and
carried into effect, I would have it clearly understood that I do not intend
to confine myself to the precise details herein-before set forth and
described, as the same may be otherwise varied without departing from
the general principle of this my said Invention, nor do I claim as new
and of my said Invention the exclusive use of the several parts, com-
binations, and processes thereof, herein-before referred to, except when the
same are employed in and for the purposes of my said Invention, which
I hereby declare to consist in the exclusive right of employing explanatory
letters from A to G of the octave upon the notes of printed sheets of
'music either upon the black or open notes in connection with the mode
of producing the said letters thereon as aforesaid and obtaining proof

page_text: impressions or printed sheets of music therefrom in the manner and for
the purposes herein-before set forth and described.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Edward Morgan, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Sixteenth day of November, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy.
Witness,
J. NEWCOMBE,
Clerk to Messrs. Weatherdon.
GEO: E. MORGAN. (L.S.)