Improvements in or relating to Musical Notation.
Year: 1897

page_text: Improvements in or relating to Musical Notation.
I, ARTHUR HERBERT CASTLE, of 11, Bilton Road, Rugby, in the County of
Warwick, Master of Arts, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as
follows:-
The present method of music printing very inadequately represents the com-
poser's idea, especially in regard to loudness of sound, or the reverse, and abso-
lutely fails in regard to the duration of loud and soft phrases of notes and this
invention relates to improvements in or relating to musical notation whereby the
usual marks or signs of expression, due to each note or series of notes, are not
only expressed by f, p etc. but are clearly shown and illustrated by the particular
characteristics of the notes or signs themselves, either of form, size or otherwise,
and in some cases by modifying the stave.
In carrying out my invention I prefer to form the notes of different sizes, the
large notes representing forte and the smallest notes pianissimo notes, all grada-
tions between them being employed to represent diminuendo or crescendo.
By this means the duration of the tone quality, or the dynamic value of a pass-
age, can be accurately defined and warning of changes of tone colour is given to
the performer by means of the change of type or form or size of the notes employed.
In addition to the differences in the characteristics of the notes themselves, I
may also vary the size or form of the note stems or bars of quavers, semi-quavers
etc., in order to emphasize the tone quality of the notes, and preferably I make
the bars of quavers semi-quavers etc., of very thin lines.
I may also employ the same or similar means of indicating increase or diminu-
tion of tone, or emphasis, as by gradually thickening the lines used for crescendo,
and making the diminuendo lines gradually thinner, instead of having these lines
of one uniform thickness throughout.
Briefly my object is practically to illustrate in any way which appeals to the
eye, the composer's intention, by systematically using thick or thin lines, large
and small notes, and the gradations between them, etc., to represent music in the
form of a picture, and which I call dynamic notation or picture music.
Amongst the advantages of my improved method of music printing are the
following:-
-
1. The accurate definition of the duration of a given tone colour, making it a
practical impossibility to misrepresent or misinterpret the composer in this respect.
2. The impression of a picture produced on the mind by the individual pages
or series of bars, at a glance, showing the climax towards which the composer is
tending; which is a most useful feature to a player when learning a new piece by
heart.
3. A warning of change of tone quality produced by sudden or gradual change
of type etc. which feature is of great value to a performer when playing a new
;
work at sight.

page_text: 4. The possibility of illustrating passages of imitation, which might be carried
out by the employment of varied type etc.
5. The value of illustration of tone colours to learners.
6. The value of the method as a whole in producing and ensuring accurate per-
formance in accordance with the composer's intentions.
Dated this 30th: day of September 1897:
BOULT & WADE,
Agents for the Applicant.
Improvements in or relating to Musical Notation.
I, ARTHUR HERBERT CASTLE, of 11, Bilton Road, Rugby, in the County of
Warwick, Master of Arts, do hereby declare- the nature of this invention and in
what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement:
The present method of printing music represents the intention of the composer
very inadequately especially in regard to loudness of sound or the reverse and
absolutely fails in regard to the duration of loud and soft phrases. This invention.
relates to improvements in. or relating to musical notation, whereby the intention
of the composer as to expression etc. is not merely indicated by the usual marks
or signs, such as fp etc. but is clearly shown and graphically represented in the score
itself, by particular characteristics of the notes or signs themselves, either of form,
size or otherwise, and in some cases by modifying the stave.
In carrying out my invention. I preferably form the notes of various sizes, the
largest notes representing fortissimo and the smallest notes pianissimo passages,
all gradations between the largest and smallest sizes being employed to represent
the intermediate degrees of expression.
By this means the duration of the tone-quality or the dynamic value of a passage.
can be accurately defined, and warning of changes of tone-colour is given to the
performer, by means of the change in the appearance of the score.
In addition to differences in the characteristics of the notes themselves, I
may also vary the sizes or form of the stems or tails of quavers, semi-quavers etc.
in order to emphasize the tone-colour of the notes. The tails of the characters are
preferably made of very thin lines.
I may also employ similar means for graphically representing increase or
diminution of tone or emphasis for example by gradually thickening the lines used
to indicate a crescendo passage or by causing the lines representing a diminuendo
phrase to gradually decrease in thickness, instead of forming these lines of one
uniform thickness in the usual manner.
Briefly my object is to illustrate the composer's intention in any way which
appeals strongly to the eye, and preferably by symmetrically using thick and thin
lines, large and small notes and the gradations between them to represent music
in the form of a picture. This I may call dynamic notation or picture music.
The following are among the chief advantages of my: improved method of
graphically representing expression in musical notation:-
(1) The accurate definition of the duration of a given tone-colour making it a
practical impossibility to misrepresent or misinterpret the composer in this respect.
(2) The impression of a picture produced on the mind. by the individual pages
or series of bars showing at a glance the climax towards which the composer is
tending. This is a most useful feature to a player, when learning a new piece by
heart,

page_text: (3) A warning of change of tone-quality produced by a sudden or gradual
change of type etc. This feature is a great advantage to a performer when play-
ing an unfamiliar work at sight.
(4) The possibility of illustrating passages of imitation which might be carried
out by the employment of varied type etc.
(5) The value to learners of thus gradually representing changes of tone-colour.
(6) The method as a whole is extremely valuable in ensuring that the per-
formance of a work shall be in accordance with the idea and the intention of the
composer.
The accompanying score illustrates by way of example one system of musical
notation according to this invention.
Fig. 1 comprises four bars written in my improved or dynamic notation.
Fig. 2 shows the same written in the usual manner.
It will be observed that in Fig. 1 the group of notes indicated by the letter H
being played "piano" is printed in smaller characters than the preceding notes
marked I, which are played "forte." At J is a short crescendo passage, indicated
both by the graduated size of the characters forming the notes and by the thicken-
ing of the lines in the usual crescendo mark. A long diminuendo passage is
shown at K. Some of the usual marks of expression are also inserted, but this
need not necessarily be done.
I am aware that a difference in the size of the printed characters has been used
to distinguish between a melody and its accompaniment or for similar purposes,
but the chief feature of this invention is the systematic graphic representation of
expression or tone-colour.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is:
-
1. In musical notation the graphic representation of expression by varying
in the manner described the appearance of the score.
2. In musical notation the graphic representation of the duration of particular
shades of expression by making similar characters employed in that phrase of
constant appearance.
3. In musical notation the graphic representation of expression by varying the
size of the characters indicating the notes.
4. In musical notation, indicating variation in the shades of expression by the
combination of notes of similar appearance where one shade of expression is con-
tinuous with notes of varying appearance where the expression varies substantially
as described.
5. The complete system of graphic representation of expression in musical
notation substantially as described or illustrated.
Dated this 27th day of June 1898.
ARTHUR HERBERT CASTLE.
Boult & Wade.
Agents for the Applicant.