An Improved System of Musical Notation.
Year: 1897

page_text: Date of Application, 4th Sept., 1897-Accepted, 5th Feb., 1898
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
An Improved System of Musical Notation.
I, CHARLES CURTIS GUILFORD, of No. 1, Talbot Avenue, Dorchester, in the City
of Boston, State of Massachusetts, United States of America, Musician, do hereby
declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following state-
ment:-
My invention comprises certain improvements in musical notation which furnish
a simple and rational means for the adequate communication of musical concep
tions, and is intended to secure a more perfect correspondence between musical
notation and the present system of music.
The established system of music recognizes a scale of twelve intervals, but the
present notation is based upon a scale of but seven intervals. The remaining five
intervals, (corresponding to the black keys of the piano) are denoted by a confusing
and irrational system of sharps, flats and naturals. Thus it happens that the same
tone has several different symbols. Moreover, while the compass of a staff is less
than one and one-third octaves, the range of musical tones is more than seven
octaves. Recourse is then had to a great number of ledger lines above and below
the staff, as well as to different staves, which, while alike in form, differ in
significance.
Thus both the writing and reading of music is rendered unnecessarily difficult
and complex.
In its mode of expressing time, the present system is equally defective. While
the real unit of time is the measure, the present notation makes the note the unit,
which results in the manifest absurdity of a measure or unit composed of two,
three, or four quarter or eighth notes. The result is that a different note symbol
is required for every possible variation in the duration of a tone, and of a different
rest symbol for every variation in the duration of silence. The modern conception
of musical time is that of accent or stress rather than that of duration or meter.
The present notation does not express this idea with certainty or precision.
To overcome the defects of the established notation I have devised the notation
hereinafter described as a means for simply and adequately expressing pitch,
accent, and duration.
In the drawings-
Fig. 1 represents a piano key board, my symbols for expressing the pitch of each
note being applied, the Roman numerals above indicating the octave, while the
Arabic numerals below denote the individual notes in each octave.
Fig. 2 illustrates the means employed for denoting accent in duple time.
Fig. 3, the means for expressing accent in triple time.
Fig. 4, means for expressing accent in sextuple time.
Fig. 5 shows the means employed to subdivide a beat or pulse into its parts.
Fig. 6 shows my system employed to express the first four and the last four
measures of the well known composition, "Home, Sweet Home."
Fig. 7 illustrates the manner of expressing triplets, quintuplets, and septuplets
Tegnestively

page_text: I will now describe the notation invented by me for expressing music.
Pitch. The octave constitutes a tone series. I designate the respective octaves
by Roman numerals, the octave beginning with lowest C of the piano-forte is
denoted by Roman numeral II, the next higher by the symbol III, and so on to
the highest octave whose symbol is VIII. Each octave comprises twelve tones,
the tones being respectively denoted by the symbols 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12.
When but a few notes are to be played above or below the given octave, instead
of changing the prefixed Roman numerals, I may add one, two, or three marks
above the note symbol to indicate that it is to be played in the first, second, or
third octave above that of the octave symbol prefixed. When placed beneath a
note symbol, these marks indicate the number of octaves below that of the prefix
that such note is to be played. Several instances of this use of these marks will
be found in the notation shown in Fig, 6, thus IV. Ï is the equivalent of V. 1;
V. I the equivalent of VI. 1.
When the composition includes more than one musical part, the octave symbol
should be prefixed to each part, as in Fig. 6.
Accent. I denote accent or rhythm by vertical lines, heavy lines denoting strong
accent, the lighter lines denoting secondary accent. In Figs. 2, 3, and 4 I have
shown how I express duple, triple, and sextuple time. Each strong accent is
counted 1, the secondary accent being counted 2, 3, etc. according to the number
of them in the measure. As in music from one strong accent to the next con-
stitutes a measure, so in my notation, from one heavy vertical line to another
indicates a measure.
Duration. The light vertical lines subdivide the measure into beats or counts
of equal duration, the number of beats in the measure corresponding to the number
of spaces occurring between two successive heavy lines; thus, one light vertical
line between two heavy ones indicates duple time, as it makes two spaces. It may
be necessary to make one space wider than another in order to receive a greater
number of note symbols, but it will be understood that the beats indicated by the
spaces are nevertheless of equal duration.
When unaccented tones are used I employ punctuation marks to subdivide the
spaces representing beats into parts. As shown in Fig. 5, I employ a period (.) to
divide the beat into halves; these halves I subdivide into quarters by colons (:);
the quarters I subdivide into eighths by commas (,); and these eighths into six-
teenths by hyphens (-). I use the hyphen alone for triplets, quintuplets, and
septuplets, as shown in Fig. 7.
Silence is denoted by the asterisk (*). A tone is first sounded in that part of
the count where its symbol is placed and is to be continued until succeeded by
another note symbol or by the symbol of silence (*). Silence continues until
terminated by a tone symbol.
Double vertical lines (see Fig. 6) denote the beginning or end of a phrase.
It will be observed that I have provided a complete means for expressing the
ideas of pitch, accent, and duration, without the use of any staff. My system is
exceedingly simple and in exact correspondence with the established system of
music.
It is apparent that changes may be made in the specific symbols used for expres-
sing the various elements of music without departing from the spirit of my inven-
tion, as some of the symbols are purely arbitrary.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is:-
1. The arrangement of symbols substantially as described to express musical
pitch, accent, and duration.
2. The herein described musical notation comprising prefix symbols for denoting
the respective octaves, tone symbols for the individual tones in the octave arranged
in horizontal lines after their respective prefix symbols, a uniform symbol for

page_text: denoting silence, and vertical dividing lines to denote primary and secondary
accent.
3. A musical notation comprising a series of Arabic numerals, each denoting a
definite pitch in the octave, arranged in horizontal lines, a Roman numeral pre-
fixed to each line and corresponding to the octave in which the tones are to he
sounded, a series of vertical dividing lines for indicating beats, whereby the accent
or rhythm is denoted, and punctuation marks for subdividing said beats or counts.
Dated this 4th August 1897.
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C., Agents for the Applicant.