A NEW AND IMPROVED SYSTEM OF MUSICAL NOTATION
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Striby, of Weinheim, in the Duchy of Baden,
Professor of Music, for the Invention of "A NEW AND IMPROVED SYSTEM
OF MUSICAL NOTATION."
Sealed the 12th January 1856, and dated the 21st July 1855.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Striby at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 21st
July 1855.
I, WILLIAM STRIBY, of Weinheim, in the Duchy of Baden, Professor of
Music, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "A NEW AND
IMPROVED SYSTEM OF MUSICAL NOTATION" to be as follows; and consists of a
substitute for the musical scales & clefs now in use for the different instru-
ments. By this system of notation a person conversant with music written for
any instrument or voice will be equally capable to read music written for all
other instruments or voices. This is effected by reducing the clefs for different
voices, parts, or instruments to one universal scale or system of scales, in
which a given note occupies the same relative position on the lines, spaces, and
ledger lines of the stave as the same or a unison note has on the stave allotted
to another instrument or clef; also by the use or employment of more than
five lines in a stave; and also by a union line rendered conspicuous from the
other lines of the stave by size, colour, or other suitable manner, so as to allow

page_text: the performer to more readily distinguish the position of the notes, &c. This
system may be printed, engraved, embossed, or transferred by any of the usual
& known processes with great facility, & will much simplify the tuition and
acquirement of the musical art, thereby saving time and labour.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Striby in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
12th January 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
STRIBY, of Weinheim, in the Duchy of Baden, Professor of Music, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-first day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the nineteenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
William Striby, Her special licence that I, the said William Striby, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William
Striby, 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 "A NEW AND IMPROVED SYSTEM OF
MUSICAL NOTATION," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
William Striby, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, 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 imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Striby, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:-
The nature of my Invention consists of a substitute for the musical scales
and clefs now in use for the different instruments. By this system of notation
a person conversant with music written for any instrument or voice will be
equally capable to read music written for all other instruments or voices. This

page_text: is effected by reducing the clefs for different voices, parts, or instruments to
one universal scale or system of scales. This system may be embossed,
engraved, printed, carved, or transferred by any of the usual and known pro-
cesses with great facility, and will much simplify the tuition and acquirements
of the musical art.
Also, when music pieces will be engraved with and upon this same new
system, and struck off (in the ordinary way by printing), then we shall obtain
an improved, valuable, and useful article of industry in the music trade. The
article is also commercial, and will be sold as published music pieces, and
whoever makes use of this improved article or new pieces will save a great
deal of time, labor, and money, because he will acquire the thorough art of
music in a much shorter space of time than formerly. The advantages in
this respect are thoroughly explained in the description of the following 23
nunibered examples, and Drawings thereof. This improvement also offers
great facilities to blind persons who wish to learn the piano, organ, or other
instruments, because this system and music pieces thereupon can be produced
in relief in wood, or cast in metal or other material.
I have endeavoured in the following description and accompanying Draw-
ings to illustrate in the most perfect manner the application of my new system
to every instrument, and to every kind of music, vocal, instrumental, church,
and operatic music, so that every person will be enabled to acquire this divine
art. In order to get a correct knowledge of the merits of this Invention in a
scientific view it will be necessary to have it examined by such masters of the
art who read music in at least two different (G and F) clefs :-a. the most
able persons to examine this method are, thorough teachers of the piano,
organists, or leaders of orchestras, who are teachers at the same time.
b. piano players not being teachers, or such musicians who play one or
several instruments which need only one former clef, would not be suitable
examiners of the matter to test the scientific part of it. The scientific part
of the system is described by the following 23 numbered explications, with
the Sheets of accompanying Drawings:-
A. PIANO AND CHURCH ORGAN MUSIC.
No. 1. The old or present 5-line system. The threefold difficulties of the
old system for piano and organ players or pupils are,-1, the study of reading
fluently the treble notes in G clef; 2, the study of reading fluently the bass
notes in F clef; 3, the study of reading fluently piano music together in both
faragning (treble and hass) clefs

page_text: (of No. 1) entirely abolished, and reduced upon a single one, because treble
and bass and reading both together have only one kind of notes; saves, there-
fore, at least half the time.
No. 3 represents the same new system like No. 2. It is clearly shown here
that treble and bass are throughout alike; of course the bass notes are two
octaves lower than the treble. Also I have invented two new clefs in order to
distinguish the two halves of the musical scale: treble
2
1, and bass T
No. 4. The new system has one more line than the old one. Add a first
line below the bass stave, and a sixth line above the treble stave, and draw
the thick line. By this slight alteration with ink, crayon, or lead pencil on
the existing music pieces, or by engraving and lithography upon the old music
plates, not one penny's worth of the existing music pieces will be lost.
No. 5. The heavily drawn or 4th line facilitates the reading of the notes on
the staves. Without this heavy line it would be difficult to distinguish readily
the notes on the six lines.
No. 6. The heavily drawn line I call the compromise line, because it com-
promises and combines the old and new system one with the other. For the
same reason I place also the new universal clefs upon the 4th or compromise
line. This example further shows what facilities are offered by this improved
system to former piano players and beginners.
No. 7. In this example one perceives in the new method the general
uniformity of the note C above and below, in treble and bass, which is a
great gain.
No. 8 shows the saving of two ledger lines, one above the treble, and the
other below the bass; a great facility in reading music.
No. 9. The same notes of treble and bass are just two octaves apart, which
is likewise an advantage over the old system.
No. 10. Treble E upon the first line of the old and new system is one and
the same note; this will serve as a general starting point.
No. 11 & No. 12 show the great advantages of uniformity in the new
system compared with the old one.
No. 13, march from Norma, shows how old (former) music pieces are
adapted to the new method. One perceives that the lower and upper 1st ledger
line of the old system is simply changed into the 1st and 6th line of the new
system.
No. 14, from Freyschuetz. All these four parts are alike each other, and all
of them written in the key of C major. An already finished piano player is
perhaps not aware how difficult it is to acquire the art of reading music

page_text: fluently in more than one clef. Having become a good pianist, he may (if he
began from childhood) probably have forgotten the labor of study and length
of time it took him to accomplish reading in both treble and bass clef at once.
Let the finished piano player, for instance, attempt to read this example of
No. 14 (Freyschuetz) in soprano, alto, and tenor, and he will immediately dis-
cover that the study of 3 or 4 different clefs will, of course, require a great
deal more time than one universal clef will. The threefold difficulties will be
reduced upon a single one by my new system.
B. ORCHESTRAL AND VOCAL MUSIC.
To chapel masters and leaders of orchestras also great inducements and
facilities are offered in arranging orchestral music, quartettes, etc., as this new
system has only one kind of notes in treble, bass, soprano, alto, tenor, and
baritone for vocal music; and for all musical instruments in and out of the
orchestra, as organ, piano, harp, guitar, violin, flute, clarionet, hautbois, piccolo,
trumpet, cornet, French-horn, sax-horn, tromboue, violoncello, bassoon, bass
viol, etc.
No. 15, to the left, for the orchestra. The 6 different (former) scales of
treble, alto, tenor, soprano, baritone, and bass of the old system.
To the right, for the orchestra. The single new universal scale for treble,
soprano, alto, tenor, baritone, and bass of the new system.
N.B. Alto and tenor are of course 1 octave lower than treble.
And the bass is just 2 octaves lower than treble.
One perceives that I have also invented new orchestral clefs for alto, tenor,
etc. All these universal clefs are placed upon the 4th or compromise line, in
order to make the piano and organ music uniform with the orchestral music.
No. 16, music piece from Zampa, shows at a glance the great practical
advantages of the new method, so that the violinist, for instance, can read the
notes of the 6 different orchestral clefs of the bassist or alto violin player, or
of any other musician, without being compelled to learn more than this onc
universal (new) scale.
No. 17, from Freyschuetz. One perceives here also the uniformity of this
new method for all instruments and voices of the orchestra. Here is likewise
the sixfold scale reduced upon a single one, certainly a very great gain.
No. 18, adagio by Haydn, shows the improvements and great facilities in
arranging music pieces according to the new method.
No. 19, vocal quartetto, No 1, 2, 3, & 4. All these 4 numbers are per-
fectly alike in arrangement. N° 1 and II. are written in orchestra style;

page_text: No III and IIII. in piano style; No. 1 in the old method; No II., III.,
and IIII. in the new method.
No. 20, allegro from Bethhoven's sinfonia eroica, No. 3; comparison of old
and new orchestral instrumentation. For the instrumentation of this orchestral
piece in the old method there are 4 different scales needed, viz., treble, alto,
tenor, and bass; but in the instrumentation according to the new system,
all the instruments have only one universal scale, as drawn on top of this
piece, No. 20.
No. 21, unsuccessful attempt to improve the former or present 5-line
system; the bass would be of course two octaves lower than the treble.
No. 22, attempt to another improved universal scale of 7 lines, with com-
promise line upon the 2d, 3, 4, 5, or 6th line; the bass of course would also
be 2 octaves lower than the treble; however, this one is less practicable than
N° 2, 3, & 15.
No. 23, attempt to a further universal system with 8 or more lines, with
union line upon any of the lines, likewise with bass two octaves lower than
treble; this one proved also unsuccessful.
I claim,
† old system.
†† new system.
I. A universal system intented to reduce all the different musical clefs,
scales, and systems to one single scale, or a single system of scales.
II. A new-shaped set of clefs, by which a given note will retain the same
relative position upon the staves, etc. for all instruments and clefs.
III. The use and application of more than 5 lines in a stave.
IIII. The use or application of a union line, rendered conspicuous from
the other lines of the stave by size, colour, or in other suitable manner, to
allow the performer to distinguish more readily the position of the notes.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Striby, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fourth day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six.
XIZM
דת ז בתחי
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TIM ODDY
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