The art of visualising music

CULTURE 5 MIN READ 25

← NoUI and the danger of invisible design

Cardew’s Treatise: the greatest musical score ever designed →
D
esign and music intersect in many ways; fashion, album art, set and instrument
design. Graphic notation is one side that is relatively unknown outside the
sometimes rarefied world of orchestral and experimental music.

Composers have always grappled with ways to express themselves and in the
twentieth-century, several began using this radical graphical approach to writing
scores. It was a two-fingered salute to the prevailing musical establishment.

Graphic notation functions the same way as traditional musical notation, but, uses
abstract symbols, images and text to convey meaning to the performers. A few of these
composers incorporate traditional notation and then bend it in unique ways.

The visual comparison between traditional and modern graphic notation can be
striking. Traditional notation is linear and rigid. Modern graphic notation is open, can
offer flexibility, and allow the performer to interpret the composer’s ideas.

Traditional versus Graphic-Notation

It all started around 840 C.E. when a former monk named Aurelian of Réôme created
one of the first examples of Western musical notation. This was a basic attempt to
create a treatise on music theory called Musica discipline.
 Page from Musica Discipline

By the Baroque era in Europe, composers wanted to set down their work with greater
consistency and leave less interpretation open to performers. Now musical language
was becoming codified. Yet various composers like Beethoven, then Gustav Mahler
in the late nineteenth-century, strained to break free of the traditional boundaries. Their
orchestral scores are full of scribbles, footnotes and marks as if sticking to the rules was
too much for them.

We can feel Beethoven trying to break free from the constraints of conventional notation
in his score from his Piano Sonata below.
 Page from Beethoven’s Piano Sonata N°32, op. 111

In the early twentieth-century, composers such as Henry Cowell began experimenting

with notation and his New Musical Resources (1930) was a radical attempt to change
musical notation. Increasingly throughout the twentieth-century and following the
horrors of the Second World War, there was a growing feeling among composers that
traditional Western notation was inadequate to express their musical ideas.

The earliest example of a full-blown graphic score is Morton Feldman’s Projection 1

(1950) for solo cello. It features an entirely original notation, which looks more like a
circuit diagram. It sounds and looks ahead of its time. Listen
Listen
Listen to
to
to ititit here
here.
here

Throughout the 50s and 60s, a new generation of heavyweight post-war composers like
Krzysztof
Krzysztof
Krzysztof Penderecki
Penderecki,
Penderecki Karlheinz
Karlheinz
Karlheinz Stockhausen
Stockhausen,
Stockhausen John
John
John Cage
Cage,
Cage Roman
Roman
Roman Haubenstock-Ramati
Haubenstock-Ramati
Haubenstock-Ramati
started using graphic notation as a serious and necessary alternative to tradition forms
of notation.

Arguably the
the
the greatest
greatest
greatest musical
musical
musical score
score
score ever
ever
ever designed
designed,
designed a pinnacle of graphic notation is by
Cornelius
Cornelius
Cornelius Cardew
Cardew,
Cardew entitled Treatise (1963-1967). The piece consists of 193 pages of
highly abstract scores. This is the Sistine Chapel of notation. His training as a graphic
designer is obvious. He even used principles of cognitive psychology, which is central
to design.

Cardew’s motivation was to inspire creativity and interpretation of the performer. The
score gave no specific instructions on how to play the piece, not even what instruments
to use. It’s a dense piece, allowing multiple explorations and interpretations. Following
along with the score is a rewarding experience. Listen and watch
watch
watch the
the
the score
score
score unfold
unfold.
unfold

Cornelius Cardew
Morton Feldman’s Projection 1

As the complexity and abstraction of music increased, so too did the scores. Many of
the pieces that these scores are referencing are obtuse to the point of
incomprehensibility, but there remains real beauty in them.

Brian Eno is one of the more well-known contemporary musicians using graphic
notation. Eno is very open about not having a formal musical education and thus being
watch the score unfold
unable to notate in an orthodox way. He has used graphic scores out of necessity and
has made it a normal part of his process.

He told an interviewer that ‘quite a lot of what I do has to do with sound texture, and you
can’t notate that anyway… That’s because musical notation arose at a time when sound
textures were limited.’ Eno gave the musicians on the recording of Music for Airports a
lot of latitude in interpreting the score with instructions such as ‘play the note C every 21
seconds’. The score is reprinted on the back of my copy of Music for Airports.

Music for Airports, back cover

To end this whirlwind tour, I present a few of my favourite examples from the last sixty
years.

John Cage, Fontana Mix (1958)

Toru Takemitsu, Study for Vibration (1962)

Cornelius Cardew, Treatise (1963-1967)

Cathy Berberian, Stripsody (1966)

Andrzej Panufnik, Universal Prayer (1968-69)

George Crumb, Spiral Galaxy (1972)

Roman Haubenstock-Ramati, Konstellationen (1972)

Albert Bernal, Impossible music #9 (2006-)

Wadada Leo Smith, Symphony No. 1 (2008)

References

Gallica,
Gallica,
Gallica, digital
digital
digital library
library
library of
of
of the
the
the National
National
National Library
Library
Library of
of
of France
France
France
Notations
Notations
Notations 21
21
21 by
by
by Theresa
Theresa
Theresa Sauer
Sauer
Sauer
Cardew’s
Cardew’s
Cardew’s Treatise:
Treatise:
Treatise: the
the
the greatest
greatest
greatest musical
musical
musical score
score
score ever
ever
ever designed
designed
designed
Morton
Morton
Morton Feldman
Feldman
Feldman by
by
by Paul
Paul
Paul Griffiths
Griffiths
Griffiths
Brian Eno, Interview
Interview
Interview Magazine
Magazine
Magazine

Cover image: “Five seasons” (1981-1982). Coloured graphic score (extract) by Nicolas
Panagopoulos.

Gallica, digital library of the National Library of France

Notations 21 by Theresa Sauer
TAGS: AVANT-GARDE GRAPHIC DESIGN GRAPHIC NOTATION
Cardew’s Treatise: the greatest musical score ever designed
Morton Feldman by Paul Griffiths
Interview Magazine

25 Comments

Haoyang Li 06 Feb 2018 Reply

Reply

The graphic scores is very beautiful, just like a painting. However, can the
performers really understand them? What if they cannot perform the correct
music the composer created?

Mees Vandervelde 25 Jul 2018 Reply

Reply

Most of the graphic scores don't have the meaning of playing the exact
Reply
music that the composer was thinking of. It's an interpretation of the music,
thats the meaning of graphical scores. You are free to make your own piece
of the score, just follow the movements and rules.

Reply
Leonzio Cherubini 11 Aug 2018 Reply
Reply

Also. Graphic scores, who evolve on screens, are exciting questions of our
time. We are going toward a "multimedia music notation" with no doubt. The
potential developments are not simply considered in their technological
aspects, but to enlarge the art of sound, composition, interpretation and
performance. This because music notation always been adapted to new
technology, from the Neums and even before, to our time.
Reply
https://www.leonzio.ch/graphic-scores/

Cat Hope 28 Jul 2019 Reply

Reply

I think you will find that Percy Grainger’s Free Music no.1 from 1936 is
actually the first ‘modern’
Graphic score

David 29 Jul 2019 Reply

Reply

Thanks, that's really interesting. I have fallen down a rabbit hole now. I
Reply
followed the email and have discovered many interesting articles like this
Decibel
Decibel
Decibel Score
Score
Score Player
Player
Player

Doug 17 Aug 2018 Reply

Reply
Reply
Nice work. You might like to pass this link on to Wikipedia: they seem to be
having trouble breaking loose from notion that screen savers represent the
apex of music visualization. ;-)

You might like to take a look at: https://visualfutureofmusic.blogspot.ch/

Decibel Score Player

This blog mapsReply
out (based on a real life proof-of-concept) possibilities that
span world music notations, instrumentation and music theory models, art,
psychophysics and esoterica.
I would love to see some of these images brought to life by score during
playback.

Lindsey Jacob 12 Oct 2018 Reply

Reply

Very interesting read, but don't you mean George Crumb rather than Robert
Crumb as the composer for Spiral Galaxy? It is from his collection of piano
pieces entitled, "Makrokosmos".

David 12 Oct 2018 Reply

Reply

Hi Lindsey. That’s a funny slip. Robert is a very different character. Thanks

Reply
for the heads up.

Cory Gledhill 02 Nov 2018 Reply

Reply

I'm curious about your article on graphic music notation. You have a great
Reply
collection there. It seems most graphic notations embraces a kind of
extreme subjectivity that is to me beautiful, unattainable by tradition notation,
but also troubling. If the purpose of notation is to communicate to the listener
(via the performer) a set of concepts, feelings, emotions; which the
composer has carefully crafted, then the precision of traditional notation (or
something like it) is necessary.
Reply
But if the composer wants the performer to
construct their own conceptual world in which the listener is to inhabit, then
graphical notations are apt.

You may be interested in my new notation called pitch bracket notation. It

adopts a more precise method like traditional sheet music. But my notation
embraces mathematics and art unlike traditional sheet music.

pitchbracket.com
 David 06 Nov 2018 Reply
Reply

Hi Cory, Pitch Bracket Notation looks really interesting. I'd like to see some
real world examples or even the notation synched to music like the Cardew
piece https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMzIXxlwuCs.

Daphnia 06 Nov 2018 Reply

Reply
Reply
Good article! You should also check a pretty new book called Tonebook
which was published by Impatient Press with works by Phill Niblock, Lea
Bertucci, Stephen Vitiello, Alan Courtis, Zeena Parkins, Elliott Sharp, Aki
Onda and more: https://inpatientpress.bigcartel.com/product/tonebook
here you can also check some of the scores:
https://www.thewire.co.uk/galleries/gallery-the-tonebook-collection-of-
graphic-scores Reply

David 08 Nov 2018 Reply

Reply

Thanks for these examples. Amazing creativity.

Andria Nicodemou 30 Jan 2019 Reply

Reply

Hi! I would love to know who is the composer of the colorful score on the
top.
Reply
Thank you,
A.

David 31 Jan 2019 Reply

Reply
Reply
Hi Andria, it's by Roman Haubenstock-Ramati for his score, Komposition
(1974)
Graham 30 Mar 2019 Reply
Reply

Is there a book that has these and more in?

David 01 Apr 2019 Reply

Reply

The only book I know that deal with this subject is Notations
Notations
Notations 21
21
21 by Theresa
Sauer, but nothing that charts the history of it.

Reply

Vinny Golia 28 Jul 2019 Reply

Reply

Email me if you want to see some animated graphic scores which combine a
Reply
painterly background with music

Cristian Amigo 04 Aug 2019 Reply

Reply

Notations 21
I would love to see some. _Cristian Amigo --- camigo@mac.com

Reply
BTW. I am joining the sound design faculty @ CalArts School of Theater
beginning Fall 2019. It will be nice to meet you. - Cristian

Reply
David 07 Aug 2019 Reply
Reply

Hi Vinny. I'd be interested to see your scores.

Henry Gough-Cooper 29 Jul 2019 Reply

Reply

It would be interesting to investigate the historical crisis in the notation of

music written in the European Classical tradition that led to the appearance
Reply
of ‘graphical scores’ in the mid-20th century. Scores which are not scores,
but puzzles without solutions. There is something reminiscent of Lem’s ‘His
Master’s Voice’ here; and perhaps the political milieu that prompted Lem’s
dystopian sci-fi has something to do with it.
 David 29 Jul 2019 Reply
Reply

I read His Master's Voice a long time ago and your comment makes me
want to revisit it. An interesting connection. Puzzles without solutions
indeed. Abstract art, graphic notation, free of political ideology.

George Burt 05 Aug 2019 Reply

Reply
Reply
I've been lucky enough to be part of a project with the artist Jo Ganter and
the composer Raymond MacDonald:
https://www.royalscottishacademy.org/exhibitions/silent-music-seeing-sound/
Here's a video of our band playing one of these scores on one of the coldest
nights that Glasgow's ever seen!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYQAcIlBUd8
Jo has also made animated
Reply
scores with Marilyn Crispell:
https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/joganter

David 07 Aug 2019 Reply

Reply

Thanks for sharing this George. Some beautiful work here.

Patricio Calatayud 12 Jan 2020 Reply

Reply

Check Augenmusik. Crumb's example, and many music by Brown were

influenced by this Medieval printing trend
Reply

Fast Forward 25 May 2020 Reply

Reply

Nicely done David , thank you! I have a graphic score for you.
Reply
Leave a Reply
Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Comment

Name *

Email *

Website

Post Comment

© 2020 David Hall