Re: A440 Notation System

[Erik Sandberg]

On Friday 21 January 2005 10.54, John Boyle wrote:
> Hello, Lilypond users.
>
> I'd be very grateful to hear your comments on the A440 System which you can
> access on www.a440system.com

FYI, there are some issues with that website, when viewing with Mozilla 
Firefox:
- Mostly, you can not open links in new windows.
- Under "Results", it omplains about a missing plugin for the MP3 file, which 
is not possible to find.
- If you press the links under "How does it work", nothing happens.

With Konqueror the page doesn't seem to work at all; there are no links from 
the first page.

Most of these problems probably arise because the html code is not following 
the official standards. You can get some help/hints on how to fix it here: 
http://validator.w3.org/

> This is not an attempt to substitute the traditional system of notation.
> Its goal is to provide a simplified alternative for music leaning to help
> existing students to overcome the barriers of difficulty in sight reading
> which normally arise when the going gets a bit more complicated, and,
> especially, to provide a simple method which will encourage those millions
> of "potential musicians" who don't even start to learn because it looks too
> difficult!  These "non-starters" will be able to recognise every note
> immediately, at whatever octave, after perhaps only one session with the
> A440 System, and this gives the stimulus and motivation to continue which
> is often so difficult to create.

Looks like it could be useful, at least for keyboard-like instruments.

> Over the years of development and the legal registration of the System, we
> have had very positive reactions from musicins at all levels, from
> beginners to musicologists, but I'd  to hear all your comments, both
> positive AND negative.

Are there, or will there be, copyrights or patents that restrict the use of 
this notation? (this could affect whether lilypond can support the system 
natively)

> Also, if you would like to be associated commercially with the development
> of the project, please let us know.

To me it seems doable to use Lilypond for typesetting music in your a440 
system. (just use 4-line staves with adequate transposition, add your own 
clef symbols, and play around with automatic staff changing). Also it should 
be fairly easy for you to convert most scores from www.mutopiaproject.org to 
your system, in case you want more examples for your website.

Erik