Graphic notation

What it means

Graphic notation is the name for forms of notation that use symbols, lines, shapes, texts, or colors instead of or alongside classical staff notation to record or inspire music. It often does not fix pitch, rhythm, and duration exactly but gives directions, contours, and characters that the performers interpret themselves.

Musical use

Graphic notation arose in the 1950s and 1960s in experimental music, when composers such as Earle Brown, John Cage, and Karlheinz Stockhausen sought new ways of notating sound. Well-known examples are Cornelius Cardew's Treatise (1963–67), a score of graphic shapes, and Cage's works with transparent sheets. It is closely linked with aleatoric music and improvisation and is also used in music education.

Graphic notation should be distinguished from classical notation, which fixes pitch and rhythm exactly, and from tablature, which describes fingerings or frets. Some works use both systems side by side, others dispense entirely with traditional notes.

Performance practice

If you play a piece in graphic notation, first settle on an interpretation of the signs and keep to it consistently so that the performance stays comprehensible. Agree within the group on the assignment of symbols to sounds and listen to each other while playing.