7-5 Line Pattern;  3, 5, or 6 Lines per Octave

From the Guided Tour: The staff lines of most of the other notation systems on this site are spaced either a whole step Apart,  or some multiple of a whole step (a major third, a tritone, or an octave). The systems below follow a different principle instead. The lines of these staves have an irregular spacing that highlights the 7-5 pitch pattern, by putting the diatonic notes of the C major scale either in spaces or on lines and ledger lines.

• Klavar, Mirck Version by Jean de Buur (2006)
• Keyboard (or 7-5) Trigram Notation by Richard Parncutt (1989)
• Avique Notation by Anne and Bill Collins (1974)
• 0-5-7 Notation by Richard Parncutt (1984)

 

Klavar, Mirck Version by Jean de Buur

This Mirck version of Klavar notation is Jean de Buur's horizontal and pitch-proportional variation on Cornelis Pot's original design. Both the five-line staff and notehead coloration have a 7-5 pattern. The notes in the spaces between the lines are the notes of the C major scale (the white piano keys), and are also distinguished by having white noteheads. The notes falling on the lines are the the other five notes of the chromatic scale (the black piano keys) and are distinguished by having black noteheads.

Note that between the groups of two and three lines there are two adjacent spaces without a line separating them. In the official vertical version of Klavar this distance is a full 2 spaces so that the notes E, F, and B, C, do not overlap -- just like the other space notes that do have a line (and a note) separating them. This irregularity keeps the standard Klavar staff from being pitch-proportional. In the Mirck version the distance between the groups of two and three lines has been adjusted to the equivalent of 1.5 spaces (instead of 2) which makes the distances between all the notes even and pitch-proportional.

As in Klavar the noteheads are circular, the group of three lines is slightly darker than the group of two lines, and rhythmic notation is proportional, with the distance between note stems indicating the timing of each note. However, while Klavar always locates black notes on one side of the stem and white notes on the other, in Mirck notation all the notes generally appear on the right side of the stem. This allows the spacing between the noteheads to mirror that of the stems, which reinforces and makes clearer the proportional rhythmic spacing. An exception is made for harmonic intervals and chords, where the black notes always appear on the left and the white notes on the right.

There is an accompanying note naming scheme based upon the standard Solfege system, but with novel names for the five black key notes. Like Solfege it can be used as a "fixed do" or "movable do" nomenclature.

do - dos - re - res - mi - fa - fas - sol - sos - la - las - si - do

Source: Jean de Buur, first published June 2006

Similar Notations: 6-6 Klavar by Cornelis Pot, Isomorph Notation by Tadeusz Wójcik, Express Stave, Diatonic Twinline Notation

Miscellaneous examples: Major Scale Comparison  Triad Comparison

Keyboard (or 7-5) Trigram Notation by Richard Parncutt

A group of three solid lines alternates with a group of two ledger lines. The staff has a 7-5 line pattern much like the Mirck version of Klavar (above). The notes in the spaces between the lines are the notes of the C major scale (the white piano keys), and the notes falling on the lines are the the other five notes of the chromatic scale (the black piano keys). Between the groups of two and three lines there are two adjacent spaces without a line separating them that represent the notes E, F, and B, C. The physical distance between the two groups of lines is equal to 1.5 spaces so that the vertical spacing of the notes is even and pitch-proportional.

Earliest documentation: 1989

Source: Directory of Music Notation Proposals, section/page: 13/63

Other Similar Notations: 6-6 Tetragram by Richard Parncutt, 6-6 Trigram by Richard Parncutt 

Avique Notation by Anne & Bill Collins

The staff has a 7-5 line pattern with each line representing one of the seven notes of the C major scale (the white keys on the piano: A, B, C, D, E, F, G). The five other notes (the black keys on the piano) are then placed in the spaces between the lines.  As there is no black key on the piano between E and F or between B and C, there is no space on the staff for notes between the E and F lines or the B and C lines. These two pairs of lines are closer together.  The ledger line in the middle of the single octave staff represents D. Traditional rhythmic notation is used.

Earliest documentation: 1974

Source: Directory of Music Notation Proposals, section/page: 10/9, 11/5, 13/19

Manuscript Paper: Discontinuous Staves  Continuous Staves

0-5-7 Notation by Richard Parncutt

The staff has a 7-5 line pattern with each line or ledger line representing one of the seven notes of the C major scale (the white keys on the piano: A, B, C, D, E, F, G). The three fully visible lines represent the notes C, F, and G (the notation is also known as "C-F-G" notation). These notes are the 0, 5, and 7 pitches in the chromatic scale when starting with C as 0. The five other notes (the black keys on the piano) appear on spaces.  As there is no black key on the piano between E and F or between B and C, there is no space on the staff for notes between the lines E and F or the lines B and C. These two pairs of lines are closer together. Traditional rhythmic notation is used.

Earliest documentation: 1984

Source: Directory of Music Notation Proposals, section/page: 10/20, 11/5, 13/62

Manuscript Paper: Discontinuous Staves  Continuous Staves