Music Notations by Date

The images below illustrate various alternative music notation systems. Each one shows a chromatic scale from C to C. Click on an image to learn more about a particular system. The notation systems are sorted by the date they were created or first documented. You can also view them by Line Pattern and by 7-5 and 6-6 Patterns. For a general introduction see the Music Notations Guided Tour.

• Expanded Twinline by Paul Morris (2006)
• Black-Triangle Twinline by Doug Keislar (2006)
• White-Triangle Twinline by Paul Morris (2006)
• Klavar, Mirck Version by Jean de Buur (2006)
• Thumline Music Notation by Jim Plamondon (2005)
• Express Stave by John Keller (2005)

• Bilinear Notation by Jose Sotorrio (1997)
• 6-6 Tetragram by Richard Parncutt (1996)
• MUTO Notation by MUTO Music Method Foundation (1995)
• Untitled by Grace Frix (1992)
• C-Symmetrical Semitone Notation by Ronald Sadlier (1991)
• 6-6 Trigram Notation by Richard Parncutt (1990)

• Keyboard (or 7-5) Trigram Notation by Richard Parncutt (1989)
• DA Notation by Rich Reed (1986)
• Chromatic Twinline by Leo de Vries (1986)
• Diatonic Twinline by Leo de Vries (1986)
• Twinline by Thomas Reed (1986)
• Chromatic 6-6 Notation by Johannes Beyreuther (1985)
• 0-5-7 Notation by Richard Parncutt (1984)
• Untitled by Robert Stuckey (1983)

• Proportional Chromatic Musical Notation by Henri Carcelle (a vertically oriented system) (1977)
• A-B Chromatic Notation by Albert Brennink (1976)
• Avique Notation by Anne and Bill Collins (1974)

• Untitled by Johannes Beyreuther (1959)
• Panot Notation by George Skapski (1956)
• Isomorph Notation by Tadeusz Wojcik (1952)
• Notation Godjevatz by Velizar Godjevatz (1948)

• Douzave System by John Leon Acheson (1936)
• NotaGraph by Constance Virtue (1933)
• Untitled by Arnold Schoenberg (1924)
• Untitled by Edward Huntington (1920)

• Seven-tone or Twelve-tone Notation by Hans Krenn (1910)
• Untitled by Hans Sacher (1905)
• Untitled by Johann Ailler (1904)

• Note for Note by Walter H. Thelwall (1897)
• Ambros System by August Ambros (1883)

• Notation for the System of Equal Tones Applied to the Chromatic Keyboard by Gustave Decher (1877)
• Untitled by Heinrich Vincent (1862)

• Untitled by Karl Schumann (1859)
• Untitled by Heinrich "Autodidactus" Richter (1847)

• Untitled by Nicolai Dolmatov ( Before 1995)
• Untitled by Klaus Lieber ( Before 1983)
• Untitled by Franz Grassl ( Before 1983)
• Three Untitled Systems by Lukas Brandt, Hermann-Josef Wilbert, and Kazimierz Wolf ( Before 1983)
• 6-6 Klavar by Cornelis Pot (vertically oriented system) ( Before 1975)

 

 

As an educational and informational resource, we seek to present these music notation systems in a fair and even-handed way. Unless otherwise noted, they each meet all of our desirable criteria for alternative music notation systems. If you are the designer of a music notation system, and would like us to consider adding it to our site, see For Notation Designers.