Nomenclatures Overview
This page gives a summary overview of proposals for new naming schemes for notes.
Alphabetical Nomenclatures
Some proposals maintain the traditional letter names for the notes A B C D E F G and introduce five new names for the "sharp or flat" notes (black keys on the piano). (Hass Notation retains the traditional German nomenclature in which B is called H and A#/Bb is called B.) Other proposals rename all twelve notes of the chromatic scale.
Some proposals employ repeating patterns for consonants and/or vowels. NoteTrace uses two repeating patterns: B M T for the consonants and e i o a for the vowels. SaLaTa uses a 6-6 pattern of alternating "a" and "o" for the vowels, while retaining the initial consonants of the seven traditional solfege names and introducing new consonants for the other five. Plain Notation System uses the cycle o u e a i for the vowels while retaining the seven traditional consonants and introducing five new ones.
| Alphabetical Nomenclatures | A | A# Bb |
B | C | C# Db |
D | D# Eb |
E | F | F# Gb |
G | G# Ab |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hass Notation by Peter Hass: |
A | B | H | C | O | D | S | E | F | V | G | I |
| Express Stave Nomenclature by John Keller: |
A | H | B | C | I | D | J | E | F | K | G | L |
| SaLaTa by Dan Lindgren: |
La | Bo | Ta | Do | Pa | Ro | Na | Mo | Fa | Wo | Sa | Go |
| Plain Notation System by Ivaylo Naydenov: |
L (Le) |
H (Ha) |
T (Ti) |
D (Do) |
B (Bu) |
R (Re) |
N (Na) |
M (Mi) |
F (Fa) |
G (Ge) |
S (So) |
V (Vu) |
| Notetrace by Enrique Prieto: |
Be | Me | Te | Bi | Mi | Ti | Bo | Mo | To | Ba | Ma | Ta |
Numerical Nomenclatures
Many proposals rename the notes using numbers, or even use numbers in visual music notation systems. See the MNP's tutorial on Numerical Notation Systems for more thorough documentation.
| Numerical Nomenclatures | A | A# Bb |
B | C | C# Db |
D | D# Eb |
E | F | F# Gb |
G | G# Ab |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nueva Escritura Musical by Julián Carrillo: |
9 | 10 | 11 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 |
| Untitled Notation System by Robert Stuckey: |
9 | X | N | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 |
| Hamburg Music Notation by Robert Elisabeth Key: |
A | B | C | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 |
| Numbered Notes by Jason MacCoy: |
10 | 11 | 12 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 |
| FinKeys Notation System by Victor Mataele |
X | Y | Z | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 |
Single-Digit Symbols for Ten and Eleven (PDF) by Dominique Waller
Dominique Waller designed a numeric notation system, and wrote this article (PDF) about his search for single-digit symbols to substitute for the numbers 10 and 11. He writes: "To make it easier to write and read, a duodecimal music notation that goes from 0 to 11 needs two new single-digit symbols for 10 and 11. But how to choose them? I’ve been searching for ten years now and have often changed my mind, but I now have come to a conclusion. That’s what I’m going to explain here."
