Klavarskribo

[DouglasCorr]

Concerning an interesting UTube organ video....

 

I thought the Ab Weegenaar Psalm 22 very interesting - after a long struggle I located here what I hope is the the score, Message Boarders might be interested.

 

PS You can have a look at the first two pages of Psalm 22 Variation 3 at the end of this download

 

I seem to be having one problem after another these days: car, computer virus, credit card fraud, drain.... I was looking forward to my copy of the Ab Weegenaar Psalm 22 arriving, I thought it would not be difficult to learn....

 

I had ordered it from the site tracked down as mentioned above, with the funny Dutch name "Klavarscribo"- I thought just the right sort of name for a music publisher!

 

It came really quickly! Then I opened it - what a nasty shock! It looked like it was in a hieroglyphic Chinese code - more than a job for Bletchley Park!

 

I found out that Klavarskribo is an "easy to learn new notation" - I now know what the funny keyboard logo on the Klavarscribo site meant!

 

Really, life is too short for all this (I hope my post has not made anyone else make the same mistake!!)...

 

Anyone know how to quickly transcribe it?

[Malcolm Kemp]

I became aware of this problem (although, mercifully I didn't buy any of it) a few months back when I was trying to buy organ music by Mulder. Both I and my regular supplier (Richard Barnes of Cathedral Music) found the website and we quickly established that this is the only type of music they publish. Basically, it is printed horizontally rather than vertically so that it looks the same as on the keyboard so I suppose there is a sort of logic to it! I think it's aimed mainly at children.

 

Whether it is "new" is another matter. I recall practicing on the organ in one Brighton church circa 1963-64 and another, older, person who practiced on the same organ used to play Durufle which was notated and printed in this way. I've never come across it apart from then, though.

 

Malcolm

[innate]

I became aware of this problem (although, mercifully I didn't buy any of it) a few months back when I was trying to buy organ music by Mulder. Both I and my regular supplier (Richard Barnes of Cathedral Music) found the website and we quickly established that this is the only type of music they publish. Basically, it is printed horizontally rather than vertically so that it looks the same as on the keyboard so I suppose there is a sort of logic to it! I think it's aimed mainly at children.

 

Whether it is "new" is another matter. I recall practicing on the organ in one Brighton church circa 1963-64 and another, older, person who practiced on the same organ used to play Durufle which was notated and printed in this way. I've never come across it apart from then, though.

 

Malcolm

I remember reading about Klavarskribo in the old Percy Scholes Oxford Companion to Music, probably a 1950 edition.

[DouglasCorr]

Whether it is "new" is another matter. I recall practicing on the organ in one Brighton church circa 1963-64 and another, older, person who practiced on the same organ used to play Durufle which was notated and printed in this way. I've never come across it apart from then, though.

 

Malcolm

 

Well it's new compared to the standard notation!

 

But if you clicked on my link you could have found out its actual history!

 

It's surprising that composers in Holland would want to publish their music in a manner that can be only played by the few, and with magnifying glasses.

[David Patrick]

The Klavar Music Foundation of Great Britain has a website at http://www.klavarmusic.org/ which has various free downloads and may be of interest and help. I have a music book published by them in 1982 entitled "The Klavar System" Piano0 Book 1 (Lessons 1 - 6) which makes fascinating reading.

Good luck with it all.

 

DKP

[pwhodges]

I played with this notation while at school in the early 60s, in the same period as I taught myself to write using the Shaw alphabet. I have never seen either again until now.

 

Paul

[innate]

I played with this notation while at school in the early 60s, in the same period as I taught myself to write using the Shaw alphabet. I have never seen either again until now.

Interesting to wonder about the chances of major reform in either music notation or the spelling of English. Both systems developed in haphazard ways and have proved challenging for computers. English spelling continues to be blamed for putting unnecessary difficulties in the way of the learner and music notation only really makes sense with reference to keyboard instruments. Because they are both completely international the chances of reform are slight.

 

Long live Esperanto!

[Sanderman26]

It's surprising that composers in Holland would want to publish their music in a manner that can be only played by the few, and with magnifying glasses.

Let me tell you: most of my compositions are published by Klavarskribo, but always as the second publication. When the edition in the normal, usual notation has been published, it's some kind of a service to all Klavarskribo-players to allow Klavarskribo also to publish the music in their notation.

[Nick Bennett]

OK, I've only given it ten minutes, but the stuff that Douglas links to looks absolutely nothing like the document on the Klavarskribo site that purports to explain how the notation works! For a start, one is notated with lots of vertical lines and some recognisable notes with dots and stems, whilst the the other has just two horizontal lines and loads of squiggles.

 

I could make neither head nor tail of the explanation. It might have helped had they either used a less obscure piece as the example, or printed it in normal staff notation alongside.

 

By contrast, North German Organ Tablature is a doddle!

 

Thanks for the warning, Douglas.