> I have recently come by a small book "Songs of the Gael", by A. P. > Breathnach, 1922.
It's still widely used by Gaelic singers. > This book appears to use precisely the notation system > described by Jack. I am about ready to transcribe the music to a familiar > (to me) form of notation. I have searched the Internet for some reference > on this system of notation, but have thus far had no luck in finding > *anything* that defines usage of the various characters and marks. The > letter characters obviously represent the solfege notes, but the meaning > of the other characters is not so clear. Can you, Jack, or anyone, point > me to a reference, either printed or online, that defines this notation > system? The standard reference is John Curwen, "Standard Course on the Tonic Sol-Fa Method", reprinted in umpteen editions from 1858 onwards (I have the 1901 edition). It goes far beyond simply being a notation manual; it's a complete course in the theory and practice of music. The example I was trying to do was the one in the New Grove "Notation" article, from the hymnbook of a syncretistic Nigerian church of the 1950s with a familiar Protestant hymn set to the most bizarre-looking text ever seen outside a Gnostic incantation. It wouldn't be hard to generate it from ABC but you would need to find the right fonts from somewhere. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jack Campin: 11 Third Street, Newtongrange, Midlothian EH22 4PU; 0131 6604760 <http://www.purr.demon.co.uk/jack> * food intolerance data & recipes, Mac logic fonts, Scots traditional music files, and my CD-ROM "Embro, Embro". ------> off-list mail to "j-c" rather than "abc" at this site, please <------ To subscribe/unsubscribe, point your browser to: http://www.tullochgorm.com/lists.html
