David Raleigh Arnold wrote: > > Sorry to be so slow, but I have distractions. The triangle for maj7 is > a product of the MENC, Music Educators National Conference. The quality > of its ideas is, to say the least, uneven. The second time I saw it was > on a chord sheet at a jam session. We all agreed that it was a bad > idea. I can't think of anything worse than inventing a symbol which > looks like an o, an a, a D, or even a natural sign when it is written > in a hurry. Since at least 1969 I have used a backslash through a 7 or > 9 to indicate a maj7 in arranging tunes like "We've Only Just Begun" > which have enough maj7 chords to cause a linear space problem. It is > easy to use, totally intuitive, *does not require new symbols* in a > logical sense, and unambiguous. The idea was inspired by the slash > through the o for the m7b5 or "half" diminished 7th, a great > shortcut, which I understood and appreciated instantly the first time I > saw it, in an arrangement by the late John Harrison for Charlie Byrd. > > Don't you wish you'd thought of that? Or did you? :-) I don't! In my former work as a music teacher I rehearsed lots of arrangements having the maj7 chord written with the delta symbol. So I think it has grown kind of notational standard. The delta symbol is available as \Delta in the TeX math fonts. This indicates too a meaningful interpretation of the symbol (raising the the 7th by a half note) -- Christian Mondrup, Computer Programmer Scandiatransplant, Skejby Hospital, University Hospital of Aarhus Brendstrupgaardsvej, DK 8200 Aarhus N, Denmark Phone: +45 89 49 53 01
