Dear Jon, As a harpist and now lute-player, you may be interested to know (if you are not already aware) that a form of tablature was used in Spain in the 16th century, which was to be used for the keyboard, or harp, or vihuela. At least, that's what Cabezon and Henestrosa claimed their tablature was for.
In this system each note of the scale is given a number from 1 to 7. Different octaves are shown by dots, and flats can be added in for accidentals. The system is just one of many tablatures, which were designed as substitutes for staff notation. As lutenists, we know about French, Italian, German, Neapolitan, and Spanish (Luis Milan) tablature, but we often forget that there were different tablatures for harp and keyboard too. Most of us will be aware that Spanish (Luis Milan) tablature appears today in books of music for guitar, mandoline, and so on. Spanish (Cabezon/ Henestrosa) tablature is now used in Hong Kong for pop music. It is possible that these tablatures were re-invented in the 20th century, by people who were unaware that they had already been used hundreds of years ago. I don't know. In many ways it is remarkable that staff notation, which looks a bit like tadpoles dangling from telegraph wires, should have survived various attempts over the years to find an alternative. If anyone wants to be remembered as the greatest contributor to musical notation since Guido d'Arezzo, they might consider inventing a new system that catches on so much, that it supercedes staff notation. Best wishes, Stewart McCoy. > Tabulature doesn't lend itself to that (I can't imagine > what mental machinations I'd have to go through to take the Tab pieces I > have and play them on my harp - actually I can, I've tried). The key > signatures and accidentals of the modern staff make it appropriate for the > various instruments, but that doesn't make it better for an ensemble of > "stopped" instruments.
