>If your question is why those >particular >shapes - I have no idea.
No, it was why shapes at all? because if you remove them you are left with conventional notation. (I have perused a copy, but unfortunately don't own one). As you say: "people who didn't read music much but were used to seeing normal notes, the shapes just confused them and complicated things. I think maybe more experienced music readers could ignore the shapes more easily" This reminds me of the (very) old joke about television (It's amazing! if you close your eyes you could swear you were listening to the radio.) As they say in German: "warum einfach, wenn's auch kompliziert geht?" < whereas to use the shapes as they were intended you have to have been trained in that system and nothing else. Hmm.... Great music, shame about the notation! Thanks for the Wikilink. I will explore. C -- To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
