Should Traditional Notation be Improved Upon?

[starstruck5]

Recently while reading through the C# Minor Study by Chopin - I got a bit annoyed  at  the frequent accidentals, like double sharps. Our accepted system isn't all that elegant sometimes.  I got to thinking, how could it be improved. 

I came up with an idea which I found easier anyway.

I simply wrote the normal key signature - and made all the black notes black and all the white notes white.  Obviously when you need to play a Half Note or Minim - this presents a bit of a problem -so I make this value a diamond shape.

I would like to illustrate this with an example - say Bachs' F# Major Prelude - but obvioulsy computer notaion programmes won't understand a new system - and I don't have a scanner to upload a written out version - but it isn't complicated.

I realise of course that new systems of notation will never be accepted, which is a shame - but there is no harm in re-writing complicated chromatic pieces as I have suggested.

Are there any existing systems out there - which are actually better than my idea?

[larapool]

I believe older, obsolete forms of musical notation used a diamond shape too, or something similar, if I'm not mistaken.

Also, I believe guitarists who read sheet music have a note that's kind of a diamond shape, like a quarter note but instead of a circle on the note it's a diamond, I think that's for pinch harmonics or something.  So that would complicate things for other musicians.

Personally, I like the system we use now.  Double sharps and double flats are not all that confusing once you understand them easily

[starstruck5]

I believe older, obsolete forms of musical notation used a diamond shape too, or something similar, if I'm not mistaken.

Also, I believe guitarists who read sheet music have a note that's kind of a diamond shape, like a quarter note but instead of a circle on the note it's a diamond, I think that's for pinch harmonics or something.  So that would complicate things for other musicians.

Personally, I like the system we use now.  Double sharps and double flats are not all that confusing once you understand them easily

I guess we could have a specialist piano notation!  I think it would make learning the instrument much easier for young people, and even adult beginners.  It is quite extraordinary how much work the brain has to do with regard to remembering which notes are sharpened or flattened in any key. Most primers begin with pieces in C major, which are all white notes on the piano of course -so it would be very logical to write them like this! The beauty of seeing the F# in G or the Bb in F as a black note standing out against all the white notes would be a logical reflection of the keyboard.   The annoying thing is, if I ever began teaching - I couldn't teach this - not until the traditional methods were completely understood, anyway.

If  ancient notation had been developed for the keyboard and not the voice, then it might have been very different.


I generally can read through chromatic writing quite well, but if there is an easier way to do something I want to discover it!   

[larapool]

It certainly is an interesting proposition.  However, I can't say I find the fundamentals of music theory that difficult to understand.  All it takes is a little practice to understand what the notes are, just like anything else in life.