Musical notation has existed for 3,400 to 4,000 years. The standard Western musical notation developed in Europe around 1,000 years ago. And most of us took some form of musical notation training in public school.
Compare that to dance notation - it has existed for a shorter time - for 500 years or more. The earliest known attempts to record dance movements date to the late 15th century. Good thing Shakespeare wasn't a choreographer, or we would be pretty empty-handed in terms of documentation. When we took dance lessens as children, there were no dance notes to take home to practice. There was lots of music to take home to practice on the piano. No wonder music lessons lasted a lot longer than dance lessons.
Here's an example of dance notation from Wikipedia. La Cachucha, by Friedrich Albert Zorn using Zorn Notation.
I would guess the percent of the population that can read dance notation would be well under 1%. For musical notation, it is only 5-12% of the population that can read music. For word literacy, it is approximately 87% of the global population aged 15 or older can read and write. It was 1 in 10 in 1820.
I got to thinking about notation systems yesterday. I found an extended version of "Three Notes Walk into a Bar". It seems to combine everything humorous about musical language and the written/spoken word.
C, E-flat, and G go into a bar. The bartender says, "Sorry, but we don't serve minors." So E-flat leaves, and C and G have an open fifth between them. After a few drinks, the fifth is diminished, and G is out flat. F comes in and tries to augment the situation, but is not sharp enough. D comes in and heads for the bathroom, saying, "Excuse me; I'll just be a second." Then A comes in, but the bartender is not convinced that this relative of C is not a minor. Then the bartender notices B-flat hiding at the end of the bar and says, "Get out! You're the seventh minor I've found in this bar tonight."
E-flat comes back the next night in a three-piece suit with nicely shined shoes. The bartender says, "You're looking sharp tonight. Come on in, this could be a major development." Sure enough, E-flat soon takes off his suit and everything else, and is au natural. Eventually C sobers up and realizes in horror that he's under a rest. C is brought to trial, found guilty of contributing to the diminution of a minor, and is sentenced to 10 years of D.S. without Coda at an upscale correctional facility.
The conviction is overturned on appeal, however, and C is found innocent of any wrongdoing, even accidental, and that all accusations to the contrary are bassless. The bartender decides, however, that since he's only had tenor so patrons, the soprano out in the bathroom and everything has become alto much treble, he needs a rest and closes the bar."
The Spring flowers are just starting to show at the pop-up stands. I was able to get a flat of Muscari /Grape Hyacinth along Fourth Avenue on Saturday. Such a beautiful blue. This picture is from a few years ago, when they first showed up.
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