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Graphic notation (or graphic score) is the representation of music through the use of visual symbols outside the realm of traditional music notation. Graphic notation became popular in the 1950s, and can be used either in combination with or instead of traditional music notation.Pryer, Anthony. "Graphic Notation." The Oxford Companion to Music, edited by Alison Latham. Oxford Music Online. 12 April 2011 Graphic notation was influenced by contemporary visual art trends in its conception, bringing stylistic components from modern art into music. Composers often rely on graphic notation in experimental music, where standard musical notation can be ineffective. Other uses include pieces where an Aleatoric music or undetermined effect is desired. One of the earliest pioneers of this technique was Earle Brown, who, along with John Cage, sought to liberate performers from the constraints of notation and make them active participants in the creation of the music.
The use of graphic notation within a score can vary widely, from the score being made up entirely of graphic notation to graphic notation being a small part of an otherwise largely-traditional score. Some composers include written explanations to aid the performer in interpreting the graphic notation, while other composers opt to leave the interpretation entirely up to the performer. Graphic notation is difficult to characterize with specificity, as the notation system is only limited by the imagination and ability of the composer. Though some composers, like John Cage, formulate graphic notation systems which unify the approach of specific pieces, or several pieces, there is no universal consensus on the parameters of graphic notation and its use.
The 19th century music educator Pierre Galin developed a method of notating music known as the Galin-Paris-Chevé system, building on a notation system created in the 18th century by Jean-Jacques Rousseau. This system used numbers to indicate scale degrees, and used dots either above or below the note to indicate if they were in the lowest octave or the highest. The middle octave, relative to the example, contained no dots. Flats and sharps were notated using backslashes and forward slashes respectively. Prolongations of the note were notated using periods, and silence was notated with the number zero. This method was primarily used to teach sight-singing. The usage of symbols to indicate musical direction have been likened to an early version of graphic notation.
In this context, the score, which had to a great extent been considered a mere support for musical writing (with the exception of eye music), began to flirt with the limits of the work and its identity. This marriage produced three paths: the first considered the musical score to be a representation of organized sound; the second conceived it as an extension of sound; and the third viewed it as another type of music, a visual music with its own autonomy, independent of sound. The score took on new meanings and went from being a mere support of sound to being an extension of the work, or even another work altogether, an element that was as important as the sounds and silences it contained, or more. These conceptions required a new language and a new reading of what it is to be musical. They also required a new notation, one that would reflect the changes taking place in the second artistic vanguards, and contain them, granting them a new semantics. In this way, taken with the porousness of experimental music with respect to the plastic arts, notation came to be more and more influenced by a dialogue with painting, installations and performativity. As J.Y. Bosseur mentions in La musique du XXè siècle à la croisé des artes, the score progressed towards representing the management of space, a graphic space that allows us to know the multiple connections enclosed within it.
Graphic notation in its modern form first appeared in the 1950s as a tool for avant-garde composers to integrate Indeterminacy, chance, and a broader range of musical and non-musical sounds into their music. The earliest (Western) graphic score is Feldman's "Projection 1" from 1950. This movement was also pioneered by John Cage in conversation with a group of composers, including Morton Feldman, Earle Brown, and Christian Wolff, now known as the New York School (distinct from the New York School painters). Pianist David Tudor, a virtuosic and serious pianist able to realize the new notational forms in a compelling manner, was an important figure as well. Graphic notation was originally used by avant-garde musicians and manifested itself as the use of symbols to convey information that could not be rendered with traditional notation such as extended techniques. Graphic scores have, since their conception, evolved into two broadly defined categories, one being the invention of new notation systems used to convey specific musical techniques and the other the use of conceptual notation such as shapes, drawings and other artistic techniques that are meant to evoke improvisation from the performer. Examples of the former include Morton Feldman's Projection 1, which was the result of Feldman drawing abstract shapes on graph paper, and Stockhausen's Prozession. Examples of the latter include Earle Brown December 1952 and Cornelius Cardew Treatise, which was written in response to Cage's 4'33" and which he wrote after having worked as Stockhausen's assistant. The score consists of 193 pages of lines and shapes on a white background. Here the lines represented elements in space and the score was merely a representation of that space at a given instant. In Europe, one of the most notable users was Sylvano Bussotti, whose scores have often been displayed as pieces of visual art by enthusiasts. In 1969, in an effort to promote the movement of abstract notation, John Cage and Allison Knowles published an archive of excerpts of scores by 269 composers with the intention of showing "the many directions in which notation is now going".
Other notable pioneers of graphic notation include composers such as Roman Haubenstock-Ramati, Mauricio Kagel, György Ligeti ( Artikulation), Krzysztof Penderecki, Karlheinz Stockhausen, and Iannis Xenakis, Morton Feldman, Constance Cochnower Virtue, and Christian Wolff. The post-World War II proliferation of graphic notation, among a broad array of new forms of experimental notation, was an important catalyst for interdisciplinary exploration across the arts, spawning many innovations across music, art, poetry and dance.
Since emerging in the 1950s, graphic notation has undergone significant development. Today, it is used not only in modern ensemble music but also in therapeutic contexts , and educational environments. Moreover, graphic scores promote collaboration among musicians from diverse backgrounds—including classical, folk, amateur, and jazz/pop traditions—by offering a common visual medium that enhances the accessibility and inclusiveness of contemporary music creation .
Due in part to technological advancements and the rapid exchange of information, alternative forms of musical notation have become increasingly widespread. Since the early 20th century, many composers have experimented with Animated Music Notation (AMN)—a digital approach that introduces movement and visual dynamics as integral features of the musical score.
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