A More Rational Approach to Traditional Music Notation: Elementary Piano Compositions, Volume 1.(Book review)

A More Rational Approach to Traditional Music Notation: Elementary Piano Compositions, Volume 1, by Peter Hayes George, edited by Annelie Boonekamp and Ginerva House. The Creative Arts Research Trust, www.simplifiedmusicnotation.org; 01273 746 818; 53 pp; $17.60.

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This multi-volume series is a new notation method designed to make sight reading easier. The author claims that this new notation is helpful for students with learning disabilities, including memory retention and dyslexia, and I agree.

The simplified notation method is easy to understand. Traditional oval note heads are used for all non-altered notes; accidentals, including flats and sharps in the key signature, are indicated with various non-traditionally shaped note heads. The use of shaped notes for all accidentals eliminates the need for the performer to memorize key signatures or to remember accidentals throughout the measure. I found it easy to sight read music that was mostly linear; however, dense chords were more difficult for me to read than with traditional notation, probably because of my age and years of experience with traditional notation. The author gives due importance to continued theory and scale study so that students can make the transition to traditional notation, which is important because students who learn with this new method may learn to read faster, but ...