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This chapter presents a complete set of symbols to be used as shorthand notation for musical rhythms (SNMR). I will use this shorthand notation of rhythmic patterns to illustrate nearly all of the musical examples in this book. Its compact form not only allows me to quote rhythms within the running text, it also helps to visualize metric groups of various sizes in a clear and concise way. Based on the work of Giger (Die Kunst des Rhythmus: Professionelles Know How in Theorie und Praxis. Mainz, London, New York: Schott, 1993), I have extended his small set of symbols into a comprehensive system for notation. The notation's use of cognitive chunking enables musicians and composers to notate rhythms faster than usual, for example, when compared with common Western score notation. The only constraint of the proposed system is that it is dependant on a common underlying pulsation. Whilst our common notation system creates binary subdivisions that are based on the whole note, the proposed shorthand notation is built upon a sign for a small pulsation, and has signs for ternary as well as binary groupings that are multiples of a common small value. The system also frees the user from the use of rigid bar and meter structures, i.e. it does not imply regular changes of strong and weak beats. The method has value for music analysis because it leads to a transparent grouping of basic rhythmic elements, and it reveals their metric meaning within the surrounding context. The system can easily express variations of a rhythmic group within the same meter. The structuring of rhythms in groups is very useful for the analysis of musical impulse and release, i.e. tension and relaxation, which, as we have learned in the previous chapter, are an essential feature of the musical experience.

DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-76285-2_3

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