TECH zgike lerfu

[I.Alexander.bra0122@OASIS.ICL.CO.UK]

This is a proposal for musical notation in Lojban,
suitable for simple melodies.  There's obviously some room
for expansion, but I suspect full orchestral scores are
best left to their traditional notation :)

    Bb           C#       Eb             F#       G#
A         B   C        D         E    F        G        A
    by.my.       cy.zy.   .ebumy.        fy.zy.   gy.zy.
.abu      by. cy.      dy.       .ebu fy.      gy.      .abu

flat  = b = mleca bu = my.
sharp = # = zmadu bu = zy.
natural   = jinzi bu = jy.

C below middle C = cy.ci
middle C         = cy.vo
C above middle C = cy.mu

I thought that octave numbering was fairly standard, so I checked
some references to try and get the numbers right.  I discovered
that there were several standards, so I chose one of my own that
seemed most appropriate.  The octave is numbered from A to A, and
starts with A1 as the lowest note on a piano keyboard.  If you
really want subsonics, you can always use A0, A-1, ...

breve      = whole note     = pa
minim      = half note      = fi'ure
crotchet   = quarter note   = fi'uvo
quaver     = eighth note    = fi'ubi
semiquaver = sixteenth note = fi'upaxa

dotted minim    = cifi'uvo
dotted crotchet = cifi'ubi
dotted quaver   = cifi'upaxa

Time signatures can use the same lerfu.

3/4 = cifi'uvo
6/8 = xafi'ubi
4/4 = vofi'uvo = C    = kampu bu
2/2 = refi'ure = <C/> = tei kampu bu fi'ure foi

rest       = sy. = smaji bu
slur / tie = ry. = ranji bu
bar line   = ty. = temci bu

zai selsanga bu by.my.             tei kampu bu  fi'ure foi             ki bu
                Bb (key signature) common time - half (time signature) [sticky]

fi'ubi .abumu cy. ry. cifi'uvo cy. ty. fi'ubi .abu gy. ry. cifi'uvo gy. ty.
       Georgia,                               Georgia,

fi'uvo sy. .abu dy. .abu ty. cifi'uvo gy. fi'ubi fy. gy. ty.
           the whole day              through,   just an

fi'uvo .abu cy. .ebu dy. ty. fi'ubi by. cifi'ubi dy. fi'uvo .abu gy. ty.
       old sweet song keeps         Georgia                 on   my

pa cy. ty. fi'ubi dy. dy. dy. dy. fi'ure gy.zy. ty.
mind.             (Georgia on my         mind)

fi'ubi .abu cy. ry. cifi'uvo cy. ty. fi'ubi .abu gy. ry. cifi'uvo gy. ty.
       Georgia,                             Georgia,

fi'uvo sy. .abu dy. .abu ty. cifi'uvo gy. fi'ubi fy. gy. ty.
           a    song of               you        Comes as

fi'uvo .abu cy. .ebu dy. ty. by. dy.vo .abu .abu ty.
       sweet and clear as    moonlight on   the

pa fy. ry. ty. fi'uvo fy. cifi'uvo sy.
   pines.

There is obviously a lot of ambiguity here.  I'm relying on the
reader's musical intuition to supply most of the octaves, even
where an interval technically crosses two different ones, and in
some cases not to confuse note durations with octave numbers.
I think this is acceptable in the interests of brevity, and the
ambiguity can always be resolved explicitly if necessary.

Iain.