Erik Marchand musical notation system
Explanation of the melodic notation system used by Erik Marchand and Thierry Robin, among others
Notation systems
Our notation method is a simple writing and usable on a computer keyboard.
It only allows us to describe the scales and the melodic "skeleton" of the piece concerned. This notation has the advantage of being relative whatever the tonic of the interpretation and even when this tonic evolves upwards during a vocal interpretation (which is very common in Breton music), it will appear as one.
Nando Aquaviva, a singer, musicologist and transmitter of Corsican songs, uses a numerical notation system close to ours.
The different degrees
| 1: tonic. By definition it is the reference of the scale. | ||
| 2-: second minor (½ tone above the tonic); almost does not exist in the local directory. It sometimes replaces the second median for equal temperate instruments | 2°: second median or neutral, or ҂ (approximately ¾ of tone above the tonic) |
2 or 2+ : second major (1 tone above the tonic). It can sometimes be high and in this case followed by ↑). |
| 3- : minor third | 3° : median or neutral third or ҂. | 3+ : major third |
| 4 : perfect fourth | 4° : "half-augmented" fourth (¾ tone below the fifth or above the major third). | 4+: augmented fourth (we haven't found any yet) |
| 5 : fifth (can be sometimes high and in this case followed by ↑…) | ||
| 6- : minor sixth | 6° : median or neutral sixth | 6+: major sixth |
| 7- : minor seventh | 7° : median or neutral seventh | 7+: seventh major, sometimes very high (7 ++) or followed by ↑ |
The degrees below the tonic are written as follows: 5 6 71
The degrees above the octave (included) are written as follows: 7 1 2…
When we wish to use a solfegic notation we choose the one that was established at the Cairo Congress in 1932 in the presence of western and eastern musicologists as well as great masters of oriental music.
The unit of measure which we use to measure the intervals (from do to re for example) is the "cent". There are 200 cents in a tone of equal temperament, that of the modern keyboard therefore one hundred cents for an even temperate semitone. This decimal unit is more practical to use than the Hertz which corresponds to a logarithmic progression.
When we write the names of the notes we do it like this:
- ré mi fa½# sol la si½b do ré
- si½b do ré mi½ fa sol la si½b
- ré sol la si½b do½# ré mi½b and mi fa½# : scale of « The Rain is Falling on Us » of Jean-Philippe Denis Sales
the note in bold is the tonic
Please note, during the Cairo congress the desire was also to give a specific height to each interval to create a temperament equal to 24 quarters of tone which seems an aberration for many musicians and musicologist today (some of these quarters tones are never used and other intervals are more subtle). So, for this congress, ¾ of tone = 150 cents but as far as Breton music is concerned, when for orchestration reasons we are forced to choose a specific pitch, we prefer 143 cents.
Again we rely on an arbitrary tonic which will be the G or C (depending on the position of the melody on the staff).
At the present time, in Breton music we have determined at least three types of third, sixth or seventh median. Some being between 40 and 50 cents above the flat or the degree concerned (for the ҂) concerned (tolerance zone), others 30 cents still others, rather 65 cents above or an interval of 3 / 4 of a tone above the preceding degree in the first case, 1 / 6th in the second and 5 / 6th in the third case.
When the degrees move away from the reference interval we use the signs ↓ or ↑ (1 2 3 ° ↓ 4 implies that the third will be close to 30 cts above the minor third).
We also heard at least two types of fourth: the perfect fourth and a high fourth which is never an augmented fourth but is, according to the interpreters and their choice, between 30 and 50 cents above the perfect fourth.