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Music language
https://archive.holyworlds.org/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=584		 Page 1 of 1
Author:  Zoe M. Scrivener [ May 6th, 2010, 10:57 pm ]
Post subject:  Music language
I had this idea, I doubt it would be writable, but I think it's cool anyway! :P

In the musical scale, there are seven notes (A,B,C,D,E,F,G (or do, re, mi, fa, so, la, ti, if you prefer)). There are also four main kinds of notes (eighths, quarters, halfs, and wholes). Seven times four is twenty-eight (no, really?!), and our alphabet has twenty-six letters. The letters of the alphabet would be like so (note name followed by note kind):

A: A eighth
B: B eighth
C: C eighth
D: D eighth
E: E eighth
F: F eighth
G: G eighth
H: A quarter
I: B quarter
J: C quarter
K: D quarter
L: E quarter
M: F quarter
N: G quarter
O: A half
P: B half
Q: C half
R: D half
S: E half
T: F half
U: G half
V: A whole
W: B whole
X: C whole
Y: D whole
Z: E whole

In longhand, the word 'music' would be Fquarter-Ghalf-Ehalf-Bquarter-Ceighth. The language would be sung, so conversations would sound like songs. The people that used it would need to have perfect pitch.
Author:  Lady Terra [ May 7th, 2010, 7:04 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Music language
I really like that idea :D
Author:  Melody Kondrael [ May 7th, 2010, 8:09 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Music language
As a pianist, it sounds really cool!

As a writer, I wonder how you'd write it out on paper in a way that isn't going to annoy anyone...

Maybe you could use it for a script?

Along the lines of using it for a script, you'd probably want to give them their own alphabet/etc altogether, so you could make sure that everything is musically sound for real listeners. ;)

Oh, one other thought - what about the halfsteps between notes? I mean, most of the notes can be taken one halfstep up or down. A to B is a whole step, but A to A# (A-sharp) is a halfstep. (incidentally, B to C is a halfstep, there is no B# or Cb) Are you going to utilize halfsteps or just whole-steps?

There is a lot of potential with this - I'll be interested in seeing what you do with it. :)
Author:  Whythawye [ May 7th, 2010, 11:49 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Music language
That is a neat concept for a language! I would definitely suggest avoiding basing it off of the English alphabet though. It would be best to make your own complete system for it. A lot of things would need to be taken into consideration like what clusters they allow. That way you can make certain types of words have certain melodic signatures or beats or etc.
Author:  Seer of Endor [ May 8th, 2010, 9:44 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Music language
I agree with Jay about avoiding basing it on the English alphabet. I think it would be way cooler if you created your own language with it's own sounds and then coded those sounds to the musical scale. Then instead of shaping the notes to the spelling of English words, which might not always sound musically pleasant, you can make your own words shaped by their musical equivalent. So you could play out the notes that sound most like "rain" to you, write out the equivocal sounds, and thus have your word for "rain". Lot of potential here.

Also, you might want to look into other musical scales to code the language to rather than starting with A=A. For instance, you mentioned "do, re, mi, etc." Well in Spanish those are the note names: C=do D=re E=mi F=fa G=sol A=la B=ti, whereas in English the note values of do,re,mi shift according to the key. So you could have a language where a C-eighth = A, and work that way. Or you could base it on the solfege syllables and have do-eighth = A, that would allow the language to be transposed into any key (which would account for sharps and flats, like Melody mentioned) and allow more musical diversity. That really would require perfect pitch though, because you'd have to be able to identify the key in order to figure out what was being said. On second thought, that would probably get to complicated.

Or you could have a specific key that the language is set in (but that could endocosmically lead to either musically boring conversations or very complexly spelled words). You could even have it divided up by classes: upper-classes using only certain keys, and certain keys that only the lower classes could use. Like Melody said, lots of potential. Interested in seeing where you decide to run with this.

In Christ,
Jordan
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