Anglo-Saxon musical notation system

Comparative table between Latin notation and Anglo-Saxon notation.

The Anglo-Saxon music notation system is a type of alphabetically based music notation. It is also known by the following names:

• English.
• American cipher (refers to the United States, a country that popularized it during the centuryXX.).
• Numerical literal cipher.

Derived from the Greek notation, which named the notes from the letter alpha to the gamma, alpha being the note la and gamma the note sol, as has been known thanks to the findings of compositions, such as the Seikilos epitaph, the three hymns of Mesomedes of Crete and the Delphic hymns. With the arrival of the Latin culture in northern Europe, this nomenclature (which had already been transliterated by the Romans) took root and over the centuries would spread to Germany, England and their colonies.

Equivalences

In the Anglo-Saxon system, the terms "major" and "minor" are taken directly from the Latin terms: major (/ma'joɾ/) and minor (/mi'noɾ/), although they are pronounced according to the conventions of the English language.

So, these would be the equivalences in relation to the Latin cipher and other alphabetic nomenclatures:

• Note that even though the Russian language belongs to the Slavic cultural group it also uses the Latin nomenclature.

The key of do sharp minor, for example, would be named as C sharp minor, or do diesis minore, in English and Italian respectively.

In German and Russian notation, a hyphen is placed between the note name and the accidental (D-Dur, g-ten). In German minor keys are also indicated by lowercase (d-Moll).

Harmonic cipher

The writing of chords with this system uses the following rules that although they are quite universal, there are variations in some conventions, but there are some rules that apply in almost all cases. In general, numbers and symbols are used to indicate the composition of the chord.

Triads

• To indicate whether the triad is larger is used only the letter of the corresponding note. For example C means that the chord is executed do Majordo, my and Sun).
• If the triad is minor, "min" is written next to the English language. retail), a "m" always tiny or a "-" script". For example Amin, Am and A- represent the chord of the minor (constituted by notes the, do and my).
• To indicate that the triad is diminished, "dim" is written. diminished) or a zero (o). For example Bdim and Bo means that the chord is executed Yeah. decreased (constituted by notes Yeah., re and fa).
• If the triad is increased it is written "aug" or the "+" sign. For example Caug and C+ represent the chord do increase in its fifth grade (do, my and Sun#).

Examples of chords with aggregate notes

When you want to enrich any type of known triads, you can include aggregate notes. For example:

• Older sun triad with lower seventh (dominant agreement) is written G⁷.
• Older sun triad with seventh largest is written Gmaj⁷ where "maj" comes from English major (seventh) or '(sevent) greater'.
• Less Sun Triad with 7th Minor Gmin Writes⁷, Gm⁷ or G-7.
• Triad of Sun smaller with seventh largest is written Gmin^(maj7) o Gm^(M7)G-^(maj7)
• Triad of Sun diminished with seventh minor or semi-decrease is written GØ, GØ7 or G ^(-7,b5).
• Triad of Sun decrease with seventh decrease is written G°7 or Gdim7
• Triad of Sun increased with seventh largest is written Gaum^(maj7) o G+^(M7)
• Triad of Sun increased with seventh lesser of Gaum^(min7) o G+^(m7)

• Triad fa with low do: is written F/C.
• Less D Hybrid Agreement on Higher C: Dmin/C or D-/C

Other harmonic cyphers

Equivalence between both systems

When writing chords, in addition to the Anglo-Saxon cipher, there is the functional cipher (also called European), which has two currents, the one that uses the letters of the functions (hence its name) and the one that uses the letters of the corresponding grades. In both cases, Arabic numerals are also added, but in this case the intervals that make up the structure indicate the distance.

Thus, while in the Anglo-Saxon cipher, for example, a chord of C major with the note mi in the bass (what is known as « first inversion") would be written C/_E, in the functional cipher it is written I₆ or T₆ (if that chord of C major was the first degree of the scale).