A closer look at Music Animation Machine notation

(IMAGE: The interdit symbol over a bunch of music symbols)

A closer look at
Music Animation Machine
notation

(Polskie tłumaczenie dostarczone przez Olga Babenko)

To understand the Music Animation Machine you don't need to know any of the symbols (note values, clefs, sharps and flats, etc.) of conventional music notation. You just need to watch and listen at the same time.

MAM notation is extremely simple:

Each note is represented by a colored bar (see diagram below).
The bars scroll across the screen from right to left as the piece plays, and each bar lights up as its note sounds (so you can't lose your place).
The length of each bar corresponds exactly to the duration of its note as performed (not in any way "quantized").
The vertical position of the bar corresponds to the pitch -- higher notes are higher on the screen, lower notes are lower.
The horizontal position indicates the note's timing in relation to the other notes.

(IMAGE: an annotated example of Music Animation Machine notation)

These conventions are so simple that even very young children understand MAM notation and reap the benefits of seeing that music has structure and logic.

What is MAM notation good for?

By eliminating the multi-layered symbols of conventional notation (which a performer needs in order to interpret a composer's intentions) the MAM display can reveal melodic motion, compositional texture, and structure to the listener.
When it uses color to show pitch class (see Harmonic Coloring), the MAM lends insight into harmonic motion, consonance/dissonance, and modulation. Alternatively, the MAM can use color to highlight instrumentation or compositional elements.
Unlike a conventional score, the MAM uses a single"pitch space." In conventional notation, different instruments are distinguished by placing the notes for each instrument on a separate staff. This makes it difficult to see the relationship between the notes of two instruments, since the viewer must mentally combine two or move staves into one. In MAM notation, all the notes are on the same "staff," with different instruments distinguishable by color.
Most important, the MAM display is always viewed synchronized with the sounds of the piece it represents, reinforcing through synesthetic experience the relation of sound to visible structure.