Beyond the Staff: “Alternative” Systems in the Graphical Representation of Organized Sound

Abstract

In this article, a reflection on the limits of the staff in the representation of organized sound is briefly presented, followed by the consideration of the proposals that some ethnomusicologists have developed to highlight particular aspects of music. Some antecedents are provided, such as the synoptic transcription (Constantin Brăiloiu) and the paradigmatic transcription (NicolasRuwet). Other proposals will be discussed, like the graphical representation of musical structure (Bernard Lortat-Jacob, Hugo Zemp) or the use of spectrograms (Charles Seeger, Mireille Hellfer,Lortat-Jacob, Grazia Tuzi), graphic devices (Charles Adams), musemes (Philip Tagg), sonograms (Enrique Cámara), frame by frame musical transcription (Gerhard Kubik), and local systems of notation. According to these proposals, the graphical representation of music beyond the staff maintains its efficiency in current ethnomusicology (with different objectives and even different targets). Moreover, I will argue that it is necessary to take into consideration the place occupied by the use of these tools in the tensions and interactions between etic and emic perspectives, and the need to reconcile the internal consistency required for any system of visual representation of sound, with the need to make permanently flexible proposals based on intercultural dialogue.