The Pitch

Currently, the target audience for the alternative notation WYSIWYP is adult beginning students of the piano.  In particular, it should be attractive to those who just want to enjoy playing music for themselves, friends, and family.  Those who have higher performance or academic aspirations will need to operate in the mainstream of the music world, and sooner or later will likely need to learn Traditional Notation.  On the other hand, there are likely a large number of students who just want to enjoy making music, and with the full function WYSIWYP notation there is really no need to learn to read traditional notation.

Whatever the aspirations though, beginning with WYSIWYP may not be a bad option for students who have struggled to learn traditional notation while trying to learn to play the piano at the same time.  WYSIWYP permits the student to spend less time interpreting notation and more time learning playing techniques. Then once the student has learned their way around a piano keyboard, there can be more focus on learning the complex traditional notation.  


How WYSIWYP addresses the challenges of reading traditional sheet music notation


Goals of the WYSIWYP design


Other Alternative Notations vs WYSIWYP for Beginners


Tradition and Resistance to Change


Despite pushback, there is still a receptive audience waiting



The Pitch for Help

Research.  With technology and younger generations that are willing to ignore tradition and to experiment, there will be new notations that will gain traction. Without some academic influence, those that do may not be the best for long term success of the students.  The better path would be for academic research to lead the way in finding and developing the best notations and their instructional materials.  This would lead to a more direct route to getting front-line music instructors on board with these innovations and using them to attract and retain students.

There is even some evidence that easier reading of sheet music leads to an accelerated learning experience with adult learners.  And, being able to read and play the music that students really enjoy sooner is a big motivator. Therefore, to accommodate the ability to learn to read music faster, new instructional methods and materials will likely need to be developed. 

Alternative notations in general are a goldmine of research opportunities.  Therefore, doing evaluative research on them and perhaps even helping to guide their direction is a way of being in the forefront of a movement that could revolutionize music instruction.  This movement opens up the world of music to a wider audience with fewer dropouts which then leads to lifelong playing and enjoyment.  And along the way, there are great opportunities for academic papers to be written, conference presentations to be made, books/theses/dissertations to be written, and TED Talks to be given!

 

The WYSIWYP Project. Cornelis Pot spent a lifetime tirelessly promoting Klavarskribo.  And as a wealthy industrialist, he had the resources to hire staff to create an extensive printed sheet music inventory as well as develop instructional materials.  I’m no Cornelis Pot.  But what I learned from the story of Klavarskribo is that it is actually possible (although not easy) to overcome the traditional barriers to get an alternative notation into the mainstream.  And it also demonstrates that there are three essential elements for a new notation to succeed:

 

Therefore, an initial project goal of WYSIWYP is to: conduct evaluations to determine its effectiveness, perhaps even comparing it to other alternatives.  If the results confirm moving forward with the project, then the next goals are to Implement the following project elements: 


 

What needs to be done: 

1st an evaluation of WYSIWYP vs Traditional Notation and perhaps even other alternative notations.  Informally test it with family or friends who don't already read sheet music.  Then, consider doing a wider, more formal, range of evaluations with adult non-readers or better yet, with students who gave up reading and playing music (dropouts).

2nd consider working on the project with me.

3rd enlist students to work on the project elements listed above.

 

While WYSIWYP has some prototypes available, the project needs volunteers to implement the project elements listed above.  Which suggests that the following skills are needed:


But equally important to these skills is energy and enthusiasm to promote a new notation that will make it possible for more people to be able to make music!


Next steps.  If you are in anyway piqued by these ideas, let’s talk.  Send me an email to

 contact.wysiwyp@gmail.com