The Sequential System of Musical Notation ; an entirely new
method of writing
Music, in strict conformity with nature, and essentially free from all obscurity
and intricacy ; with Explanatory Plates. By ARTHUR WALLBRIDGE. THEORIES of notation which aim at the development of new and useful speculations on the subject of musical stenography, proposing to dimi- nish the mechanical labour of the composer or to arrest the evanescent thought of genius, are worthy of instant attention and patient investiga- tion. The disproportion between the rapidity of musical thought and the labour which reduces a rapid passage to notes is so great, that it is a wonder to find the brilliant conceptions of the modern concerto or sonata marshalled in due order on paper and without a note missing. Every one who has essayed any composition in pianoforte music has found the tedium of the process of notation, and the necessity for acquir- ing execution with his pen, which moves but too slowly let him abbreviate as he may. The greatest masters have saved themselves from superfluity of writing by every resource that did not affect the clearness of their manuscripts : Moze.aT's, in particular, abound with examples to prove how his inventive spirit recoiled from the me- chanical drudgery of notation,—a task which his love of fame alone surmounted. Rapidity in writing is of such advantage to the young instrumental composer, that if in his noviciate be only make composi- tion, as the classical scholar makes nonsense verses, to obtain a certain mechanical facility, he will do well. The reaction which a certain readiness with the pen produces upon the fancy is considerable ; and when a fertile invention, and promptitude in giving form and measure to musical ideas, are allied to this facility, we gain a composer. There is confessedly room, therefore, in this age of discovery, for some new art of stenography which may lighten the labour of the composer in conveying his ideas to paper.
To such an object we had hoped Mr. WALLBRIDGE had directed his labours ; but we regret to say that the desideratum is still unsupplied. Instead of having to deal with any discovery of positive utility, we are here presented with the crotchety notions of an amateur regarding our present musical system, the conventional signs of which he proposes to displace by others; but, on the evidence of his own translated specimen, with nothing gained either in point of brevity or simplicity. No prac- tical musician has disputed the adaptability of the modern system of notation to the purposes of quick reading as a guide to the eye, its merits are fully acknowledged when we hear a masterly sight-player or well-exercised band give any elaborate composition prima vista. Its practical superiority in this respect was long ago shown by GRETRY to Rousseau; who on that occasion ceased to theorize, and abandoned the schemes he had meditated as an innovator on the art of musical writing. He who will exhibit a shorter way of writing that which, when written, is most admirably adapted for reading and perform- ance, will be a benefactor to the art ; but the exchange of the signs of music being uncalled for, and advancing us nothing, remains but an example of misplaced ingenuity. Transposition seems to be the groundwork of the "sequential system." The writer observes- " The general introduction of the new system would necessitate a new description of key-board, constructed in no particular key, but, like the human voice, with capacity for adaptation to any key." At present we seem remote from this threatened revolution. Before a new language is learned, it must possess some attractive literature ; and no composer having as yet adopted the hieroglyphics of Mr. WALLBRIDGE, there is absolutely nothing to repay the trouble of endeavouring to comprehend them. Of the science expounded in this brochure, we fear its author will find "no man therein doctor but himself."
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