NUME Could Revolutionize the World of Music

DALLAS - May 22, 2013 - PRLog -- The world’s first true “Tablature for Piano” could turn out to be so much more. It could speed student progress exponentially by removing the need for key signatures, by eliminating time signatures, and by “rationalizing” the concepts of beat, phrasing, and timing. By utilizing the most primal concept of music, the beat, rather than the complicated concepts of staff lines and note values, NUME has proven to be the most quickly understood method of conveying music to students with no musical experience at all.

In the current method, which is actually hundreds of years old, each staff has five lines with a space above each. This gives us ten places for the twelve notes. The bass clef bottom line is a G note, while the treble clef bottom line is an E note. Since the top line of the bass clef is an A note and the bottom line of the treble clef is an E note, it appears that there are three notes between the two clefs. Actually, there are six notes: A#, B, C, C#, D, and D#. This antiquated method is not only confusing, but required that the black notes on the piano be accounted for by using key signatures.

By adding one more line to each clef, all twelve notes could be accommodated, six lines and a space above each. There would be no need for key signatures because each note would have its own location on the staff. Also, each clef could have the bottom line be the A note, the first letter of the alphabet. In NUME, if you see a note on a space followed by another note on the line above, you know to play the next note up from the first one. In the current method, the note on the bottom space of the treble clef is an F note. The note on the line above the F space is a G note and is two notes above F, not one note above.

What is currently called tablature for piano is often cumbersome and determining the time each note receives is conveyed in different ways depending upon which piano tablature method you find on the web. The most primal concept of music is the beat. Your foot taps by going down and it rises up to tap the next beat. The current method of writing notes has whole notes, half notes, dotted half notes, tied notes, and lots of rules to govern these types of notes. In 4/4 time, a whole note gets held for four beats. This is easier for the transcriber, but more rules for the student. Also, you only see one mark that represents four beats. If there was a sustain mark, you could show the note that is played followed by the three sustain marks. You could see the four beats instead of memorizing rules. A dotted half note gets held for three beats. You could show the note and two sustain marks.  The same holds true for rests. There are several types of rests conventionally. You could just have one kind, one that represents a beat. Some notes do not last for a whole beat, so conventional note “stems” could be used to show a half of a beat or a quarter of a beat, etc. The rules for these stems are quite simple and easy to understand.

The NUME method is completely free to use and reproduce. It is not intended to replace the current method of transcribing notes any more than guitar tablature was intended to replace it. It is just an easier way for students to grasp and understand what notes to play. The Music Notation Project accepted the method as an alternative to the current method. You can find out more and see some examples of NUME by visiting Mike Ellis Music Instruction (http://www.mikeellismusicinstruction.com/) on the web. Take a look at eight year old Ethan playing the Beatles song "Martha My Dear" having used the NUME method. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5nDnFQ7wgXg



Mike Ellis Music Instruction is a solely owned music instruction company based in Dallas, Texas. The owner, Mike Ellis, has been teaching for forty years and has authored three books on music instruction and music theory.