Designing a new music notation for Chinese traditional Qin music

Abstract

In the early 20th century, Western music culture’s influence on Chinese music culture has radically increased. This is reflected in that the traditional music notations have been replaced by Western notations in music education and composition to a great extent. However, Chinese traditional music has its own theoretical system and aesthetics. The expression of the imported notations does not correspond with the characteristics and aesthetics of Chinese traditional music. With less and less people being able to read traditional notation, the traditional music culture is fading out of the majority’s sight.

The thesis aims to design a new music notation system for a typical Chinese traditional instrument, Qin, from a designer’s perspective, which can indicate the characteristics of Qin music and traditional music.

The thesis adopted the process of requirements analysis as the methodology. In the first stage, music visualization research, case study of music notations and interview with professional musicians were launched as information gathering. Next, the user needs were identified: concluding on five design criteria according to the previous research, followed by the design purpose, including target user and two scenarios. The last stage was the design practice, including brainstorming, design process and evaluation.

The outcome is a new music notation system, designed on the basis of the proposed design criteria and preliminary evaluation. It is presented as a sheet music sample of a composition, Tune for a peaceful night.