Deliverable

Notation System

Duration

4 months
January - May 2019

ROLE

User experience designer

TEAM

Individual project, guided by Dr. Udaya Kumar, HoD - Design dept.

A notation system which makes learning melodies easier for untrained singers

A new notation system which can be used by people without professional training to read & write music, learn melodies and play it on most of the instruments.

The Problem

Singing is a universal activity and enjoyed by people of varying proficiencies. Established systems of music notation are a great tool for people who have the resources and are willing to devote the significant time required to learn and use them.
However, people with no formal training in music have no such tool to help them learn melodies and recreate them. Hence, there is a need for a dedicated and simpler system for untrained singers.

The Solution

This notation system is an effective aid for people, regardless of their singing proficiency. This notation, unlike others which rely on absolute frequencies, relies on intervals between notes. That is, instead of telling the precise frequency of a note, this notation gives the relative position of each note for better understanding. Hence, it eliminates the need of rigorous practice and training.

What does it do?

• Gives an idea of the melody by looking at it
• Helps in playing the tune on most instruments to failitate understanding melodies better
• Gives an indication of when to start singing with background score.

Who is it for?

People with no formal training in music ( casual/ bathroom singers) with a basic music sense.

Why do we need it?

It is a common problem for people to forget the tune of a verse when asked to sing at a party, not being able to catch the exact melody when preparing for a school competition or not being able to follow the rhythm during a karaoke session.
The notation system works as a simple reference to help overcome such problems.

How does it work?

The system shows relative position of each note to the previous one. So, instead of having to learn an entire notation system, users can simply find the first note and move above or below the designated keys and play the melody on most instruments as well.

Insights

Through primary research with the user group and secondary study of different musical notations, visualization patterns and the psychology behind learning, I found the following key insights:

Common steps of learning a melody

The 2 most important elements of a song are melody and rhythm

The process is similar for everyone and isn’t affected much by proficiency

The process is heavily memory based

Most people (93.33% user group) use lyrics regularly

Pain Points

word timing

pitch

when to start singing (pick up)

memory

Conceptualising

Based on these insights I realised that the biggest problem with learning a song is the dependency on memory. Since lyrics are used very often, there is a need to create a way to write the melody in a universal format to support the lyrics, as an easy guide for a singer.

Key considerations:
• To make it inclusive for all languages and forms of music.
• To achieve this in a space efficient way that doesn’t hinder the readability of the lyrics.

Ideation

I made various iterations for the layout, concepts, signs & symbols and features based on the continuous feedback sessions from initial 15 participants.

Music Theory Background

Here is a little background of the music theory and concepts used to make the final solution easier to understand

Elements of a song

Existing
systems

Currently, the music notations look something like this. They have low legibility of the lyrics which is what people use as an anchor while learning

Instruments

Most of the instruments have demarcations of half notes. The best way to learn a tune is by listening to it and understanding it. So instead of struggling to find which note is where on the instrument, just move up and down the instrument by the given number of keys!

Final Solution

When the user testing with 15 participants yielded positive feedback, I tested the solution system with 10 new people. Following are few feedbacks received:

"Most singers I've seen struggle with the following 2 issues:
1. How to separate syllables
2. When to start lines and other specific timings for certain words
You've addressed both these problems"

- Naveen Mathew, member - music club

"I think this model has a great application for the professional artists as well. Artists get to document in this format. Very useful. I tell you, I compose a lot of stuff and forget it. Great Learning tool, I have to agree"

- Tanuj Mathur, band member

1. Words broken down to syllables for better understanding of the next note and timing

2. Repetition markers are mapping all the lines with the same tune

3. Rhythm is indicated through n/ where n is the number of / before the syllable and the nth beat of the bar. (for singing with musicians)

4. Bold syllables are the most occurring note of the song and are the same frequency. This gives an anchor for the singer to ground themselves.

5. All the symbols are made with the combination of just 2 symbols. Position determines the tune, above for higher and below for lower.

Characteristics

• Reader gets an idea of the tune by just looking at the notation and knowing whether the next word is higher or lower
‍
• The readability of the lyrics is not just intact but enhanced by breaking into syllables

•By breaking down the syllables, it focuses on not just the tempo but the timing as well

• Only necessary information is provided to not complicate it (eg. omission of beat number) and each feature can be used independently

• Can be used in various settings like Choirs, Karaoke, with live band, casual singing etc.

A Singer's Guide

Deliverable

Duration

ROLE

TEAM

The Problem

The Solution

Skip to

Research

Insights

Common steps of learning a melody

Pain Points

Conceptualising

Ideation

Music Theory Background

Elements of a song

Existing
systems

Instruments

Final Solution

Characteristics

Learnings

A Singer's Guide

Deliverable

Duration

ROLE

TEAM

The Problem

The Solution

Skip to

Research

Insights

Common steps of learning a melody

Pain Points

Conceptualising

Ideation

Music Theory Background

Elements of a song

Existingsystems

Instruments

Final Solution

Characteristics

Learnings

Existing
systems