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Re:Hummingbird – A fresh take on music notation by gcr on Wednesday April 10, 2013 @11:09PM (#5529753)
You can now sightread pages of hummingbird after 30 seconds of cursory inspection?

Hummingbird feels like a crutch to me. Hiding key signatures stunts your understanding of how music works. Forcing time to be marked explicitly as well as by altering spacing places odd constraints on typesetters. Humans use several subtle visual cues¹ to read music quickly and efficiently, and hummingbird just throws them all away.

I'm not sure this is worth the overhaul.

1: http://lilypond.org/web/about/automated-engraving/software

Re:Hummingbird – A fresh take on music notation by eranation on Wednesday April 10, 2013 @11:59PM (#5529916)
Yes, I can, very, very slowly, but much faster than with the regular notation, and mostly because I'm not used to sightreading regardless of how it's written. I think it will never appeal to classic / professional musicians or anyone who already feels comfortable with the regular notation, but for people lbike me, that for whatever neurological reason just can get the old notation to stick, this is priceless. The Above Below C Dot Empty Full Groove is such a great wiring that I will never be able to forget it. I might not read it fast as you read regular notes, but I will at least be able to practice. Reading regular notes to me was always counting lines, always missing the global # or b, and simply giving up serious music. I recorded music, had songs on the radio, I can play anything by ear, but not being able to read notes always bothers me. Now I can.
Re:Hummingbird – A fresh take on music notation by gcr on Thursday April 11, 2013 @09:38AM (#5531856)
Hm. Thanks for replying; this does sound interesting.

If this had that much of an impact on you, and if this has the potential to encourage others to learn notation, I'd like to see a full study of how hummingbird compares to the regular notation.

Re:Hummingbird – A fresh take on music notation by ludston on Thursday April 11, 2013 @06:27AM (#5531008)
How were you taught notation in the past?