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Jianpu

The numbered musical notation is a musical notation system widely used in music publications in China.

Musical notes

Numbers 1 to 7 represent the musical notes (more accurately the scale degrees). They always correspond to the diatonic major scale. For example, in the key of C, their relationship with the notes and the solfège is as follows:

in G:

When the notes are read aloud or sung, they are called "do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, si". ("Si" has been supplanted in English by "ti", for the sake of having a different beginning consonant for each degree.)

Octaves

Dots above or below a musical note raise or lower it to other octaves. The number of dots equals the number of octaves. Musical scales can thus be written as follows:

Chords

Chords can be transcribed by vertically stacking the notes, with the lowest note at the bottom as with Western notation.

Note length

The plain number represents a quarter note (crotchet). Each underline halves the note length: One represents an eighth note (quaver), two represent a sixteenth note (semiquaver), and so on. Dashes after a note lengthen it, each dash by the length of a quarter note.

A dot after the plain or underlined note works increases its length by half, and two dots by three quarters.

The underline, along with its joining, are analogous to the number of flags and beaming in standard notation. So are dotted notes. But the analogue stops at notes worth three quarter notes and beyond, where dashes are used instead.

Musical rest

The number "0" represents the musical rest. The rules for length is similar to that of the note, except that it is customary to repeat "0" instead of adding dashes for rests longer than a quarter rest. Unlike the standard notation, there is no single symbol for the bar rest.

Bar lines

Bar lines, double bar lines, end bar lines, repeat signs, first- and second-endings look very similar to their counterparts in the standard notation.

Accidentals

The same accidentals in the standard notation are used, and as in common practice, an accidental is placed before the notes "1 2 3 4 5 6 7" to raise or lower the pitch and placed after the note names "C D E F G A B", which are used for key signature and chord markings in the numbered system. But these accidentals are relative to the diatonic scale (1 2 3...) rather than the note names (C D E...). For example, even though the leading note for the harmonic C minor scale is "B natural", it is written as "♯5".

Key signature changes are marked above the line of music. They may be accompanied by symbols that represent the note's degrees at previous and present key signatures.

Ties, slurs and tuplets

Ties and slurs are curves resembling that in the standard notation, although they are always written above the music line in numbered notation.

Tuplets (such as triplets, quintuplets, etc.) are notated by writing a slur-like symbol over the notes and printing a small digit (3 or 5 or whatever is appropriate) in the center of this symbol, so that the line passes through the digit.

 

How to use the Jianpu format with TablEdit

It is only required to name "Jianpu" a 3 or 5 string module in Instrument -> Module. Make sure that the center string is tuned so that it can play all the notes of the melody.

The entry from the staff has no particularity. By default, the notes entered are placed on the central string.

Entering from the tablature is very simple, just enter the degree number on the central string. [Shift]+[O] allows you to add an octave to the note. Typing the letter [O] decreases the note by one octave. To enter a silence, type the number [0].