r/microtonal • u/Ok-Ingenuity4355 • 1h ago
MOS scale notation in different languages
I have seen many types of notation on Xenharmonic Wiki, such as oneirotonic scales going J, K, L etc, as well as Bohlen-Pierce scales having extra H and J notes. But they are all for the English language. So how about other languages?
In languages using the German system, the note B natural is called H, and the note B flat is called B. Flats are called "-es" and and sharps are called "-is". So I propose the following scale for Bohlen-Pierce:
C C♯/D♭ D E F F♯/G♭ G H H♯/J♭ J A A♯/B♭ B C
C Cis/Des D E F Fis/Ges G I Is/Jes J A Ais/B H C
Because the letter H is already used for B natural, we have to use I for H natural instead.
The fixed do system is a bit more tricky, because notes have entirely different names. However, here is how I manage it:
C D E F G H J A B C
do re mi fa sol nu ve la si do
In Japanese and Korean, note names are taken from the Iroha (a poem) and the ganada order (the alphabetical order in the Korean alphabet). This is easy to implement for more notes:
C D E F G H J A B C
ハニホヘトチリイロハ
ha ni ho he to chi ri i ro ha
다라마바사자차가나다
da ra ma ba sa ja cha ga na da
The notes 'nu' and 've' come from the eighth and ninth lines of the hymn 'Ut queant laxis', which is where the fixed do system comes from.
Now for oneirotonic mos scales. For the German, Japanese and Korean systems, we can simply model off the English system:
J Jis/Kes K L Lis/Mes M Mis/Nes N O Ois/Pes P Q Qis/Jes J
J K L M N O P Q J
リヌルヲワカヨタリ
ri nu ru wo wa ka yo ta ri
아자차카타파하싸아
a ja cha ka ta pa ha ssa a
However, for the fixed do system, we take note names from other lines of 'Ut queant laxis':
J K L M N O P Q J
fo no se du per mo ge ve fo
What are your thoughts on my systems of translating non-diatonic note names into other languages?