Kite's color notation/Translations

For an explanation of color notation

Explanation

Conventional staff notation is universal (language-independent). Every country uses the same staff, the same clefs, and the same sharp and flat signs. But music terminology isn't. Spanish has not D♯ and minor 7th, but Re sostenido and séptima menor.

Color notation must also be universal. Many terms can be translated into other languages, but a few terms can't be. Just as one must learn a few Italian words like allegro and andante to read sheet music, one must learn a few English words to read color notation. Fortunately, the full word needn't be learned, just the first letter.

The color accidentals w, y, g, z and r must not vary. Spanish speakers shouldn't translate yellow into amarillo, and then shorten it to amo or mo. In order for terms such as 1o, 3u, 17a, etc. to be universal, -o, -u and -a for over, under and all must not vary. Thus wa, yo, gu, zo and ru are also invariant. L and s for large and small must also not vary.

Not only staff notation but also written chord names must not vary. Ch7 and Cs7 are invariant, thus h and s are also invariant. The words harmonic and subharmonic can vary. B natural is called H in certain countries, e.g. Germany. The English and German pronounciations of the letter distinguish h from H. "Aitch sieben" = h7 = w1 y3 w5 z7, and "ha sieben" = H7 = H D♯ F♯ A.

All colors for primes 11 and higher can vary. In many European languages, tho/thu/tha becomes tro/tru/tra. Spanish for 11 is once, and lo/lu/la might become onco/oncu/onca. Or it might remain lo/lu/la, for conciseness. If so, a helpful mnemonic is lavender, since most Western and even some Asian languages have a word very similar to it. Italian for 11 is undici, suggesting uno/unu/una. But if 1o is uno, an "uno chord" would also be a "one chord". Thus 1o becomes either undo/undu/unda or perhaps unó/unu/una, with the accent distinguishing unó from uno.

The short form of temperament names and subgroup names must not vary, because they are likely to be written at the top of the score. In such names, primes 11 and higher must be written in their numeric form. Thus on the score the thulu temperament is written 3u1uT, and the yalatha subgroup is written ya1a3a.

The disambiguation prefix i- is invariant, and is used as needed in all languages. Disambiguation is only necessary if the other word needs to be used in a musical context. The note C sounds like sea, but there's no problem, because noone ever needs to discuss a "sea chord". But "no" as in no5 and nowa is invariant, therefore 19o must be ino in most European languages. 17o will often be iso, especially in fixed-Do countries that use So not Sol.

Sometimes one color needs disambiguation from another. In Latin American Spanish, z and s sound the same, and zo and so are a problem. The rule is to add i- to the higher prime's color. Zo is pronounced "so", and 17o is pronounced "iso". I- is used even when 17o is not alone, thus 17oz is isozo. 17o is written as iso not so, to match the pronunciation. Sa becomes isa, to differentiate it from za. Su needn't change to isu, but might for consistency. In complex colors, -i- can no longer be used to delimit quad and quint, and -a- must be used instead: quadnuiso = 19u417o4, and quadnuaiso = 19u417o.

Another example: the Dutch word for 17 begins with z, so Dutch might use zo/ru/za for 7 and izo/(i)zu/iza for 17. Or Dutch might borrow from nearby English (seventeen) and German (siebzehn), and use so/su/sa for 17.

Two colors might possibly sound alike and also sound like some musical term. If so, use i- for the higher prime as before, and reuse the final vowel to prefix the lower prime. If z and s sound the same, and the solfege syllable is So, 17o becomes iso and zo becomes ozo.

Another use for i- is for when thick accents make communication difficult. In Castillian Spanish, zo sounds like "tho". A Spaniard pronounces 3o as "tro", so there's no conflict among Spaniards. But a Spaniard might be confused by an American saying 3o as "tho". Therefore the American says zo and itho, and the Spaniard says tho and itro.

In terms like twenty-tho and thirty-wu, the final digit is abbreviated similarly to -wo/-tho/-so/-no. Italian for 31 is trentuno, and 31u is trentunu. But 31o needs to be distinct from 31, and trentuno won't work. The solution is to accent the final syllable, so that 31o = trentunò or trentunó.

Roman numerals are invariant, for chord progressions. P, M, m, A and d are invariant, for chord names and pergens. The spoken terms are of course translated into the usual terms for perfect, major, minor, etc. Many countries have adopted jazz chord names such as CM7, even if their word for major is dur. Pergens are never written on the score as quarter-fifth, but as (P8, P5/4). A pergen's enharmonic interval is written as C^^ = C♯. Edos are indicated as ^1 = 1\31.

Po and qu are invariant. L and s are also invariant, but the spoken words large and small can be translated. This is analogous to an English speaker seeing "f" or "p" on a score and thinking loud/soft, not forte/piano. The translated words must not have any musical connotations such as major/minor or augmented/diminished or largo (slow tempo).

The symbols ^ v / \ ~ are invariant, but the terms up, down, lift, drop and mid can vary. Up and down may possibly be translated as above/below or top/bottom. Lift/drop may be translated as raise/lower. Lift and drop should be translated into verbs, since ^ is high, but / starts low and goes high. Preferably transitive verbs, drop not fall. All five terms should be words not usually applied to notes or clefs or melodies or intervals, e.g. not high/low or treble/bass or rising/falling or neutral. In temperament names, both "and" and "plus" should have distinct names.

Clear, ca and noca are never used in interval names or chord names. They are never used on staff notation without a lengthy explanation, since staff notation assumes octaves. Thus they can be translated freely. Clear means transparent, not "easily understood". The words plain, central, double, triple, quadruple etc. can also be translated freely. Plain must be distinct from natural and clear, and may be translated as simple. Central must be distinct from mid and neutral.

Here are all the invariant color notation terms, with their English meanings:

Invariant color notation terms	Meanings
wa, yo, gu, zo, ru	white, yellow, green, azure/azul, red
o, -u, -a, ya, za	over, under, all, yellow-all, azure-all
L, s, no, nowa	large, small, no (as in omit), no-white
h, s	harmonic series, subharmonic series
po, qu, i-	pythagorean-over, pythagorean-under, i- for disambiguation

Translations

In the following tables, 1o refers to ilo, and -1o refers to -wo as in thirty-wo and forty-wo.

Western European languages

	English	German	French	Spanish	Portuguese	Italian
11	l-	l-	onz-	onc-	-onz	un-, und-
13	th-	tr-	tr-	tr-	tr-	tr-
17	s-	s-	s-	s-	s-	s-
19	n-	n-	n-	n-	n-	n-
-1	-w-	ein-	-un-	-un-	-um-	-un-
-3	-th-	-dr-	-tr-	-tr-	-tr-	-tr-
-7	-s-	s-	-s-	-s-	-s-	-s-
-9	-n-	n-	-n-	-n-	-n-	-n-
L	large	groß	grand	grande	grande	grande
s	small	klein	petit	pequeña	pequena	piccolo
	central			central
h	aitch	aitch		hache
s	sub, ess			sub,ese
^	up	oben	haut?	arriba	cima?	su
v	down	neider	bas?	abajo	baixo?	giù
/	lift	heb		levante
\	drop	tropf		soltando
~	mid	mitte	milieu	medio	meio	medio
	plain			sencillo
&	and			y
+	plus			mas
W	wide			ancho
ca	clear			claro
2	double			doble
3	triple			triple
4	quad			cuad
5	quint			quint
6	sixfold
	4thwd			a cuarta
	5thwd			a quinta

Disambiguations:

English: 1o = ilo ("low C"), 1a = ila (La solfege), 17o = iso (So solfege), 19o = ino ("no 3rd"), 19u = inu ("new key")

German: 19o = ino

French: 13a = itra (tra vs. trois), -3a = -itra-, 19o = ino

Spanish: -1o = -unó (31 vs. 31o), 19o = ino, Latin American Spanish only: 17 = is- (z and s sound the same)

Portuguese: 19o = ino

Italian: 17u = isu (su means ^), 19o = ino, -1o = -unò or -unó (31 vs. 31o)

Asian languages

Disambiguations: