So, yesterday, I was walking around campus and the strangest thought came to mind: What if there was a language where people communicated through music? Not exactly lyrical music, but two people being able to have a conversation with each other using instruments. Words would be formed based on pitch, note length, slurs, staccatos, etc. I think I'd keep volume as something optional, and would main be based on emotion.
The alphabet consists of A-G with all the sharps and flats in between. The written language will be based on music composition with a staff, bass clef or treble clef, and such. Of course, somethings would need to be added like punctuation. Something to indicate quotes, a statement, and a question would be most needed.
There are a few problems with this idea. For instance, it's not very practical. In order to speak this language, you would need to know either how to play an instrument or know how to sing at least well enough to keep in key. But, we all know that one person who can't sing for crap.
A few questions also sprang to mind while I was thinking about this idea. Which key should most normal conversations be in? Should the instigator of the conversation choose a key and the others follow suit? If there's normally one key used, what significance would changing the key bring?
What time signature should be used in normal conversation? I was thinking of common time as the standard, but if the time signature is changed, what significance does it bring to the conversation?
One of the biggest problems I have is one of aesthetics. This being a musical language, I would want conversations to sound beautiful and sound like, well music. I would like the conversation to sound like more than just noise. This is a very complicated issue.
The last few problems are syntactic issues, like word placement. Nouns go here? Verbs go there? I don't want to base the structure of the language completely off of English. I want to try and use ideas from other languages.
Taking a few courses on music theory and composition would definitely aid me in this task, but I'll think about it later. I'm starting to ramble...
I just wanted to know what people think about this idea, and if there are any musicians out there, do you have any ideas?
The alphabet consists of A-G with all the sharps and flats in between. The written language will be based on music composition with a staff, bass clef or treble clef, and such. Of course, somethings would need to be added like punctuation. Something to indicate quotes, a statement, and a question would be most needed.
There are a few problems with this idea. For instance, it's not very practical. In order to speak this language, you would need to know either how to play an instrument or know how to sing at least well enough to keep in key. But, we all know that one person who can't sing for crap.
A few questions also sprang to mind while I was thinking about this idea. Which key should most normal conversations be in? Should the instigator of the conversation choose a key and the others follow suit? If there's normally one key used, what significance would changing the key bring?
What time signature should be used in normal conversation? I was thinking of common time as the standard, but if the time signature is changed, what significance does it bring to the conversation?
One of the biggest problems I have is one of aesthetics. This being a musical language, I would want conversations to sound beautiful and sound like, well music. I would like the conversation to sound like more than just noise. This is a very complicated issue.
The last few problems are syntactic issues, like word placement. Nouns go here? Verbs go there? I don't want to base the structure of the language completely off of English. I want to try and use ideas from other languages.
Taking a few courses on music theory and composition would definitely aid me in this task, but I'll think about it later. I'm starting to ramble...
I just wanted to know what people think about this idea, and if there are any musicians out there, do you have any ideas?