34567= =1234567=
=.......=

Here everything is as clear as day. Take any note--as =5=, for
example. This is _sol_--always _sol_, and never by any chance anything
else. If it has a dot under, it is _sol_ of the octave below the
middle; if it has no dot, it belongs to the middle octave; and if it
has a dot above, it belongs to the octave above the middle. These
three octaves are amply sufficient for all the purposes of vocal
music, which alone is considered here. For instrumental music, where
many octaves are used, the system is modified without losing its
simplicity and conciseness. To represent the flats, Galin crosses the
numerals with a line like the grave accent, and marks the sharps by a
line like the acute accent. For example, =\1\2\3\4\5\6\7=[*] represent
_do_ flat, _re_ flat, _mi_ flat, etc.: =/1 /2 /3 /4 /5 /6 /7=[*]
represent _do_ sharp, _re_ sharp, _mi_ sharp, etc.

[*: the slash goes _through_ the number (transcriber)]

A score of music in the new style of notation has no signature--that
is, no flats or sharps at the beginning. Above the line of numerals is
written simply "Key of G," "Key of A flat," etc. The pitch, of course,
must be taken from the tuning-fork or a musical instrument, as it is
in all cases.

_Second_. The same idea should always be presented by the same sign:
the same sign should always represent the same idea.

It has already been shown how this principle is disregarded; but take,
for further illustration, the symbols indicating silence. There are
seven different kinds of rests, and there is no need of more than one.
These signs are:

[Illustration of music rest symbols]

Again: these rests may be followed by one or two dots, which increase
their duration. For example: an eighth-note rest dotted equals an
eighth note and a sixteenth; and followed by two dots it equals an
eighth, a sixteenth and a thirty-second note in time. That is, the
first dot prolongs the rest one-half or a sixteenth, and the second
dot prolongs the value of the first dot one-half or a thirty-second.

To a disciple of Galin it is really amazing that such a bungling,
unscientific way of expressing silence should have been tolerated
so long. Compare these "pot-hooks and trammels," dotted and
double-dotted, with Galin's symbol of silence, the cipher (0)! This
is all, and yet it expresses every length of rest, as will be shown
presently.

Let us now examine the symbols representing the prolongation