Re: Dozenal chars in music

From: Mark E. Shoulson (mark@kli.org)
Date: Mon May 18 2009 - 21:13:59 CDT

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    Thomas LAMBERT wrote:

    > Hello,
    >
    > I'm currently writing a web application for music theory, and in this
    > app (and in general in music) i would like to promote the use of the
    > dozenal (duodecimal) system, because it will make additions of
    > intervals very easier (among other advantages).
    >
    > For quite some time i've been roaming in unicode pages to find 2
    > perfects characters to complete the decimal numbers with no luck.
    > Cause A and B reprensente notes in music, so i decided not to use them
    > to avoid confusion.
    > X and E are suggested too but roman numbers are also used in music to
    > represent chords relatively to a scale so X may be a bad choice.
    I know the Dozenal Society also uses * and #, but that would be even
    more disastrous in music, given the importance of ♯.
    >
    > I was wondering if you had any advice for me ?
    > For example, one problem i come across is that the decimal number are
    > normalized in height, and i cannot find a char that COULD BE a number
    > : they always stand out (different baseline, different height). What
    > code chart do you suggest ?
    > Also they will have to be readable by any unicode implementation/font.
    > Is that a concern ?
    > Or should i just take letter to simplify ?
    >
    > Here is it what i found best : 123456789ðꜪ
    I am pretty sure that this problem is outside the scope of this list,
    though it is fun to comb through the character list in search of
    interesting candidates (⑩, ⑪? Would look terrible, and confusing. You
    could use ɸ or something like it, which at least resembles a 1 and a
    0... Good luck). But I think the Unicode community appreciates your
    intention to use existing characters in inventing your orthography,
    rather than making up another one we'd have to see in use and argue about.

    ~mark



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