These clefs worked fine hundreds of years ago, before the black notes were added to the keyboard, before there were sharps and flats. Since the existing clefs came from the Grand Staff, the bottom line of each clef is a different note. It is G on the Bass clef and E on the Treble Clef.

With the addition of FIVE more notes, and by not altering the clefs, the various key signatures had to be devised.

If you consider that there are only twelve different notes, and that every line of a clef has a space above it, the addition of only ONE LINE would have eliminated the need for any key signatures, as well as the need to call any note by two different names.

By accounting for all twelve notes, the bottom line of each clef could be the same note, making it much easier to locate notes in each clef.

The "T" and "B" in the image to the left refer to the treble and bass sounds. What has been called "Middle C" was the middle of the Grand Staff, not the keyboard, and it is now the C above the bottom line A in the treble clef. There are NOT two names for any note, and all TWELVE notes are assigned a line or space.

Professional Music Instructor Dan Anderson sent the following comment about NUME.  "Your NUME notation system is so sensible it makes me feel guilty for putting kids through our convoluted traditional system."

The NUME method incorporates the six-line staff to utilize the chromatic (every note) scale. Several other six-line methods exist. The five distinguishing and more logical features of the NUME method are:

1. The bottom line of each clef begins at the start of the alphabet with the A note.
2. Notes no longer have "double" names. (ie. A# or Bb. The F major scale will be F G A A# C D E F.)
3. The largest duration of a note, rest, or sustain is one beat, giving a simple and unique method of timing the sounds.
4. Since different kinds of notes cannot arbitrarily be assigned one beat, time signatures are no longer needed.
5. Since every note has its own line or space, key signatures are no longer needed.

The "T" represents Treble and the "B" represents Bass, with the bottom line
of the Treble clef starting on the A note below what is currently called "middle C."



There is no note between the G# on top of the Bass clef and the A note
on the bottom line of the Treble clef. Spacing is for ease of reading.

The beat is the fundamental concept of music. This is explained below.

Bar lines (or measure lines) can be incorporated to indicate phrasing, but there is no longer a need for time signatures.

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Please read this article before proceeding to the music selections below.

Transcribing Western Music

The following music selections have been transcribed in the NUME method. Feel free to copy, print, and distribute any and all music presented here. And check back from time to time to find new music. The current method of transcribing music in Western culture has only been in place for 500 years. That's not long considering how long music has been around. And one man started the current method. Maybe one man can change the world of transcribing music, but I'll need YOUR HELP!
So pass it along freely, and SPREAD THE WORD!

You can download the complete ONE-PAGE NUME Tutorial HERE and you can write your own music using the NUME Manuscript Paper. Just click HERE.