preliminary proposal: New Unicode characters for Arabic music half-flat and half-sharp symbols

Wed May 16 07:37:06 CDT 2018

Hi Garth,

You are right, I sent a similar posting to the list 3 years ago. at that
time I was hoping get help from some of the more experienced members on the
list to write a proposal. this is a very specialized job and it could take
me months to figure out the process and learn the language. But no one was
able to help. so I'm trying again.

My motivation is being able to type these symbols directly into a MS-Word
document or HTML page, just like you would type a Western flat or sharp
accidental symbol today. My motivation is NOT to make these symbols
available in sheet music notation software; there are solutions for that
today and it's a whole different problem domain.

About the existing symbols

U+1D132 MUSICAL SYMBOL QUARTER TONE SHARP
U+1D133 MUSICAL SYMBOL QUARTER TONE FLAT

I don't know what musical tradition these belong to, as far as I know no
one uses them in real life.

I need to make the case for new symbols called Arabic Half Flat / Sharp. I
don't see my proposal really as a duplication of existing symbols for the
following reason: there is no universal way to notate such accidentals, and
every musical tradition with concepts such as half-flat and half-sharp has
its own standard. I am not an expert in any tradition other than Arabic.
therefore all I'm trying to do is add the Arabic version of these symbols.

the Arabic symbols I'm proposing are established, and have been the
standard for a good 75 years. Any Arabic notation (except for a few
remnants from the 1930s before this standard in use) uses the symbols I'm
proposing to add. I do not foresee any disagreement over what the
half-sharp/half-flat Arabic symbols look like, and I can include tons of
evidence in my proposal.

Can someone on the list volunteer to guide with writing a proposal?

I'm willing to do all the work, I just don't know how to start. I need a
template, and I will be happy to complete it with all the required
information.

thanks

Johnny Farraj

On Wed, May 16, 2018 at 12:32 AM, Garth Wallace <gwalla at gmail.com> wrote:

> What happened to the previous proposal? As I recall, there was some good
> discussion after an email from you back in 2015 <
> http://www.unicode.org/mail-arch/unicode-ml/y2015-m03/0118.html> and
> Michael Everson offered assistance, but no formal proposal has been
> submitted to the Documents Register since then.
>
> These symbols are also used in Turkish notation and Western microtonal
> notation. They are far more common than MUSICAL SYMBOL QUARTER TONE SHARP
> and MUSICAL SYMBOL QUARTER TONE FLAT, which AFAICT only appear in the
> Unicode code charts and nowhere else.
>
> On Tue, May 15, 2018 at 10:47 AM, Johnny Farraj via Unicode <
> unicode at unicode.org> wrote:
>
>>
>> Dear Unicode list members,
>>
>> I wish to get feedback about a new symbol submission proposal.
>>
>> Currently the Miscellaneous Symbols table (2600-26FF) includes the
>> following characters:
>>
>> 266D ♭ MUSIC FLAT SIGN
>> 266F ♯ MUSIC SHARP SIGN
>>
>> while the Musical Symbols table (1D100 - 1D1FF) includes the following
>> characters:
>>
>> 1D12A �� MUSICAL SYMBOL DOUBLE SHARP
>> 1D12B �� MUSICAL SYMBOL DOUBLE FLAT
>> 1D12C �� MUSICAL SYMBOL FLAT UP
>> 1D12D �� MUSICAL SYMBOL FLAT DOWN
>> 1D130 �� MUSICAL SYMBOL SHARP UP
>> 1D131 �� MUSICAL SYMBOL SHARP DOWN
>> 1D132 �� MUSICAL SYMBOL QUARTER TONE SHARP
>> 1D133 �� MUSICAL SYMBOL QUARTER TONE FLAT
>>
>> None of these matches what's used in Arabic music notation.
>>
>> I am proposing the addition of 2 new characters to the Musical Symbols
>> table:
>>
>> - the half-flat sign (lowers a note by a quarter tone)
>> - the half-sharp sign (raises a note by a quarter tone)
>>
>> [image: Inline image]
>> [image: Inline image]
>>
>>
>> These are the correct symbols for Arabic music notation, and they express
>> intervals that are multiples of quarter tones. it would be really nice to
>> be able to include them directly in an HTML page or rich text document
>> using a native code rather than an image.
>>
>> I am the primary sponsor of this proposal. As far as my credentials, I am
>> the owner of http://maqamworld.com, the most widely used online resource
>> on Arabic music theory, in English.
>>
>> My co-sponsor is Sami Abu Shumays, author of http://maqamlessons.com,
>> another important online reference for Arabic music theory.
>>
>> Together, we are in the process of publishing a book on Arabic music
>> theory and performance with Oxford University Press, coming out late 2018.
>>
>> I can also enlist the support of many academics in the music theory field
>> who specialize in Arabic music.
>>
>> I welcome any feedback on this proposal.
>>
>> thanks
>>
>> Johnny Farraj
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>

-- 

Johnny
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