and are, with the natural sign, sufficient to describe any note of a 72-note division of the octave. Single notes and digraphs with the sharp or flat are all accessed by single keystrokes. Digraphs using the double sharp or flat can be easily produced with two strokes, as can any other combination not provided as a single stroke character.

A 72-note octave is ideal for notation of the higher harmonics through no. 64. If used to describe Equal Temperament, it can perspicuously express all 64 with no error greater than 6+cents, less than the error with which traditional notation describes many of the Diatonic intervals. If used to describe an Extended Just Intonation, it can easily describe all the first 64 (and many even higher) harmonics of whatever fundamental has been made the basis of the current tuning.

By adding only three symbols and using them alone or in combination with traditional accidentals, the 1/12-tone symbols contained in MICRO cause the least possible disruption of the players' perceptual habits. The ease with which they can be learned and applied has been thoroughly tested in over 20 years of performances by ensembles and soloists in the US, Europe and Japan.

ABOUT THE FONT:

In the early 1990s, computer notation programs had become sophisticated and flexible enough to accommodate microtonal music, and it was time to provide decent looking microtonal symbols.

MICRO3 can be used as a text-based graphic expression in any music notation software that supports additional fonts. For those intrepid souls willing to wade deeply into the dialog boxes of Finale, MICRO can be wrestled into a custom key signature set and actually be accessed by the "Speedy Note Entry's" accidental toggle. There are a few other optional symbols not integral to the 72-note system buried in MICRO's key assignments: different sized flats, double flats, a cute little double sharp, Tartini sharps, and a reversed flat which, in combination with Sims's symbols, can notate several versions of 1/4-tone music, Mathew Rosenblum's 19-tone hybrid system and Dean Drummond's 31-note utonality -- although in Dean's case, without the actual ratios the resulting notation is inaccurate and therefore meaningless.

MICRO3 includes two alternate sets of the 1/12-tones symbols with varying degrees of sleekness, which might work better in densely voiced music. MICROtxt is a separately configured font set with adjusted baselines, making each glyph's baselines compatible with word processors for use in text presentations.

A NOTE FROM THE DEVELOPER:

The transcription of Harry Partch's Seventeen Lyrics of Li Po was the impetus for the creation of this font, since Partch's ratios are difficult to read, and Ezra Sims' 1/12-tone system of microtonal diacriticals accurately and intuitively resolves Partch's 43-tone Just System into musician-readable notation. (But to follow that particular horse all the way back to the barn, a new font, RATIO, under development, will contain the full set of ratios used by Harry Partch in his 43-note scale.)

MICRO is very much a specialty music font. Some downloaders have been graphic artists intrigued by the runic quality of the symbols, but by in large, the notation of microtonal music is a very personal matter: multiple systems abound and the harvest of MICRO adopters from the larger (but still microscopic) collection of microtonalists is meagre. Speaking from the point of view of a compensated dyslexic and a performer of microtonal music, I can vouch for the logic and readability of Ezra's system. As far as I'm concerned, there's no argument, particularly when three bars into a John Eaton cello solo with regular, double headed and reverse flats I was no longer able to distinguish between the symbols. The heartbreak of a sydlecix.

Performers and listeners are trapped between three unscalable peaks: perfect accuracy, the fragility of musical line and phrase, and the limits of our human ears and brains. While we naturally push against boundaries, some notation systems may push too hard, and forfeit balance for idea. They may require too many recursive calculations in 7- or 11-limit music, or squabble about pitch differences too small to be perceived or replicated in a musical performance by live human-beings. Then, it isn't notation, it's frustration.

Since I am now charging ($25US) for the use of this font, my recommendation is to work for a while with Ezra's 72-note notation system - with a pencil. Once you are sold on the system, the font will sell itself.

Theodore Mook
533 Switch Road
Wood River Junction, RI 02894
theodoremook@me.com

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TO PURCHASE FONT:

Use the PayPal button below to purchase an archive containing MICRO3, MICROtxt and supporting documents (US$ 25). In order to guarantee getting the font as quickly as possible, please send an email requesting the most recent update for MICRO3 Mail Request