Hexavento Notation

A notation system for pennywhistles
(and other 6-holed instruments)

Hexavento is a musical notation system designed for diatonic 6-holed folk instruments, such as pennywhistles and keyless flutes.

The name Hexavento is taken from Greek and Latin roots, and means "six winded". Yes, I could have called it "Diers Notation", but I am not that vain, and also nobody would say "Diers" correctly (pronounced deers, not die-ers). I could also have stuck with Latin only roots, but that would have yielded Sexavento, and that would put this page on all the wrong search engines, so lets stick with the Greek root for now.

In its simplest form, Hexavento allows you to transcribe the lower 2 octaves of an instrument. In its more complex form, any note (other than semi-tones) that is playable on a whistle (including upper octaves) may be transcribed.

The value of this sytem lies in the following:

• No need for music paper. This sytem is designed to be hand written on anything that is handy.
• Not tied to a specific key. A tune transcribed in hexavento may be played on a whistle of any key.
• Designed for 6-holed instruments. The system is tailored to the unique requirements of a 6-holed instrument. The most common cross-fingering (a half-step down from TI, C on a D whistle, B-flat on a C) has it's own note.
• Chromatic extensions. Because no two 6-holed instruments are precisely alike, Hexavento, in it's more complex form, allows you to transcribe any note on the chromatic scale. Thus thicker-walled instruments which are capable of additional cross-fingerings are not left out, nor are any possible half-holed notes.
• It looks whistley. Ok, a better adjective might work, but lacking one, whistley will have to do.
• Impress your friends. If they see you writing in Hexavento and wonder what you are doing, lean back, raise your left eyebrow, make a steeple out of your fingers, and tell them (preferably with a German or Russian accent) "It is very secret, and it would be in your best interest to forget what you have just seen."

The following image summarizes basic Hexavento.

To transcribe a tune, you would first note the time signature (6/8, 3/4, etc.) and rhythm (Jig, Reel, Hornpipe, etc.). Then the notes follow on the next line.

The beats in Hexavento are written UNDER the note. Other scribbles, such as ties, may appear above the notes.

And here is the full chromatic scale in hexavento.

And, here are a few tunes in Hexavento. If you are unfamiliar with these tunes, that's because I wrote them. If you are familiar with these tunes then obviously somebody plagiarized me. ;-)

Coming soon: An example of how I write in Hexavento. Think of the above as the sterile printed form of Hexavento. The handwritten form is a little more sloppy and loopy (sloopy?), but basically the same. The main difference is in writing the MI and FA notes, which, if not done right, can, for obvious reasons, be confused with each other.

Eventually, for comparison purposes, I will add traditional staff arangements of these same tunes. Check back later.

I plan to release the basic Hexavento font for free. I may release the fully chromatic version of the for free also, but I haven't decided yet. The font still needs a lot of work.

Permission is hereby granted to use Hexavento. However, if you publish information on Hexavento, please give credit to me for the system.

And hey, if you haven't been there yet, you MUST visit The Chiff and Fipple website! The greatest place on the web for whistle-players of all ages, races, colors (except for transparent, and maybe not purple either), genders, creeds, and skill-levels (including those as meager as mine).

You may contact me at admin@diers.cc

Happy tuning,
Martin Diers

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