History
Peter Hayes George (1927-2012) was born in Quebec, Canada, the son of a diplomat. He attended RADA and began his career as an actor playing roles such as the lead in ‘Malachi's Cove’ directed by Charles Frank and the juvenile lead in Peter Brook's London West End production ‘Dark of the Moon’. In the 1960s he gave up acting as shortcomings with his working memory made it difficult for him to accept major roles with long speeches.
After studying music for teachers at Los Angeles City College in 1962, George took up the piano. He thought that that since musicians can keep the music in front of them while playing, his memory problems would present no difficulty. However, he discovered that musicians must remember to modulate each musical note according to the key signature, to continue any accidentals through the bar, and to cancel them at the end of the bar. He also found difficulty in transposing notes such as double sharps and double flats.
His simplified music notation was designed in response to this. The original concept was formed in 1977 and the notation was developed over the next 30 years. The first series of music books in his simplified music notation was published in September 2008. A second series, "Key Perfect", was published in 2010. Its early-grade piano repertoire pieces were composed and compiled by music teacher and author John Kember and international pianist and lecturer John York. This latest series was designed to show the effectiveness of simplified music notation as a learning tool towards improving students' reading skills in traditional notation.
Read more about this topic: Simplified Music Notation
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