Genealogy & official gallery

Relative Notation: From Souhaitty to the 6-Line Staff

Explore the theoretical evolution since 1665 and discover the gallery of original examples on the 6-line staff: scales, rhythmic durations, Bach, and jazz standards.

Historical Timeline Example Gallery Rousseau vs Rameau Analytics

The 5 Founding Eras

Click on a period to discover the author, the original works, and the notation principles.

Official chiffration.com gallery

Score Examples on the 6-Line Staff

Below is every graphic example from the site: octave clefs (5/4), key/mode frames, rhythmic durations (whole notes, half notes, quarter notes, rests), scales, and excerpts from complex works.

C Major Scale

Continuous representation of the natural major scale on the 6-line staff with the 5/4 octave clef and the C/M frame.

Clef 5/4 | Frame C/M

6-line staff legend: oval clef (octave register) ➔ frame (key & mode) ➔ numbers 1 to 7 positioned according to spatial pitch. Chiffration Standard

Theoretical Foundations

The 1742 Controversy: Rousseau vs. Rameau

Why Rousseau was rejected by the Academy of Sciences, and how the 6-line staff resolves Rameau's major objection.

JJR

Rousseau's Intention

Relative clarity: the number 1 designates the tonic regardless of the key, making transposition instantaneous.
Typographic economy: use ordinary numeric characters to print music without costly engraving.

JPR

Rameau's Major Objection

No visual relief: a flat line of numbers doesn't show the melody's rising/falling shape the way the eye perceives it.
Slow sight-reading: forces the brain to compute each number instead of grasping the overall contour.

The Modern Synthesis by Chiffration.com: By writing the numbers 1 to 7 directly on a 6-line staff, modern notation reconciles Rousseau and Rameau. It keeps the staff's intuitive spatial cue (Rameau's critique) while retaining the intelligence of relative degrees (Rousseau's principle).