Klavarscore (or klavar for short; known in the Netherlands as Klavarskribo) is an alternative music notation system that was designed from the ground up to improve on many of the problems and inconsistencies of the regular (traditional) notation and facilitate the performance of music.

Klavar is much simpler than the traditional notation in almost all aspects. It is revolutionary in two main ways:

1. It is much easier to learn, both for people who know the traditional notation and people who cannot read music at all;

2. It is more efficient for sight-reading, meaning the music can be translated from the page to the fingers in a more fluid manner, with less effort and with fewer mistakes. Because of this, musicians using klavar tend to learn pieces faster and with less frustration.

Here is a visual example. Observe how this music in the traditional notation looks polluted, with way more symbols than anyone should have to deal with:

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It features accidentals (♯, ♭, ♮) on every note, and no less than 9 combined clef changes in just two measures. Yikes! Music like this is almost impossible to read on-the-go: the musician is forced to carefully study and memorize it before trying to play. Now compare with the same music on klavar (which is read from top to bottom):

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Notice how it looks a lot cleaner, none of the notes are accompanied by a barrage of accidental symbols, and there are no clef changes whatsoever, making it much easier for the musician's brain to interpret what they're supposed to play! And these are just a few of the many ways in which klavar makes things better.

Who is klavar for?

Anyone wishing to improve their comprehension of music while reading from a piece of paper. Klavar's layout is based on a keyboard instrument (piano, organ, etc.), meaning it is especially useful for players of those instruments, but players of other instruments can also benefit from it, to a lesser degree.
For more details, see the "limitations of klavar" question further down.

Does klavar completely replace the traditional notation?

Not necessarily. I myself still use the traditional notation on easier pieces (mainly for convenience) and Klavar for more complex pieces. That's where it truly shines! It is especially helpful for any music which—in the traditional notation—is in a difficult key signature (4 or more sharps or flats, for example), since klavar is equally easy to read in all keys.

Did you invent klavar?

Haha, no, I wish I was that clever! :) It was invented in 1931 by a Dutchman called Cornelis Pot. While he, unfortunately, wasn't successful in spreading it to the world at large during his lifetime, the notation has a following in the Netherlands even today, being especially loved by organ players there.

Why are you doing this course?

As someone for whom the discovery of klavar has been the single biggest blessing of his life as an amateur pianist, this course is my humble attempt to spread the word about it and help as many people as possible have a more enjoyable time reading music. Therefore, this course is completely free: no need to be a Skillshare subscriber! See the last question for links for watching the course for free.

Do I need any special knowledge?

This course is geared for people who are reasonably familiar with notated music. This is because I use jargon such as "time signature", "chord", "bar", "beat", "octave" etc. that requires some basic knowledge of how music works and how is it systematized on a piece of paper. If I had to explain basic concepts—such as how music is divided in groups of usually 3 or 4 beats—this course would become way too long, and there are a million free online tutorials on those topics already :)

If you're completely new to the piano and want to start the smart way, the Klavarskribo Association of the Netherlands made a 78-lesson course for people who are just starting out: https://www.klavarskribo.eu/en/free-lessons. Through the course you can also download ready-made Klavarscore sheet music for almost 400 copyright-free pieces, as well as their traditional-notation versions. All of this is completely free of charge.

How long will it take me to learn?

Whenever I've taught it in-person to someone who already knew how to read sheet music, it only took me around half an hour to teach them to read klavar. Some learned it in just 10-15 minutes. It is that simple! The online course naturally takes longer because I don't have instant feedback on whether the student has "got it" or not, so I have to be more thorough.
If you don't know how to read sheet music, please see the last question.

What are the limitations of klavar?

Klavar is designed to improve the performance and learning speed of a piece. One of the many ways it accomplishes this is by considering, say, F♯ and G♭ as being the same pitch, which is true for keyboard instruments, but not necessarily in other contexts. A choir singer might sing both pitches slightly differently. Should this prove a big issue, the musician can fix it simply by writing a sharp symbol next to the accidental in klavar if it is the raised version of the previous note, or write a flat if it is the lowered version of the next note.
The non-explicit accidentals also means klavar is worse than the traditional notation for the study of harmony and formal music theory, where you need to know which notes are raised or lowered to understand the concepts taught. But I'm not aware of any music theory classes in klavar anyway :)
Finally, identifying intervals is harder in klavar than the traditional notation, which again, is not ideal for sight-singing.

Learning Klavar would be useless if I can't find sheet music for it later?

1- That's not a question and 2- I completely agree!
In the course, I teach you where you can find sheet music in klavar and, most importantly, how you can create sheets automatically from MIDI files downloaded on the internet for free, or if no MIDI exists for that song, by transcribing manually using a special (free) software called Klavarscript. It's the same software I'll be using throughout the course to teach. It is also perfectly possible to transcribe with physical pencil and paper using the templates I provide.

Great, I'm in! What do I need to do?

You can start watching the course for free via this link (Class 1, for learning how to read the notation) and then this link (Class 2, for learning how to use the software to transcribe your own sheet music in klavar).

Robert Moore

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